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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Swine Flu Facts |
| 2009-04-29 |
| The two primary sources of information about the swine flu for you ought to be the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. There are a great many people working around the clock on the swine flu epidemic at both places. but I suspect that the website updaters are daytime employees. The frequency of updates at both sites is limited. The media is full of reports of "confirmed" cases. Take those with a grain of salt. Local testing in the U.S. is followed by testing at the CDC. Until the CDC says so, the cases are "probable". Some cases are turning out to be the seasonal flu. We can anticipate additional cases in the United States and worldwide. Influenza can take from 1-7 days to develop after exposure, with most cases taking 2-3 days. The primary killer is not the flu itself, but pneumonia. In seasonal influenza the young, elderly and immuno-compromised are at highest risk of death. |
| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |
| #7 DoD UNCLAS Swine Flu update site. HERE |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-04-29 20:03 |
| #6 Somewhat related, or maybe not - on one of the science oriented cable channels there was a program about how new historical/archaeological research is showing that the evil Spanish Conquistadors were probably not responsible for a wave of illness that wiped out most of the Aztec population in the decades following the arrival of the Spanish. I forget what the disease was, maybe hantavirus, but it was locally spawned. This may force a revision of the Guns, Germs, Steel type theories. |
| Posted by: Cynicism Inc 2009-04-29 15:15 |
| #5 Moose, while the cause of cytokine storms is not known for certain, I think the cytokine storm is an immune system response when the individual has been infected by a similar influenza strain. Which is why waves 2 and 3 were much worse in 1918. Also this is known to be the case with dengue another viral disease. Also note the cytokine storm / hemmorhagic form of dengue from infection by multiple strains is the reason why there is no vaccine for dengue. Attempts at creating vaccines causes the hemmorhagic form in the same way as previous infection by a different strain. Which is why I will not get any vaccine offered. |
| Posted by: Phil_B 2009-04-29 12:33 |
| #4 The swine flu is a firecracker compared to the nuclear weapon of avian flu. This is a never before seen virus has been sequenced and is avian/swine/human type A. That being said, many Americans were encouraged to get a flu shot last fall, with the susceptible students being the typically healthy category not advised to get one. We are probably more resistant to it from past infections, etc. |
| Posted by: Thealing Borgia 122 2009-04-29 11:58 |
| #3 Wasn't the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak of the H1N1 "swine flu" strain? I agree, it's not nearly as bad as the asian bird flu one, but it's apparent contagious characteristics are frightening. |
| Posted by: Anon4021 2009-04-29 11:06 |
| #2 That one doesn't really count. A Mexican infant brought across the border for treatment. Mortal cases of the swine flu are showing signs of being limited to Mexico, though profiling with the cytokine storm effect. However, influenza outbreaks in Mexico are very rare, because of the heat, humidity, and northern deserts acting as a barrier to the US. This means that Mexicans have far less resistance to influenza than do Americans. The cytokine storm effect happens in response to new, or significantly different influenza. So it is relative to the individual, not the disease. Ironically, this swine flu may eventually save hundreds of thousands of lives, because it is the perfect "training exercise" to prepare for the H5N1 avian flu. The swine flu is a firecracker compared to the nuclear weapon of avian flu. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-04-29 10:19 |
| #1 All of the U.S. cases to date have been mild. Not any more. Fatality reported from Texas this morning. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-04-29 10:03 |