Are you worried about flu outbreak?

[RSS News]

The Mexican authorities say 81 people may have died from a new swine flu virus which the WHO says could lead to a pandemic. Are you concerned?

(Feed provided by BBC News | Have your Say (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/talking_point/default.stm))

[piet11111]

well seeing how modern transportation can spread diseases like these around the world in a matter of days i do not see how we should not have some concern.

also the problem with diseases like these is that pigs tend to be the breeding ground for all sorts of nasty bugs because they are susceptible to both human and avian diseases for some reason.
so when in area's where pigs birds and humans are close together diseases can mutate in pigs to become dangerous to humans.
historically its suspected that many plagues originated from china where large numbers of pigs and birds where held in close contact and in large numbers.

what sort of measures could be used to prevent the spread of such diseases would be to isolate pigs from birds in farms and to delay the speed of international transportation of people (no country hopping)

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

No , I cant be bothered to worry.

[YSR]

Everyone in Mexico City is really worried, yes. Nearly all the nightclubs were closed last night and almost 3/4 of the bars. School is canceled for at least a week. It's weird.

[Marx22]

It sounds scary because the media makes it scary so that you will go out and buy these huge amounts of crap to create the image of safety. Remember SARS and the Bird Flu? Remember who everyone get all worked about this and it never became a pandemic despite all the movies and press conferences trying to make it so? I'll reserve some doubt until something concrete happens.

[disobey]

It's worrying, but there is little a world capitalist system can do about it without damaging profits -- which of course, we know they won't do.

The airlines won't stop and nor will industrial agriculture. I think it's down to individuals as we can't trust any state to mitigate the effects.

The problems I'm more worried about are peak oil and climate change, and the loud noise coming from the pub across the road.

[piet11111]

the problem with viral diseases is that when they amount to something "concrete" the problem is too large too deal with.

with modern transportation diseases can spread very fast around the world and just because SARS and other diseases amounted to nothing much does not mean we should sit on our asses and watch tv to see what happens next.

if anything such outbreaks like the current swine flu should be treated as a test case that will allow us to see how effective our responses are with real life diseases.

SARS took us off guard and fortunately we now see a much better response from governments around the world.
but we are still vulnerable to viral diseases and as history has shown with the plague and the spanish influenza we always where vulnerable only today with much larger numbers of people and much faster transportation we are far more vulnerable then we even realize.

[Spooky]

When I was first starting to pay attention to the news when I was a teenager, I would always freak out that these new diseases would wipe humanity out.

Then I grew up and realized this shit happens every year. It's all just hype and apocalyptic behavior, if you ask me, mostly propagated by bored news anchors.

[Coggeh]

When I was first starting to pay attention to the news when I was a teenager, I would always freak out that these new diseases would wipe humanity out.

Then I grew up and realized this shit happens every year. It's all just hype and apocalyptic behavior, if you ask me, mostly propagated by bored news anchors.
Thats not really a reason to not get concerned about these , all these virus's are completely different from others in the past . Look at the Spanish flu for example, it was a simple diesease but one our immune systems could not handle so 20-50 million people died.

I don't think swine flu will develop into anything much more , the health authorities have taken decent measures so far to halt its spread . They were already reports of outbreak in 2005 with didn't lead to anything really .

So in this current case I'm not too worried , but I am slightly concerned about a future pandemic .

[Picky Bugger]

Yeah, currently I have no problems especially where I live but a pandemic could be disasterous considering the lengthy period of time since the last big flu pandemic in the UK.

Hopefully it won't develop further but these things have a way of surprising.

[SEKT]

I live in Mexico City, and more than a "pandemic" it is a propaganda attack due to the May 1st manifestations. Schools are closed because the profesors' union were convoking for manifestations this week up to friday (May 1st.). Anyway I´m not telling that the disease is real but not at the apocaliptic level the bourgeois mass media is telling us.

[Pogue]

I've already retreated to my well stocked bunker and am posting this whilst walking on my treadmill which powers the electrics down here.

[Revulero]

Im worried, i dont see how this is a propaganda technique. It seems to have spread pretty quickly. So far there are 6 countries where this disease has appeared.

[YSR]

I think SEKT is totally wrong. The US health department has declared it a national health emergency and there are only a couple of cases, whereas here in the DF there are thousands and people are dying. Is it a pandemic? It's too early to see. But it's definitely a major public health emergency.

Saying that the government is doing this because of the May 1st demos is absurd. The demos aren't a serious threat to their power, they're a symbolic demonstration of power, much of it led by the charro unions as I understand. That's conspiracy theory thinking.

[Dust Bunnies]

I am not too worried. When I told my Obamatard dad that I'm not worried (when he was urging me to turn from my computer to watch the press conference) I told him that it all will be all right. He's tried to play the Spanish 1918 flu card, but 5% of the population, while it is in the millions, is not that big of a deal on a larger scale. People die from Capitalist diseases (poverty, malnutrition, over-work stress, etc) a lot more than this flu will cause.

[Spooky]

Thats not really a reason to not get concerned about these , all these virus's are completely different from others in the past . Look at the Spanish flu for example, it was a simple diesease but one our immune systems could not handle so 20-50 million people died.

I don't think swine flu will develop into anything much more , the health authorities have taken decent measures so far to halt its spread . They were already reports of outbreak in 2005 with didn't lead to anything really.

So in this current case I'm not too worried , but I am slightly concerned about a future pandemic .


I wasn't so much saying that I was unconcerned to it... but just that these happenings tend to get blown WAY out of proportion. It happens every single year, and disease after disease. The earliest one I can think of is the West Nile Virus, then SARS, Ebola, AIDS, Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease, Hoof and Mouth Disease. Also, no one has died from the Swine Flu as of yet.

Yeah, these have all been serious problems. And I'm sure the people whose lives they all took were quite concerned about the issue.

But we blow these things WAY out of proportion: Case in point: the fact that we are now talking about this on an internet forum.

Mark my words: there will also be another threat on this forum for the next "pandemic" that shows up on the news.

[MarxSchmarx]

It sounds right now like the worst is confined to the DF. No other major centers like Monterray or TJ have been hit. The cases in the US are pretty harmless but the Americans are taking precautions.


I think SEKT is totally wrong. The US health department has declared it a national health emergency and there are only a couple of cases, whereas here in the DF there are thousands and people are dying. Is it a pandemic? It's too early to see. But it's definitely a major public health emergency.The difference, though, is that the Americans haven't yet invoked their powers, whereas Calderon has invoked the right to isolate and quarantine anyone in ALL the republic. Given that the brunt of his military moves have fallen on the people in the North and along the coasts, people are rightfully asking why, even tho outside the DF life is proceeding as normal, Calderon felt it necessary to declare a nationwide emergency.

I support the preventative measures taken in the capital, but so far it seems like an outbreak restricted to the DF and we need to keep this in mind. Any efforts to expand beyond it right now are premature usurpations of state power.

[YSR]

True, but it's moving quickly to Edomex and San Luis Potosi. I'm sure that quarantining the DF did help somewhat, but I doubt it will stop the spread of the virus.

[Revy]

I've maintained for a long time that no extreme measures to isolate countries or people is going to contain the spread of a potential pandemic. And it could mutate if an effective vaccine is developed. It's out of our hands, like an asteroid impact.

Yes, I am worried.

[Oneironaut]

Yes.

[RHIZOMES]

Some high school kids came back from Mexico with the flu to my city, so I'm a bit frightened.

[Dr Mindbender]

The Mexican authorities say 81 people may have died from a new swine flu virus which the WHO says could lead to a pandemic. Are you concerned?

(Feed provided by BBC News | Have your Say (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/talking_point/default.stm))

Well you've no reason to worry, you're cybernetic you jammy bastard.

[Cumannach]

more worried about the mumps:scared:

[Coggeh]

I've maintained for a long time that no extreme measures to isolate countries or people is going to contain the spread of a potential pandemic. And it could mutate if an effective vaccine is developed. It's out of our hands, like an asteroid impact.

Yes, I am worried.
Their is already a vaccine for it . And theirs a drug called 'Tamiflu' that is readily available since the outbreak in 2005 .

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Ordinary flu kills more people than this (not that we even know for certain how many this bug has killed), so I suspect there is a sub-text here (i.e., to keep us scared -- and it looks like it has worked with a few of you wimps!).

[piet11111]

i am not concerned about this disease but i would like to see this taken as a test run for health officials to determine their effectiveness to contain a virus.

there is a lot we could learn from this without having to deal with serious body counts.
it would be a shame to not take such an opportunity.

[Trystan]

Well that's it then. Death. Half the world's population to die, I heard from the media. Bring out the Camus. The fat lady has finished her rehersal and is ascending the stage. Que Sera, Sera. It's the end of the world as we know it.



Fuck. I should get out more . . . or, not.

[YSR]

Ordinary flu kills more people than this (not that we even know for certain how many this bug has killed), so I suspect there is a sub-text here (i.e., to keep us scared -- and it looks like it has worked with a few of you wimps!).

True, but the reason why this is such a concern is that it spreads way more quickly and easily than ordinary influenza. As such, it is a concern because a minute mutation or two could turn it from a mildly dangerous and infectious disease to a serious threat. That's why people are focusing so hard on containing it.

[MarxSchmarx]

True, but it's moving quickly to Edomex and San Luis Potosi. I'm sure that quarantining the DF did help somewhat, but I doubt it will stop the spread of the virus.
Just heard Nuevo Leon has also been shut down. It's a tough call, I grant you, b/c we don't know if we are seeing the worse cases in the DF (and the other cases are pretty mild like in America Barcelona or Chiapas) or if the nasty strain from the DF has spread to these other areas.

However it pisses me off that it took so long for the gov't to figure out what was going on. Given that there are local world-class universities, why they felt samples had to be sent to Canada is beyond me. Suffice it to say that once again the regular people suffer for the ineptitude of the elites. Well what else is new, I guess.

RL:


Ordinary flu kills more people than this (not that we even know for certain how many this bug has killed), so I suspect there is a sub-text here (i.e., to keep us scared -- and it looks like it has worked with a few of you wimps!).The poroblem with this is that there is not effective anti-viral traeatment like there is every year for the ordinary flu. The resources for veterinary problems are seriously underfunded, the regular human influenza virus is very well-studied and we know how to take it down, well, at least in the short term. It is kind of a rock-scissors-paper game, but not so with viral strains from other organisms.

The problem with ordinary flu really is a social problem, not a medical problem. The problem with this unfortunately is both a socail problem and a medical/scientific problem.

[Forward Union]

I'm about as scared of this as I was of Bird flu and sars

[Klepto]

While this is certainly a worrying story I strongly believe it is being hyped in order to distract attention from some of the other things that are happening now. I am much more worried about the new front in the 'war on terror' that is opening up in Pakistan, I have felt that since the fall of Musharraf's regime that there has been a propaganda campaign designed to build support for an invasion of that country. This is the endless war that Orwell described in 1984.

[Killfacer]

Anyone remember bird flue, mad cow disease and SARS?

[NecroCommie]

I am not worried. This is mainly because I have more pressing matters of survival than to worry about the outbreak of an international killer virus. I need a job.

Second of all, why the fuck should I be worried about a possible killer virus, when AIDS is an already existing killer virus. This new mania about swine flu is just mass media trying to profit out of something during this slight break in political catastrophies. If they were authentically interested about peoples health they would spend money to combat HIV.

[Dr Mindbender]

I am not worried. This is mainly because I have more pressing matters of survival than to worry about the outbreak of an international killer virus. I need a job.

Second of all, why the fuck should I be worried about a possible killer virus, when AIDS is an already existing killer virus. This new mania about swine flu is just mass media trying to profit out of something during this slight break in political catastrophies. If they were authentically interested about peoples health they would spend money to combat HIV.

all good points, but the reason this is 'scarier' than AIDS or CJD is because you can catch it by breathing it in, making it impossible to avoid in an outbreak situation.

The recession aside, i'd say the airborne virus represents mankind's other 'big threat' so on a long term scale, i do worry.

[Holden Caulfield]

I'm shitting it.
I've stopped breathing all together just to be on the safe side

[Dr Mindbender]

I'm shitting it.
I've stopped breathing all together just to be on the safe side

i did say 'outbreak' situation.

Watch the dustin hoffman movie by the same name, you'll see why it could be scary.

Although ebola or smallpox worries me more than any flu variant.

[communard resolution]

Very worried, yes. I predict that in no time we'll have a situation not unlike the scenarios in Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later. Anyone who sneezes will be shot in the head instantly.

[Dóchas]

Very worried, yes. I predict that in no time we'll have a situation not unlike the scenarios in Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later. Anyone who sneezes will be shot in the head instantly.


or in Doomsday, we will just have to quarintine Mexico

[NecroCommie]

all good points, but the reason this is 'scarier' than AIDS or CJD is because you can catch it by breathing it in, making it impossible to avoid in an outbreak situation.

The recession aside, i'd say the airborne virus represents mankind's other 'big threat' so on a long term scale, i do worry.

OK I admit that I was a bit dramatizing. More accurate for me would be to say that I only start worrying when my actions might get me infected. Before that, worrying is pretty much useless. Being up to date hurts no one though.

The media hyping is always annoying.

[piet11111]

i am thinking that there might actually be 2 strains namely the one in mexico that actually kills people and another that is not really lethal.

the kid that died in Britain came from Mexico i heard on the tv news today so he/she probably got the lethal strain.

only reason i can think of why people in mexico die and in the rest of the world everybody i know of from the media lives.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

i am thinking that there might actually be 2 strains namely the one in mexico that actually kills people and another that is not really lethal.

the kid that died in Britain came from Mexico i heard on the tv news today so he/she probably got the lethal strain.

only reason i can think of why people in mexico die and in the rest of the world everybody i know of from the media lives.

No it isn't that there are two strains it's that people in Mexico who are dying are people who haven't been treated with Tamiflu.

[Mowgli]

http://izismile.com/img/img2/20090429/selection_144_62.jpg

[Dr Mindbender]

Oi, global mods...

Can this thread be merged with this one please?

http://www.revleft.com/vb/mexico-fights-swine-t107386/index.html

[MarxSchmarx]

i am thinking that there might actually be 2 strains namely the one in mexico that actually kills people and another that is not really lethal.Pretty much. There are actually multiple strains running around all the time. THe non-lethal kind is there, it just doesn't get detected as much b/c most people assume it is the common flu and eventually recover.

The lethal strain is new, although at this point the lethal strain is restricted to a few areas within the republic:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/28/swine.flu.mexico/

Sadly, it is no exception that while Mexico has an average public health infrastructure, it still fails far too many people.

Think of it this way. What we're seeing is probably the tip of the iceburg, but that's not a bad thing. The "tip" is the lethal strain, most people infected with it get over it within a few days.

[Dr Mindbender]

Update-

Today at my wifes workplace people were being prevented from leaving for several hours, and werent told what was going on by management. Suddenly, a fleet of 5 ambulances showed up at the front door and several people were being seen taken away in wheelchairs while it was filmed by a BBC news crew.

Make of that what you will.

[NecroCommie]

It was a government abduction of specimen in their attempt to research a vaccine for alien virus, which on the other hand would render humanity half-alien in order for us to succesfully carry alien babies, thusly enabling large scale colonization of earth and the enslavement of the entire human race.

[piet11111]

It was a government abduction of specimen in their attempt to research a vaccine for alien virus, which on the other hand would render humanity half-alien in order for us to succesfully carry alien babies, thusly enabling large scale colonization of earth and the enslavement of the entire human race.

whew i thought it might be something serious :confused:

[Glenn Beck]

Waah waah, bird flu, SARS, media hype.:drool:

Guess what: those viruses didn't stop existing just because the media stopped covering them. And they both were taken quite seriously by health authorities and cost a bundle to deal with. They were contained partly due to human effort but mostly because through dumb luck they did not mutate into a more virulent form. The reason SARS and bird flu are not a serious global threat is because they are not contagious enough but they are both quite dangerous especially on a social level.

Taking the fact that bourgeois institutions (like the Mexican government for instance) take advantage of the threat of crisis or catastrophe to consolidate their power and push their petty interests shouldn't surprise anyone. The media had tons of sensationalist reporting of 9/11 too. And the US government used the shock of the event to launch TWO wars. Was 9/11 then just hype? Certainly they are giving play to the worst possible scenario because that's their game but that doesn't mean that all is right with the world.

We have serious problems with our agricultural systems leading to a greater possibility of new virus strains and an inadequate health infrastructure to deal with a real pandemic threat, and that's problematic. Regardless of whether swine flu blows over in a couple of months or goes down in the history books as the latest big disease the situation will remain the same.

[MilitantAnarchist]

Its all bollocks... its a mixture of media hype and shock tactics... Its certainly got everyones mind off the recession hasnt it?
Also, i have a feeling that the governments are planning somthing big from this... i dunno, its just the flu aint it?
How many millions of people live in Mexico, only 100 n somthing people have died... its not even a percentage...
Its here now for a few months, to ruin the summer.... we'll have a few old people die, a couple of babies die, sell a few billion newspapers, forget about the recession, and the fat cats will watch the money roll in from vacinations, donations n watever......
Or maybe its their chance to kill the poor? it wouldnt surprise me if this flu was cultivated in CIA headquarters

[alexo]

No I'm not worried

[Comrade Anarchist]

it has killed >81 this year while normal flu has killed 13,000 this year. Im not to worried about swine flu

[TheWaffleCzar]

13,000 people died this year from normal influenza. It's just another strand. I heard that Mexico reduced the death toll to less than 10. No worries.

Edit: Sorry I didn't read the post above. What he said!