Killer Flu...

[Alan Sex]

They said a black president would be elected when pigs fly.

 

Whadya know...

 

I'll get my coat.

 

[Karl_b]

Thanks Karl, you get the Affleck mural.

 

Sweet.

 

Any update on the GF death count?

[Section_31]

Thought I was coming down with something nasty yesterday. Woke up with SEVERE joint pains, I spewed up a bit of blood and then I was spit-spot. Keeping it real now though.

[aiyic]

This is a great common-sense video from YT great - Thunderf00t.

He talks about how some of the common misconceptions - comparing potenial swine-flu pandemic and regular seasonal-flu, and also how ignorance can make huge projective differences.

 

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

[Anubis]

Just thought I'd check if any of you were dead yet?

[Carradona]

I am.

[Karl_b]

The Sir is.

[The Special One]

My cousin's husband is a resident in the States and he's been contracted with it. No big deal he's just on quarantine and being treated accordingly.

[Section_31]

My cousin's husband is a resident in the States and he's been contracted with it. No big deal he's got no health insurance and is being treated accordingly.

 

[The Special One]

Racist.

[Crazyhorse7778]

Never has the race card been played so flawlessly.

[Stu Monty]

How can it be racist when there's a black man a white man and an arab in that picture?

 

Exactly. Case closed.

[Dirk]

How can it be racist when there's a black man a white man and an arab in that picture?

 

Exactly. Case closed.

 

Genius.

[Crazyhorse7778]

Iceland has taken steps to prevent Swine Flu.

 

 

They've sacked Kerry Katona.

[Melchett]

Man Flu > Swine Flu- The Facts...

 

1. Man-Flu is more painful than childbirth. This is an irrefutable scientific fact*.

*(Based on a survey of over 100,000 men.)

 

2. Man-Flu is not 'just a cold'. It is a condition so severe that the germs from a single Man-Flu sneeze could wipe out entire tribes of people living in the rainforest. And probably loads of monkeys too.

 

3. Women do not contract Man-Flu. At worst they suffer from what is medically recognised as a 'Mild Girly Sniffle' which, if a man caught, he would still be able to run, throw a ball, tear the phone book in half and compete in all other kinds of manly activities.

 

4. Men do not 'moan' when they have Man-Flu. They emit involuntary groans of agony that are entirely in proportion to the unbearable pain they are in.

 

5. Full recovery from Man-Flu will take place much quicker if their simple requests for care, sympathy and regular cups of tea are met. Is that really so much to ask? Florence Nightingale would have done it

 

6. More men die each year from MFN (Man-Flu Neglect) than lots and lots of other things. (Like rabbit attacks or choking on toast).

 

7. Men suffering from Man-Flu want nothing more than to get out of bed and come to work, but they are too selfless to risk spreading this awful condition amongst their friends and colleagues. In this sense, they are the greatest heroes this country has ever known.

 

8. In 1982 scientists managed to simulate the agonising symptoms of full blown Man-Flu in a female chimp. She became so ill that her head literally fell off.

 

9. Man-Flu germs are more powerful than He-Man, The Thundercats and The A-Team combined. They are too strong for weak, nasty tasting 'lady medicines' like Lemsip, so don't bother trying to force them on a victim of Man-Flu.

 

10. While it may seem like a Man-Flu sufferer is just lying around enjoying 'Diagnosis Murder' it is a commonly recognised medical fact that the exact pitch and frequency of Dick Van Dyke's voice has remarkable soothing powers.

 

Every minute in this country one man is struck down by Man-Flu. Women, all we ask is that each of you offers them a cup of tea, some kind words and your undivided attention and care. Then maybe, just maybe, we'll beat this monstrous disease together.

[Dirk]

World getting 'very close' to swine flu pandemic: WHO

 

1 hour ago

 

GENEVA (AFP) — The World Health Organisation on Tuesday assessed that the world was getting "very very close" to a swine flu pandemic, saying that it was racing to prepare countries for such a situation.

 

"We are getting very very close," said Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, noting that in Australia, there was now "a great deal of activity in Victoria at the community level."

 

Under the WHO's guidelines, one key criteria for declaring a pandemic would be established community spread in a country outside the first region in which the disease was initially reported, in this case, outside the Americas.

 

The WHO has so far left its six-level pandemic alert scale unchanged at phase five, signalling that a pandemic is "imminent."

 

The UN health agency's guidelines had initially focused on the geographical criteria to justify a phase change. However, member states have called on the agency to take other elements, such as severity of the disease into account.

 

On Tuesday, Fukuda played down the role of severity, saying that "by going to phase six, what this would mean is that the spread of the virus continues and activity has become established in at least two regions in the world.

 

"It doesn't mean that the severity of the situation has increased," he said.

 

But when asked if the situation in Australia, where 1,211 cases of infections have been recorded, warranted a phase change, Fukuda would only say that the world was "getting very, very close" to a pandemic.

 

"The declaration of phase changes... is not simply getting up in front of press cameras or making an announcement. It's really a way of preparing the world to deal with the situation," said Fukuda, adding that a "great deal of work has to be done."

 

This includes ensuring that countries had the information and tools to handle increased numbers of patients as well as to deal with inquiries from the population.

 

"Right now we feel that the essential steps which should be taken are on the way," he said.

 

Giving an update on the swine flu situation throughout the world, Fukuda said 26,563 infections including 140 deaths have been reported to the health agency from 73 countries.

 

Fukuda pointed in particular to the situation in Inuit communities in Canada where "a disproportionate number of serious cases is occurring.

 

"At this time, we know that a larger number than expected of young Inuit people did develop serious illness and has had to get hospitalised," he said.

 

Fukuda said he was unable to pinpoint the reasons for the trend.

 

"We know in past pandemics that Inuit populations were very severely hit, that's why these reports raised such concerns to us," he said.

 

AFP: World getting 'very close' to swine flu pandemic: WHO

[Herp McDerp]

The government has been way to lax over here.

[The-Sir]

I'm just getting sick to death of it to be honest. (D'ya geddit?!)

 

Who's arsed if I die of swine flu, at least then I wouldn't have to listen to any more of this swine flu bollocks anymore.

[Karl_b]

A tutor at our uni has contracted it.

 

It seems to be sneaking up on us.

[Anubis]

I see you've finally bagged yourself Pandemic status. Congratulations - it's only taken you the best part of three fucking months. What type of flu are you? A shit flu, that's what type.

[Malarkey]

Mexico in ten days for me. Over 24,000 cases and only 141 deaths in over 70 countries. I think I'll take my chances.

[Mr T]

Nothing to see here, move along...

 

UK swine flu can no longer be contained | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

Swine flu is spreading so rapidly across Britain that there could be 100,000 new cases a day by the end of next month, the health secretary, Andy Burnham, said today.

 

The UK would immediately move to the "treatment phase" of its plan to combat swine flu, meaning doctors would no longer test for the H1N1 virus and urge anyone with symptoms to stay at home, Burnham told the House of Commons.

 

The first swine flu vaccine would be made available from August, with 60 million doses available by the end of the year, he added.

 

"We have reached the next stage in management of the disease," Burnham said. "The national focus will be on treating the increasing numbers affected by swine flu. We will move to this treatment phase across the UK with immediate effect."

 

The move does not mean the H1N1 virus, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation last month, is becoming more deadly, just that it can no longer be contained.

 

Burnham said there was a "considerable rise" in swine flu cases last week.

 

"We have always known it would be impossible to contain the virus indefinitely and at some point we would need to move away from containment to treatment.

 

"Cases are doubling every week and on this trend we could see over 100,000 cases per day by the end of August.

 

"The pressure on the system is such that it is the right time to take this step. Scientists can expect to see rapid rises in the number of cases."

 

The Health Protection Agency today announced that another 518 patients in England had been confirmed with swine flu, while the figure for the UK as a whole rose to 7,447.

 

Efforts to trace people who had been in contact with swine flu cases would now stop and schools no longer needed to close when hit by the virus, unless particular circumstances made it necessary.

 

The government has said that not everybody with swine flu would receive anti-viral drugs, which may be reserved for at-risk groups.

 

The daily collation of swine flu cases would also end because it was proving time-consuming. Instead, "more general" estimates of numbers would be given. Other affected countries already update their swine flu numbers less frequently, such as weekly or every other day.

 

The official statistics on the virus were likely to underestimate the true scale of infection in the UK because now only a sample of patients in the hotspots had a diagnosis of swine flu confirmed by lab tests. Many people were thought to have such mild symptoms that they were not bothering to contact their doctors while others were being treated in surgeries without being regarded as suspected swine flu cases.

 

In swine flu hotspots such as London, the West Midlands and parts of Scotland diagnosis of the virus was already being done by doctors rather than laboratory testing, and tracing the contacts of people with swine flu and the use of preventative anti-viral drugs had stopped. Anti-viral drugs were still being offered to all people with symptoms.

 

Although a bout of swine flu was currently causing less serious illness than traditional seasonal flu, three people with other serious health conditions in the UK have died after catching the virus and there are concerns it could mutate into a more virulent form.

 

The chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has warned that there may be tens of thousands of cases each week this autumn, because the virus is more likely to thrive in a colder climate.

 

 

Thank fuck we've got that genius Burnham in charge, what could possibly go wrong?

[Dirk]

It's not a political issue, the information Burnham will be spouting will be given to him by scientists. What's concerning about this is how contagious it is. People are wrongly, in my opinion focusing on how mild the symptoms are. Pandemic flu tends to spread in waves, the second wave of the Spanish Flu pandemic killed the most people. The virus, in its current form is mild but if it mutates with a more virulent seasonal flu strain or, the worst case scenarion H5N1 which has a 60% mortality rate, we could end up with a strain that is highly contagious and highly virulent. Yet people are denouncing it as a storm in a tea cup. People might want to develop a plan or a strategy for dealing with it in case it gets worse.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Dirk

[Section_31]

It's not a political issue, the information Burnham will be spouting will be given to him by scientists. What's concerning about this is how contagious it is. People are wrongly, in my opinion focusing on how mild the symptoms are. Pandemic flu tends to spread in waves, the second wave of the Spanish Flu pandemic killed the most people. The virus, in its current form is mild but if it mutates with a more virulent seasonal flu strain or, the worst case scenarion H5N1 which has a 60% mortality rate, we could end up with a strain that his highly contagious and highly virulent. Yet people are denouncing it as a storm in a tea cup. People might want to develop a plan or a strategy for dealing with it in case it becomes far worse than we hope it won't.

 

Everyone I know who's 'in the know' thinks this is majorly scary shit. My mate's bird is a Dr of Biochemistry and when this all kicked off she was at a conference, and virtually all talk was that this could be 'the big one'.

 

You can't blame the politicians for trying to calm it down though I suppose, no point starting a riot!

[Mr T]

It's not a political issue, the information Burnham will be spouting will be given to him by scientists. What's concerning about this is how contagious it is. People are wrongly, in my opinion focusing on how mild the symptoms are. Pandemic flu tends to spread in waves, the second wave of the Spanish Flu pandemic killed the most people. The virus, in its current form is mild but if it mutates with a more virulent seasonal flu strain or, the worst case scenarion H5N1 which has a 60% mortality rate, we could end up with a strain that is highly contagious and highly virulent. Yet people are denouncing it as a storm in a tea cup. People might want to develop a plan or a strategy for dealing with it in case it gets worse.

 

Yeah, my Burnham comment was just an opportunistic pop at him. It's irrelevant really. I am amazed about how blase everyone is about this though - shows the deep distrust in anything official nowadays. Unfortunately this is one case where we should sit up and listen. Not to say that we should go round in a Corporal Jones manner, but we should take it seriously and balance the risk properly.