swine flu
 

do you have it?

i don't think i have it. no cases reported in the NLs so far.. people are recommended not to travel to Mexico though.. i wonder if it's going to be similar to the bird flu, that turned out to be quite not so epic & epidemic as predicted, thankfully.


this is funny though:


"have you been in contact with pigs lately?"

No, but all hell is breaking loose in Texas.
*sigh*

^that sounds nasty, are you affected in any way? shops closed, meetings cancelled, stuff like that?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/28/regular.flu/

Regular flu has killed thousands since January

updated 6:58 p.m. EDT, Tue April 28, 2009

CNN) -- There had been no confirmed deaths in the United States related to swine flu as of Tuesday afternoon. But another virus had killed thousands of people since January and is expected to keep killing hundreds of people every week for the rest of the year.


People are nervous about swine flu, but the regular flu kills 36,000 people a year in the United States.

That one? The regular flu.

An outbreak of swine flu that is suspected in more than 150 deaths in Mexico and has sickened dozens of people in the United States and elsewhere has grabbed the attention of a nervous public and of medical officials worried the strain will continue to mutate and spread.

Experts are nervous that, as a new strain, the swine flu will be harder to stop because there aren't any vaccines to fight it.

But even if there are swine-flu deaths outside Mexico -- and medical experts say there very well may be -- the virus would have a long way to go to match the roughly 36,000 deaths that seasonal influenza causes in the United States each year.

"That happens on an annual basis," Dr. Brian Currie said Tuesday. Currie is vice president and medical director at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York.

(ETA a 2 year old in TX died yesterday :( )

varkensgriep = pig flu?

No. But Germany is into it now, even one case down in Regensburg near which most of my family lives.

Good thing is I (most likely) already had influenza A over the Easter days so I should have partial immunity, bad thing is I have a heavy throat infection meanwhile (coughing out died-off slime-skin since days, nasty, but at least the pain is almost gone, doc made huge eyes when she saw my throat last week) and also the slime-skin in my sinuses is still irritated, so a new infection could slip in easy (heavily eating garlic atm, double protection: a good antibiotic & antiviral natural med, plus ppl stay away :D) I just gave the drugstore lady a semi-heart attack today when I bought my load of mucus-solvents, throat spray and nose-spray. I explained then to her with almost-no-voice that I ain't got it etc, but she was very apocalyptic.... OK, she additionally felt quite claustrophobic as our poor lil Schlecker store is already totally boarded cos of Walpurgisnight/Mayday riots....

I think most likely too much fuss is made (like what Lukku posted bout the "normal" flu), but too much may be better than too few, dunno?

I had a little bird
Its name was Enza
I opened the window
And in-flu-enza


childs' rhyme from the times of the Spanish flu

Eat GARLIC! :)

They're starting to close public schools in several spots, but no shops closed yet. Yesterday a baby from Brownsville (on the border with Mexico) died from it even after they airlifted for treatment in Houston :(, so I'd imagine things will get taken even more seriously.

My university is still open and we're going into finals soon, so we'll see if we make it through the sememster.

I've heard they're going to rename it Novel Flu Virus, so as not to hurt any pig's feelings. So relax, everybody, probably nobody has swine flu any more. :rolleyes:

^^oi.... good luck for the Texases!

^not Mexico flu? Our health ministry whatnot officials said so.

WTF...peeps won't get a flu shot (me included...cuz flu just doesn't worry me...i wash my hands and haven't gotten a flu in over 10 years) but add an animal name in front of "flu" and suddenly its a big freeking panic: "RELEASE THE GOV'MINT TAMIFLU DOSES...OMG TRANZ SPECIES FLU...ITS THE END O DE WORLD".

I'm at school right now. To get here you exit on 2 mile West in Weslaco, Texas. One exit previous to that is International Blvd. ( a.k.a. The Bridge to Progresso, Mexico). I can ride my bike there.

i'm watching. very confusing... there's something fishy about it all though.

^human,
avian,
porcine

AND

piscine?