Swine flu.....possible pandemic - Officially named H1N1 Flu (Apr 29,09)

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I am going to have to study all of the information everyone looked up.

Robin, the children may have been sick from the stress of getting the flu, as well.
 
Hi everyone,

We have 3 confirmed cases in my county. One is a nursing home worker. The second one is an elderly person who went to another county to be hospilized for other medical reasons.
A kindergarter was the first confirmed case, she has recovered.

The 2 probable cases are 2 relatives. One person is wearing a mask around town. That is a good idea. This is a small county in California. The first death in the United States was in Texas. The mexican had come to the USA to get better medical care. We live in a county where a lot of Mexicans come to grow and pick crops during the summer. That is through most of California.
 
Hi. as far as i know , swine flu isn't nearly as fatal as bird flu was. h1n1 spreads really fast but is about as fatal as regular flu (which i'll admit is no cause for comfort) but is really not worthy of all the panic.
Current research indicates:
1)swine flu doesn't spread by eating pork or pork products (although i am a vegan by choice - this does NOT make me a hypocrite :D)
2)it spreads by droplet infection so as long as you stay clear in a 6 foot radius you should be safe.
3) N95 masks are used for relatives or if contact is unavoidable.
4)Tamiflu is an antiviral drug that has shown promise in treating this disease , although many governments are stockpiling on it in case of an epidemic so you probably can't get it outside of a hospital
 
Hi,

I know that you cannot get H1N1 by eating pork. That is a misconception that a lot of people have. I am glad you brought it up. I am not in a panic. I was just stating what is going on in my town and county. Today, there are 3 more probable cases of H1N1 in my town.

It is impossible to stay away from a 6 foot radius. You do not know how close a person is going to be when they cough. My husband was in a pharmacy line to get medicine. The person next to him coughed right on him. It was a good thing he did not have H1N1.

I had to go to the ER last evening. We do have the N95 masks. Thank you for letting us know that they are the best. We did not know that. We wore them. The nurses there said that we must have a cough to be wearing them. My husband told them that we did not have a cough. We were doing it as a precaution to keep from getting it from anyone who might have it. If they have it, they go to the ER. The ER tests everyone for it. That is a good thing. A lot of the media is overkill and misconceptions.
 
My hospital is in the process of procuring N99 masks (which are supposedly the best) for the personnel who have to take nasal swabs of those suspected to have H1N1. The procedure virtually guarantees that the affected person will cough/sneeze on you so it's important to be safe.
I think a large part of the hype over H1N1 is because people think it spreads by aerosolisation (like H5N1 bird flu) whearas it doesn't.
Anyway , knock on wood, there are no confirmed cases in my country as yet but we're taking precautions nonetheless.
 
Afghanistan's only known pig has been locked in a room, away from visitors to Kabul zoo where it normally grazes beside deer and goats, because people are worried it could infect them with the virus popularly known as swine flu.

The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.
Click to expand...

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5444XQ20090505

For some reason, I found this funny.
 
Hi drarvindr,
That is great that your country is prepared and taking precautions. Our country is not taking the proper precautions. California, where I live, is second only to New York in the highest number of cases.

Starting about now, Mexicans will illegally come over to California to grow, take care of the crops and harvest them. Americans will not do the work. Since they are coming over illegally, they are not checked for the H1N1 flu. I live where Mexicans come to work. My town is 50% Mexicans and 50% Americans, approximately. Most Americans in this town speak the Mexican language. I know that the flu does not come from eating pork or birds or bird droppings. We do not like bird droppings when they land on us.
 
Bernard,

That is correct, it is against their religion and other religions. I put that in my poem. I did not know that they had one pig. That is interesting. I guess it is for tourists to pay to see.
 
Hi epileric,

Your link has the word story in it. That is all I believe it is. They have not proven it yet, have they? I have not eaten pork for years because I do not like the taste.

I quess this is not a sickness you like. None of us want it. Three more probable cases are in my town today. I am not in a panic. I am just letting everyone know how my town is doing.
 
We now have confirmed cases in a nearby town where my family live. It is looking like they contracted the virus on a flight home from Florida.
 
We have 22 cases in Oklahoma now, 3 in Tulsa. Fifteen are female. Nine of the cases are children under the age of 18. The ages of those affected ranges from 3 to 61. The 3 in Tulsa are being linked to local elementary schools. There has been only one person hospitalized in Oklahoma and almost all of those affected are fully recovered.

Nationwide, there are 3,352 cases confirmed in 45 states. Three deaths have been attributed to the virus.
 
Hi crazy monkey,

Sorry, to hear that. I hope your family will be all right. In our town, it stopped at 5 confirmed cases. It is suppose to be some what domant during the summer and come back with a vengeance when the flu season starts. I have not checked to see how many cases there are in California. I will check, Heather.
 
Heather, I checked and we have 17 confirmed cases in California.
 
Oklahoma's up to 38 now. 4 of them in Tulsa. Yesterday, I went to the grocery store and saw someone wearing a face mask. It's the first time I've seen that, since the swine flu started.
 
We wore a face mask, one time. We have had 5 cases in our town. It was somewhat dormant and now it is starting again. We are going to get face masks again. Other people in our town are wearing face masks. One or two.
 
The World Health Organisation has bowed to international pressure that it was unnecessarily stoking public alarm by raising the threshold required for it to declare a flu pandemic.

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s acting assistant director-general, confirmed that the agency would increase its assessment of the H1N1 swine flu virus alert to its highest level, dubbed phase six, only if there were signs of greater severity rather than its broader geographical spread.

His comment came even as the US sharply stepped up preparations for a pandemic by announcing that it would spend $1bn (€713m, £628m) on developing a vaccine to the virus while making clear it had not yet decided on its mass deployment.

The US had held back from criticising the WHO’s pandemic assessment scale, but other countries including the UK, Japan and China all called for a change in its ratings system to address public perceptions.

Margaret Chan, the agency’s director-general, had previously tried to educate the public on its assessment system, by stressing that a pandemic did not have to be deadly and was a technical alert to health agencies to gear up disease preparations and surveillance.

But in her concluding address on Friday to the World Health Assembly, the agency’s annual meeting attended by health ministers, she said: “The decision to declare an influenza pandemic is a responsibility, and a duty, that I take very, very seriously. I will consider all the scientific information available. But I will also consider the fact that science finds its application and its value in serving people. And in serving people, we need their confidence, their comprehension, and their trust.”

Mr Fukuda later told a press conference: “What we are looking for and what we will be looking for is . .. events which signify a really substantial increase in risk of harm to people.”

Amid fears that the virus could return in a more lethal form, Kathleen Sebelius, the US health and human services secretary, said the money would be spent on clinical studies and the commercial-scale production of two potential vaccines.

“Our goal throughout this new H1N1 outbreak has been to stay one step ahead of the virus,” she said. “The actions we are taking today will help us be prepared if a vaccine is needed.”

The Obama administration has also asked Congress for an additional $1.5bn for “pandemic preparedness and response”.

That request, included in a bill funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is set to be approved soon. The US Senate has backed the funding legislation but still must iron out any differences with the House of Representatives.
Click to expand...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f73736ec-46f5-11de-923e-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
 
Thank you Robin for the information.

I am telling everyone what I am up to. I have a fever and an upset stomach. I am wearning a respirator. I saw people the other day. It takes 2 days for the flu to show up in people.

A lot of people are spreading it, not knowing that they have it. My son is going to stay at home and wear a respirator. My husband refuses to wear a respirator.

I do not know if I have the H1N1 flu. Where I live, a flu called the West Nile virus goes around this time of year. It is like the regular flu. If I get worse, I will let you know.
 
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