MERGED: Swine flu (A H1N1 Virus)

[vergievergz]

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that is for preventive measures..^_^ myb there are already, but they must be sure with the info they give, for a wrong information regarding this case, is like murder..as for the virus, it is curable like any other flu..like Tamiflu as u hav sed..vaccines do not cure..jst wnt to clarify...and let's not make such a ruckus out of this, this has the capacity to be a pandemic, it is not yet a pandemic...as for now, prevention is still better than cure...

Pres. OBAMA just announced today that the SWINE FLU is no cause for alarm.

he's always a cool, calm and collected guy...but stil his announcement speaks volume..USA is close to Mexico[the alleged source of the swine flu virus], Phils? well, it's quite lucid how far we are...my point is, let's not make this a cause for alarm...though it's good to be on the safe side, let's not result to fear-mongering...

[vienzel]

@chad, duol kau ta...8 cases in NY as m watching CNN and 20 all in all in 5 US states! hahhahahaha.....saon nalang ni! sa mga taw, diha wa ko manghadlok ha......

joke2x.....masamang damo matagal mamatay ni! maligo nalang ko bleach ani oi!

work ko balik sa center wed. and friday ra ba....mask na sad ko ani! mana ato seasonal flu chad, but i worked yesterday and one of our doctors asked me to do a flu test on 2 of my patients. m just glad both at that time are negative wen i discharge the charts.

[chad_tukes]

^^no cause for panic. was just watching an interview of the acting director of CDC and he said that they're going into a more aggressive approach in dealing with this flu.

i think it'll help if i post here the 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SWINE FLU:

1. Is this a flu pandemic?

The influenza virus is constantly mutating. That's why we can't get full immunity to the flu, the way we can to diseases like chicken pox, because there are multiple strains of the flu virus and they change from year to year. However, even though the virus makes us sick, our immune systems can usually muster enough of a response so that the flu is rarely fatal for healthy people.

2. What will happen if this outbreak gets classified as a pandemic?

Moving the world to pandemic phase 4 would be the signal for serious containment actions to be taken on the national and international level. Given that these actions would have major implications for the global economy, not to mention the effects of the public fear that would ensue, there is concern that the WHO may be considering politics along with science. "What the WHO did makes no sense," says Osterholm. "In a potential pandemic, you need to have the WHO be beyond question, and (April 25) was not a good day for them."

3. Why have the U.S. cases been so much milder than the ones in Mexico?

This is the question that has health officials from Geneva to Washington puzzled. In Mexico, swine flu has caused severe respiratory disease in a number of patients - and even more worryingly, has killed the sort of young and healthy people who can normally shrug off the flu. (Fueling such concerns is the fact that similar age groups died in unusually high numbers during the 1918 pandemic.) Yet the cases in the U.S. have all been mild and likely wouldn't have even garnered much attention if doctors hadn't begun actively looking for swine flu in recent days. "What we're seeing in this country so far is not anywhere near the severity of what we're hearing about in Mexico," said the CDC's Besser. "We need to understand that."

4. How ready is the U.S. - and the world - to respond to a flu pandemic?

In some ways, the world is better prepared for a flu pandemic today than it has ever been. Thanks to concerns over H5N1 avian flu, the WHO, the U.S. and countries around the world have stockpiled millions of doses of antivirals that can help fight swine flu as well as other strains of influenza. The U.S. has a detailed pandemic preparation plan that was drafted under former President George W. Bush. Many other countries have similar plans. SARS and bird flu have given international health officials useful practice runs for dealing with a real pandemic. We can identify new viruses faster than ever before, and we have life-saving technologies - like artificial respirators and antivirals - that weren't available back in 1918. "I believe that the world is much, much better prepared than we have ever been for dealing with this kind of situation," said Fukuda.

5. So how scared should we be?

That depends on whom you ask. Officials at the CDC and the WHO have emphasized that while the swine flu situation is serious, they're responding with an abundance of precautions. Even Osterholm, who has been highly critical of the U.S. government's long-term failures to better prepare for a pandemic, gives the CDC a 9 out of 10 for its response so far. Outside of Mexico, the swine flu hasn't looked too serious yet - unlike during the SARS outbreaks of 2003, when an entirely new virus with no obvious treatment took the world by surprise. In the U.S., the normal flu season is winding down, which should make it easier for public-health officials to pick out swine flu cases from run-of-the-mill respiratory disease. And there are simple things that people can do to protect themselves, like practicing better hygiene (wash hands frequently and cover mouth and nose when sneezing) and staying away from public places or traveling if they feel sick. "There's a role for everyone to play when an outbreak is ongoing," said Besser.

But the truth is that every outbreak is unpredictable, and there's a lot we don't know yet about the new swine flu. There hasn't been a flu pandemic for more than a generation, and there hasn't been a truly virulent pandemic since long before the arrival of mass air transit. We're in terra incognito here. Panic would be counterproductive - especially if it results in knee-jerk reactions like closing international borders, which would only complicate the public-health response. But neither should we downplay our very real vulnerabilities. As Napolitano put it: "This will be a marathon, not a sprint." Be prepared.

Swine Flu: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Outbreak

[clyb]

survival of the fittest nlng ni... viruses always mutate, who knows what will come in the future...maybe we should think of this as a way of improving our race... coz by these things we improve our genes and that of the future generations. if not for these things humans would go lazy and will be at the bottom of the food chain..just my insights..

[vienzel]

just now, 28 confirmed reported cases na ang sa Queens NY, 103 deaths and 1600 reported cases as well sa Mexico na this is via CNN news as of this hour! 40 reported cases na from 20 yesterday sa 5 US states as per CDCC media conference na.

whew!!! eng....eng...

[omad]

just now, 28 confirmed reported cases na ang sa Queens NY, 103 deaths and 1600 reported cases as well sa Mexico na this is via CNN news as of this hour! 40 reported cases na from 20 yesterday sa 5 US states as per CDCC media conference na.

whew!!! eng....eng...

talking about the swine flu virus, yeah I'm worried... really really worried.

I live and work in Queens... right smack in the middle of the biggest Latino population in New York.

not only am I literally in "ground zero" (about 5 miles from St. Francis Preparatory School) but also, most of my neighbors as well as almost everybody I come in contact with ON A DAILY BASIS are from Latin America: subway/bus co-passengers, bank tellers, cab drivers, restaurant workers you name it and majority of them are Latinos.

what percentage do you think are Mexicans with regards to the whole Latino population here? how many do you think went home to Mexico for vacation recently?

I guess that explains my worries. but then again, life must go on. I'll just follow the steps/tips given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Department of Health on how to deal with this issue.

if people on the 7 train starts wearing masks, then I'll wear one too.

[omad]

Q&A: Why is swine flu such a big deal?

NBC’s Robert Bazell sorts the facts from the fears

By Robert BazellChief science and health correspondent
NBC News
updated 8:01 p.m. ET, Sun., April 26, 2009

As new cases of swine flu emerge around the globe, from Ohio to Nova Scotia to New Zealand, the declaration of a "public health emergency" in the United States has further stoked fears and confusion.

NBC Chief Science and Health Correspondent Robert Bazell answers questions on the outbreak.

If this disease is like a mild flu, why is this being called a public health emergency? And why are officials in the United States concerned?

It's about the potential. It's not about what's happening right now. None of the 40 cases so far in the United States have been very serious. But the virus here is genetically identical to the strain of the virus that is killing people in Mexico. This is a new virus so there's no natural immunity. It has the potential to spread very widely. That's what raises worries about a possible pandemic.


Don't thousands of people die from the regular flu? What's special this time around?

Generally, people who die from influenza are older people or those who already have respiratory problems. They end up dying of pneumonia. But this time around, the people who died in Mexico are younger. They are apparently healthy people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. That's a big deal. When a virus seems to preferentially affect healthy people, it suggests its a new virus and is causing an overreaction of the immune response. That's what happened with bird flu as well. Influenza is virus that is always circulating between birds and pigs and people. Some have different genes that make them more or less infectious.


I have symptoms of the flu but haven’t recently been to Mexico? Should I go to the doctor?

You should go to the doctor if you have a fever or are really sick, for instance if you have difficulty breathing, even if you haven't been to Mexico. The cases in the U.S. are not just among people who have been to Mexico. And the cases in the U.S. are so geographically dispersed and with no obvious connection to each other, that it seems this virus has already spread widely in the United States.

We shouldn’t start overwhelming emergency rooms or doctors' offices with every little sniffle or cough. But fever is the main thing. If you had the flu bad enough to start endangering you, you would feel so awful you would want to go to the doctor anyway.
You should also follow flu etiquette. If you are sick, you should stay home from work or school and limit contact with others.


Why is the disease so much more serious in Mexico than here?

Probably because it started in Mexico. That's going to become a big issue over time. There's supposed to be a pandemic prevention plan to contain a new flu virus by giving people in surrounding area Tamiflu. But it has obviously been spreading in Mexico for up to a month. The new strain of swine flu was discovered in California before the U.S. even knew about cases in Mexico. The virus could also be mutating.


Why is there so much uncertainty about what happens next?

Every epidemic has its own behavior. There's really no way of predicting. This could really just fade out or it could become very serious. Right now we are in a period of great uncertainty. In public health, that's the hardest thing.

Q&A: Why is swine flu such a big deal?

[COMCAM]

ka kuyaw ninyo diha na naa sa states - God Bless you and God Help America -

[nItO/pIrEnA]

nalingaw ko sa caricature sa newspaper ganiha...it featured the four horsemen of the apocalypse~

death, war, and famine all riding horses, while disease tags behind, mounted on a pig

[nItO/pIrEnA]

talking about the swine flu virus, yeah I'm worried... really really worried.

I live and work in Queens... right smack in the middle of the biggest Latino population in New York.

not only am I literally in "ground zero" (about 5 miles from St. Francis Preparatory School) but also, most of my neighbors as well as almost everybody I come in contact with ON A DAILY BASIS are from Latin America: subway/bus co-passengers, bank tellers, cab drivers, restaurant workers you name it and majority of them are Latinos.

what percentage do you think are Mexicans with regards to the whole Latino population here? how many do you think went home to Mexico for vacation recently?

I guess that explains my worries. but then again, life must go on. I'll just follow the steps/tips given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Department of Health on how to deal with this issue.

if people on the 7 train starts wearing masks, then I'll wear one too.

kuyaw ni nga issue if masagulan ug racist tendencies~