Are you really surprised?
approximately 70% of pigs/hogs have pneumonia at the time of slaughter.
pork production is higher now than ever before - with fewer farms, leading to the type of cramped living conditions for the animals that are a breeding ground for awesome new diseases.
am I worried? pffft, no.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Anyone worried yet?[/quote]
Pandemic, pft.
By definition, an influenza pandemic is one that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population. The 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic was responsible for over 50 million deaths, as an example.
Maybe we’ve lowered our standards a bit, but calling the current swine flu outbreak a pandemic might be a tad premature. 20 cases reported in the U.S. so far, and all recovered or recovering. Mexico has had about 1,000 reported cases and 81 deaths.
In the 2007-08 flu season in the U.S., there over 36,000 deaths attributed to flu. The at risk-population in a flu outbreak are people aged under 4 years, over 70, and those with compromised immune systems. Those that die usually do so from pneumonia acquired during the course of the infection - direct deaths from the flu virus are probably less than 5% of the total figure.
So in a normal flu season, a lot of people die. Anyone remember the Swine Flu scare of the 70’s? It also turned out to be a tempest in a teapot.
Want to improve your chances? Wash your hands frequently (especially after shaking hands with others), avoid touching your mouth or eyes, eat well, and if you are really paranoid, buy some disposable surgical masks for when you have to sit on an airplane. Of course that might get you in trouble with TSA…
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Oink[/quote]
brilliant
Worrying about something which you don’t have control over is pointless. But being 100% sure it’ll NEVER get to me 'coz I’m like invincible or something… Heh, life can be quite ironic at times…
[quote]miroku333 wrote:
Are you really surprised?
approximately 70% of pigs/hogs have pneumonia at the time of slaughter.
pork production is higher now than ever before - with fewer farms, leading to the type of cramped living conditions for the animals that are a breeding ground for awesome new diseases.
am I worried? pffft, no.[/quote]
Should’ve included massive tax breaks and investment incentives for free range, organic farming techniques in the stimulus package.
[quote]optheta wrote:
Here is a stat tracker ATM of cases -
http://map.swinefluoutbreaknews.com
[/quote]
Nnnnooooooo! Two confirmed cases in my area!
I live right across the strait from Vancouver.
I hope those trendy, prepster Vancouverites follow all the proper sanitary precautions.
The city’s half Asians anyway so maybe this’ll spur the marketing of truly fashionable medical masks.
remember Avian Flu?
Don’t worry about it, stress negatively affects your immune system.
[quote]That One Guy wrote:
Don’t worry about it, stress negatively affects your immune system.[/quote]
Well if it is true that the Swine flu affects those with healthy immune systems, I should keep worrying. Hmm…a birdy told me that staying up all night and not eating on ecstasy seems to give the birdy a little cold…maybe he should start gobbling ecstasy pills like its the 1980’s.
[quote]SeanT wrote:
That One Guy wrote:
Don’t worry about it, stress negatively affects your immune system.
Well if it is true that the Swine flu affects those with healthy immune systems, I should keep worrying. Hmm…a birdy told me that staying up all night and not eating on ecstasy seems to give the birdy a little cold…maybe he should start gobbling ecstasy pills like its the 1980’s.[/quote]
Haha yeah that’s smart, don’t let the swine flu kill you, OD and beat it to the punch!!
I think it’s the government’s way of reaffirming our trust in it. When they stifle this “pandemic” we can all cheer and praise how good our governing body is, temporarily forgetting this shit-hole of a problem we have with the economy.
Swine flu should be called “Infidel Flu,” because it seems to target Muslims.
It’s funny because V for Vendetta is on…and the part just passed where the Chancellor says, “We need to remind the people why they need us!” and the media starts putting out all these news reports about viruses and terrorist attacks happening outside the quarantine zone…
Funny.
[quote]ElbowStrike wrote:
Problem with Swine Flu, just like the global influenza epidemic of the early 20th century, is that the healthier you are the more likely you are to die.[/quote]
Great. I spend all this time getting in shape and continually honing my discipline, all to learn that it’ll make me more sick? Dis some ol’ bullshit.
Hell, my T cells do squats and tear most diseases apart. Guess it’s time for some hand washing, obsessive compulsive-style.
[quote]Mariekexet wrote:
9/11 happened to invade Iraq and take their oil.
This swine flu will in very influential in passing Universal health care.[/quote]
white mans gotta rule to world.
[quote]Mariekexet wrote:
This swine flu will in very influential in passing Universal health care.[/quote]
Good.
'Bout time ya’ll caught up with the rest of the world. ;^P
[quote]Professor X wrote:
News Update:
Pigs are mutating and growing wings all over the planet! Pandemic spreads across oceans.
Pigs join mile high club.[/quote]
Cool.
Swine flew.
swine flu will mutate, and cause the zombie apocalypse. Martial law will be instituted “for our own good” and people will finally rise up in solidarity against the oppressors!
(just trying to be optimistic) 
[quote]miroku333 wrote:
swine flu will mutate, and cause the zombie apocalypse. Martial law will be instituted “for our own good” and people will finally rise up in solidarity against the oppressors!
(just trying to be optimistic) :P[/quote]
It occurs to me that a zombie apocalypse is one of the few situations where martial law is probably appropriate.
They just discovered a few cases of this strain of flu in South Korea. I’m planning a trip through South East Asia after the semester ends, and this flu outbreak is affecting my travel plans. I’m not TOO concerned about catching it… even though I’ll be going through several less-developed countries… but I am concerned about how governments will react. I don’t wanna roll through into Hanoi, only to be told everyone goes into lockdown, with no one in or out of the country and nothing to do. Or take pictures of.
I am so getting some surgical masks though. When I first got here, I thought they looked retarded. Now I think they’re damn sexy. Or, at least not spreading disease is.
god dam it; just as i’m getting over SARS too!
[quote]Otep wrote:
miroku333 wrote:
swine flu will mutate, and cause the zombie apocalypse. Martial law will be instituted “for our own good” and people will finally rise up in solidarity against the oppressors!
(just trying to be optimistic)
It occurs to me that a zombie apocalypse is one of the few situations where martial law is probably appropriate.
They just discovered a few cases of this strain of flu in South Korea. I’m planning a trip through South East Asia after the semester ends, and this flu outbreak is affecting my travel plans. I’m not TOO concerned about catching it… even though I’ll be going through several less-developed countries… but I am concerned about how governments will react. I don’t wanna roll through into Hanoi, only to be told everyone goes into lockdown, with no one in or out of the country and nothing to do. Or take pictures of.
I am so getting some surgical masks though. When I first got here, I thought they looked retarded. Now I think they’re damn sexy. Or, at least not spreading disease is.[/quote]
If you ever have any free time, grab a pair of surgical gloves and wear them around for a day…and then look at what some people don’t wash off their hands.
In health care, you sort of fall into a routine of regular hand washing. It actually shows how resistant our bodies are that we aren’t catching diseases every single day whenever we interact with others.