"Does this mask make me look paranoid?"

So swine flu is pretty much like the plain old, boring flu we've had for years?

playdate: "Does this mask make me look paranoid?"

no, but it really brings out the maniacal in your eyes quite nicely.

should i PANIC?

#8 on Drew's interpretive dance of a Cracked article?

I thought they said earlier that it targetted people with strong, healthy immune systems. I guess revised estimate is that if you're already dying from something, consider yourself toast.

Biness: should i PANIC?

Nah. Instead, you should H1N1C!!!!!!

Is that John C. McGinley?

jake_lex: So swine flu is pretty much like the plain old, boring flu we've had for years?

At it's current stage, yeah. Well, aside from the problem that a majority of the people (I think I heard "Under 58" on NPR?) have no natural immunity to it *whatsoever*, since it's not like any flu our body has seen before.. so our immune system can't do the ".. Wait, I've seen something like that before, NUKE THE SITE FROM ORBIT/SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING" response where you don't get full-blown flu.

So there are gonna be a LOT of sick people this winter.

Sweet! I love things that are killer.

Basically, at this point if you have H1N1 and your a piano falls 17 stories onto your head, your death will be in the papers as OMG TEH SWINE FLU with the underling health problem of having had a piano fall on you. Except the piano part won't be specified.

Teknowaffle: Is that John C. McGinley?

Don't know, but they've got that poster up a lot of places.

"Covering your sneezes prevents diseases!" or something like that.

same can be said for HIV:

"HIV is neither necessary nor sufficient to cause AIDS.
AIDS does not inevitably lead to death, especially if you suppress the co-factors that support the disease. I think we should put the same weight now on the co-factors as we have on HIV."

Luc Montagnier, -the discoverer of HIV.

In order to combat this pandemic outbreak I am making the ultimate sacrifice. In order to help save humanity and the world, from this point forward I will consume as much of this as possible.



Just trying to do my part.

BloodyL: Teknowaffle: Is that John C. McGinley?

Don't know, but they've got that poster up a lot of places.

"Covering your sneezes prevents diseases!" or something like that.

It almost looks like he is starting to blow chunks after jamming his fingers down his throat.

icanhazstapler: I thought they said earlier that it targetted people with strong, healthy immune systems.


How would that work exactly?

Teknowaffle: Is that John C. McGinley?

Holy crap. That's awesome.

Boobiesontheside: icanhazstapler: I thought they said earlier that it targetted people with strong, healthy immune systems.


How would that work exactly?

Ya, I'm curious too.

The headline is not true.
From a news analysis in the New York Times:

A third to half of the severe and fatal cases have occurred in young and middle-aged people who were previously healthy. In contrast, seasonal flu tends to kill the frail elderly.

It's nice that people--including the head of Fark--can say the swine flu won't kill you. But if it mutates, like most viruses constantly do--and human nature again fails to be responsible in its behavior, we could lose millions very quickly. And not the elderly and not the sick.

Wash your hands, think of others, etc. Or just go on believing the regular flu is worse than the swine flu.

TheShavingofOccam123: The headline is not true.
From a news analysis in the New York Times:

A third to half of the severe and fatal cases have occurred in young and middle-aged people who were previously healthy. In contrast, seasonal flu tends to kill the frail elderly.

It's nice that people--including the head of Fark--can say the swine flu won't kill you. But if it mutates, like most viruses constantly do--and human nature again fails to be responsible in its behavior, we could lose millions very quickly. And not the elderly and not the sick.

Wash your hands, think of others, etc. Or just go on believing the regular flu is worse than the swine flu.



A third to half? Seriously? That's insanely close to 80% of statistics are made up 60% of the time.

Is it 33% or is it 50%?

b-b-but the Global Warmings will kill us all in exactly 5 months!!!!

/oh wait... wrong thread.

Swine flu, the virus that news media says will kill us all, has health officials wondering how an otherwise healthy 20 year old was killed so quickly by it

/TF only

TheShavingofOccam123 think of others, etc. Or just go on believing the regular flu is worse than the swine flu.

The statistics still show more deaths from regular than swine flu. those don't change no matter how many times "Ratings Man" the top reporter of "WGF news" short for Who Gives a Fark states that the mere sight of someone with swine flu will kill you.

is it contagious... gee, the news consistently states while reporting an occasional death that people with swine flu are sent home most of the time to recover. the word contagious doesn't imply instant death. If it did, there'd be a lot more bodies under ground due to the past several years.

Cytokine Storm: Boobiesontheside: icanhazstapler: I thought they said earlier that it targetted people with strong, healthy immune systems.


How would that work exactly?

Ya, I'm curious too.

Source (new window)

Scientists are suggesting that the swine flu virus may be more dangerous for healthy young adults because it likely kills its victims by inducing a "cytokine storm", in which a patient's hyper-activated immune system causes potentially fatal damage to the lungs.

Cytokine Storm: Ya, I'm curious too.

LOL you bastard.

Basically, if you were dying anyway, we can blame Swine Flu now.

icanhazstapler: Cytokine Storm: Ya, I'm curious too.

LOL you bastard.

Wow. That is awesome. Didn't catch that the first time either.

lordargent: Swine flu, the virus that news media says will kill us all, has health officials wondering how an otherwise healthy 20 year old was killed so quickly by it

/TF only

You can read very similar entries in 1918 by a US Army medical doctor about rooms of young extremely healthy soldiers showing up sick in the morning and dead in the evening. I believe that doctor died from it too.

It to the Spanish Influenza 2 years to end. And it began just like this current swine flu pandemic.

The second wave of the 1918 pandemic was much deadlier than the first. During the first wave, which began in early March, the epidemic resembled typical flu epidemics. Those at the most risk were the sick and elderly, and younger, healthier people recovered easily. But in August, when the second wave began in France, Sierra Leone and the United States, the virus had mutated to a much more deadly form.

TheShavingofOccam123: lordargent: Swine flu, the virus that news media says will kill us all, has health officials wondering how an otherwise healthy 20 year old was killed so quickly by it

/TF only

You can read very similar entries in 1918 by a US Army medical doctor about rooms of young extremely healthy soldiers showing up sick in the morning and dead in the evening. I believe that doctor died from it too.

It to the Spanish Influenza 2 years to end. And it began just like this current swine flu pandemic.

The second wave of the 1918 pandemic was much deadlier than the first. During the first wave, which began in early March, the epidemic resembled typical flu epidemics. Those at the most risk were the sick and elderly, and younger, healthier people recovered easily. But in August, when the second wave began in France, Sierra Leone and the United States, the virus had mutated to a much more deadly form.

But that was before Madagasgar learned the valuable lesson of closing its borders/ports/etc.

I know somebody that works in the contagious disease section of one of the Montreal children hospitals - the wards with aids, swine flue... patients. Even the doctors are really concerned with this one. Most of the patients are between 10 and 18. You have 2 types. The first type shows severe symptoms... vomiting, diarrhea, fever, but they are not the critical cases. The critical cases show relatively mild symptoms, aside from the fact that their lungs are filled with liquid and without modern medical treatment, they would drown in their own fluids. I don't mean to sound alarmist, but the hospital is treating hundreds of cases, and if the cases go into the thousands or tens of thousands you have to wonder what the mortality rate would be due to there not being enough infrastructure to handle the masses?

By this time next year, only 99.3% of us will still be here.

/if I get the SwineSARSHerpAIDS, I'm going out the way I'd always planned
//hand on junk

Clearly the only thing to do is force every man, woman and child to receive experimental inoculations with unknown side effects to the great profit of the pharmaceutical companies.
Oh wait, can't people sue over those side effects? They can't? Excellent.


In all seriousness though, since travel was slower in 1918 the flu spread slower. When doctors on the west coast contacted doctors on the east coast and asked what they could do to prepare, the were told "Start building more coffins now!"
Turns out the ran out on the east coast due to the number of deaths.

KingKauff: But that was before Madagasgar learned the valuable lesson of closing its borders/ports/etc.

You can never be too careful.

playdate: "Does this mask make me look paranoid?"

Reminded me of this..



/Hot like clowns cutting up a bicycle with a blowtorch

Nothing we don't already know. And ignore.

TheShavingofOccam123:

Wash your hands, think of others, etc. Or just go on believing the regular flu is worse than the swine flu.

That's generally good advice, whether or not there's a pandemic.

I live in NYC and have had a really bad cough for the last week or so. Someone said I might have swine flu. I say "meh." If I do, it's really really really mild.

just found a new article from MSNBC Link (new window). FTA "In Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian soccer club Cruzeiro requested that the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final against an Argentine team be postponed because of a swine flu outbreak in Argentina. The swine flu epidemic has killed at least 44 people in Argentina and led to a public health emergency being declared in the capital of Buenos Aires last week."

I guess at least 44 people in Buenos Aires have underlying medical conditions. Of course, it is their flu season right now. It should be fun when it is our flu season.

Well, Subby, when people ask "what did Eazy-E die from?" they usually say "AIDS" which we know doesn't kill you, per se...

degreeless: playdate: "Does this mask make me look paranoid?"

Reminded me of this..



/Hot like clowns cutting up a bicycle with a blowtorch

How the fark am I going to sleep now you clown.

/clowns
//i farking hate clowns.
\\funny slashie

greentea1985: just found a new article from MSNBC Link (new window). FTA "In Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian soccer club Cruzeiro requested that the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final against an Argentine team be postponed because of a swine flu outbreak in Argentina. The swine flu epidemic has killed at least 44 people in Argentina and led to a public health emergency being declared in the capital of Buenos Aires last week."

I guess at least 44 people in Buenos Aires have underlying medical conditions. Of course, it is their flu season right now. It should be fun when it is our flu season.

They said 44 in Argentina, not just Buenos Aires. I can easily believe that 44 of the 40 million people in Argentina have serious underlying medical conditions.

Anyway, there's not really much point in worrying about it. Just wash your hands and don't sneeze in people's faces, which is what you should do anyway. That's about all the control you have over the situation.

Exhibit A: Notice the scale on the left is exponential and since early May, the total number of confirmed cases have doubled every two weeks:



Exhibit B: The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the US have already surpassed the total of regular flu. However, most folks don't get tested for regular flu. It is interesting to note however that by week 19, flu activity is almost always gone in the US - however it redoubled efforts and was going quite strong until week 25.



Exhibit C: Of the 84 children (18 or under) who have died of the flu this year in the US, 17 confirmed died from H1N1 Swine flu, with 22 likely from H1N1. That's a bit over 25%. 8 kids in the US died this week from Swine Flu alone.



Wait until the real flu season hits this fall . . .

Told ya so.

That's it, stick to your guns in the face of the facts, Drew. It worked for the miasma theorists^, right?

Quote selectively!

Boobiesontheside: icanhazstapler: I thought they said earlier that it targetted people with strong, healthy immune systems.


How would that work exactly?

Dunno, but I remember reading that as well.

Oops, should read whole thread before replying.

Maybe it started off as a real badass, and then figured out it was easier to just go for the easy meat.

I'm still waiting for the flesh eating bacteria to, you know, eat me.

Attack of the Killer Asterisk?