Thank you, CDC and WHO, for being such complete jerks

[kali921]

How many people are going to have to die from the swine flu before the CDC and the WHO get off their asses and actually declare a pandemic? Because when Michael Osterholm, a pandemic risk expert from the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, starts criticizing the CDC and WHO for being more concerned with

Comments

[dashiellxlerato]

My mother just called me (she's in Hong Kong) about the swine flu lol. God I hope it doesn't hit Hong Kong, otherwise any potential travelling in summer will be very hectic for me. :/

[kali921]

I hope she stays healthy and that she isn't affected in any way.

[dashiellxlerato]

Yeah, definitely. Thanks for the support.

[aylara]

God this sucks.

I can't even tell you how fucking scared I am, since I have an autoimmune condition, my son seems to catch just about every freaking germ out there, AND I live in L.A. A few months back, my son told me "Anthony is on vacation in Mexico City," regarding a classmate.

I gotta dig up my link about influenza and Vitamin D. Supposedly large doses of Vitamin D seems to keep you from catching the flu. Oh, here it is:

http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/12/epidemic-influenza-and-vitamin-d.html

[kali921]

There are things you could do. You can contact your son's school (preferably in writing, preferably by both certified mail/FedEx and fax) and ask to know what steps they are taking to protect their healthy students from any student or faculty member who has recently traveled to Mexico or any of the other affected countries. You could request that any such people be kept away from your son (and hopefully other students). You could arm your son with plenty of skin sanitizer and tell him to wash his hands frequently, stay away from anyone with flu-like symptoms or a cough, etc.

My post may sound paranoid, and I don't think you need to be walking around wearing surgical masks and a can of Lysol just yet, but it's something to keep an eye on.

[shadowed_nova]

Screw you, WHO and CDC. The world population's right to not die from swine flu because of your inaction and minimization of the risk outweighs your bullshit political concerns.

Yep.

Funnily enough in a OMGWTFWHY kind of way - my lovely aunt, who moved to Mexico D.F. around January, came back for a visit just before I heard of this. I'm starting to seriously regret the hugs.

Seriously :/

[kali921]

Don't panic yet. But if you start feeling sick, get a fever, etc., GET YOUR ASS to a hospital, stat, and tell them about your contact with your aunt. :-(

[kali921]

Yep. Shallow. :-)

[sugarcane_moon]

I'm in New Mexico, and I've started freaking out already...

1. Texas and Mexico have been hit
2. I work in a call center--lots of people packed close together with a high rate of infection
3. My mother is a preschool teacher--small children like to hand them tissues after they've wiped their noses.

I don't want to be a statistic in a pandemic and I don't want to die of some flu. :/

[kali921]

Well, as I said to someone else above, I don't think there's any reason to panic yet unless you're surrounded by or coming into contact with people from countries that have reported cases. Wash your hands, stay away from people with colds or flu-like symptoms, and you could always ask the HR department at your workplace if they have a plan or policies in place for employees who have recently traveled to affected countries and if they have policies in place to protect employees from being exposed?

Your mom could always wear gloves at work?

It does seem to be very easily transmitted, though, via respiratory means. That's scary. The important thing, I'm gathering from news sources, is that it's important to keep your hands clean and not touch your mouth, nose, or eyes with anything but super clean and disinfected hands.