Swine flu raises fear of pandemic - Adults and Children

[oramar]

http://news.aol.com/health/article/2-kids-mysteriously-contact-swine-Flu/438580

[loricatus]

I'm wearing my N-95 mask as I type this.

:sofahider

Me, too :wink2:

[indigo girl]

US: Swine Flu Now Confirmed In 5 States

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2009/04/us-swine-flu-now-confirmed-in-5-states.html

Canada confirms four H1N1 cases in Nova Scotia, two in British Columbia

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2009/04/canada-confirms-four-h1n1-cases-in-nova-scotia-two-in-british-columbia.html

[indigo girl]

HHS to Declare Public Health Emergency

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2009/04/hhs-to-declare-public-health-emergency.html

Sunday's CDC Teleconference on Swine Flu

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2009/04/sundays-cdc-teleconference-on-swine-flu.html

[feralnostalgia]

of course, the meat industry is still going to continue to use factory farming...where millions of animals are confined in unsanitary conditions and given CONSTANT doses of antibiotics, just to ensure that superbugs, immune to standard treatment, are definitely going to develop.

70% of all US produced antibiotics are given directly to factory farmed meat animals to promote growth.*

Measles, TB, Smallpox, Influenza, and Pertussis all mutated from domesticated animals before becoming human diseases. (this is why hunter-gathered populations tend to be the ones wiped out by pandemic disease from groups of people who keep domesticated animals.) the idea of giving factory farm animals antibiotics in every meal is absolutely horrifying, and contributes hugely to the risk of a drug-resistant pandemic. buy free range and organic meat if you really care about preventing pandemics...or better yet, go vegetarian.

*source: Mellon M, Benbrook C, Benbrook KL. Hogging It: Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock. Cambridge, MA:Union of Concerned Scientists, 2001.

[LaneyB]

Until the CDC says I need to worry I am not going to worry.

The US has declared a public health emergency. A little worrying is in order.

[LaneyB]

To clarify - not alot of worrying, but a little is appropriate. I have a stockpile of food, water etc.

[yelnikmcwawa]

the swine flu is nothing new. it has been in existence since we've been farming pork. i haven't looked too much into it, but i do know of several fatal u.s. cases of it from way back in the 1970's and 1980's.

this is media hysteria...just like ebola and sars. yes, it can be a deadly disease and is of course devastating to any family who loses a loved one by it...but people die every day from influenza strains all over the world. hundreds...thousands of people die of influenza each year, and we never make this big a deal out of it.

yes, these diseases pose a public health threat, but i doubt that this is like some big tornado coming to kill us all. again, people have been getting swine flu for decades, it's just a big outbreak now. no different from any other waxing and waning cases of diseases each year.

[LaneyB]

The seasonal flu vaccine will not protect against this virus. They are unsure at this point if it offers any benefit. This virus has swine and bird flu elements, which humans have no immunity to, so this could be very bad. The good news so far is the cases in the US have been mild.

[GilaRRT]

I have been watching this breaking news with much interest. Unfortunately, I can only come up with one conclusion. The zombies are coming, the zombies are coming to eat our flesh. We had best be ready...

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I'm wondering if this is just going to fizzle out and surprise us.

I would love to know why the cases in the US haven't been deadly compared to the cases in Mexico. Maybe enough people haven't been infected in the US yet, to have a true picture of the mortality stats.

[yelnikmcwawa]

Does this mean I can move on from being terrified of Ebola, SARS, Mad Cow Disease, and Avian Flu??? :chuckle

[yelnikmcwawa]

Unfortunately, I can only come up with one conclusion. The zombies are coming, the zombies are coming to eat our flesh. We had best be ready...

Haha!