H1N1: Plague or Media Driven Hysteria??

[BroDeal]

I am having a hard time getting worked up over a flu that is milder than normal flu but kills more people simply because a larger percentage of the population is affected by it.

The late George Carlin on germs:

"Where did this sudden fear of germs come from in this country? Have you noticed this? The media constantly running stories about all the latest infections? Salmonella, E-coli, hanta virus, bird flu, and Americans will panic easily so everybody's running around scrubbing this and spraying that and overcooking their food and repeatedly washing their hands, trying to avoid all contact with germs. It's ridiculous and it goes to ridiculous lengths.

In prisons, before they give you lethal injection, they swab your arm with ALCOHOL. Wouldn't want some guy to go to hell AND be sick.Fear of germs, why these ****in' pussies. You can't even get a decent hamburger anymore they cook the **** out of everything now 'cause everyone's afraid of FOOD POISONING! Hey, wheres you sense of adventure? Take a ****in' chance will you? Hey you know how many people die of food poisoning in this country? Nine thousand, thats all, its a minor risk.

Take a ****in' chance bunch of goddamn pussies.Besides, what d'ya think you have an immune system for? It's for killing germs! But it needs practice, it needs germs to practice on. So if you kill all the germs around you, and live a completely sterile life, then when germs do come along, you're not gonna be prepared. And never mind ordinary germs, what are you gonna do when some super virus comes along that turns your vital organs into liquid ****?! I'll tell you what your gonna do ... you're gonna get sick. You're gonna die and your gonna deserve it because you're ****ing weak and you got a ****in' weak immune system!

Let me tell you a true story about immunization ok. When I was a little boy in New York city in the nineteen-forties, we swam in the Hudson river. And it was filled with raw sewage! OK? We swam in raw sewage, you know, to cool off. And at that time the big fear was polio. Thousands of kids died from polio every year. But you know something? In my neighborhood no one ever got polio. No one! EVER! You know why? Cause WE SWAM IN RAW SEWAGE! It strengthened our immune system, the polio never had a prayer. We were tempered in raw ****!"

 

[pedaling squares]

I am having a hard time getting worked up over a flu that is milder than normal flu but kills more people simply because a larger percentage of the population is affected by it.

The late George Carlin on germs:

"Where did this sudden fear of germs come from in this country? Have you noticed this? The media constantly running stories about all the latest infections? Salmonella, E-coli, hanta virus, bird flu, and Americans will panic easily so everybody's running around scrubbing this and spraying that and overcooking their food and repeatedly washing their hands, trying to avoid all contact with germs. It's ridiculous and it goes to ridiculous lengths.

In prisons, before they give you lethal injection, they swab your arm with ALCOHOL. Wouldn't want some guy to go to hell AND be sick.Fear of germs, why these ****in' pussies. You can't even get a decent hamburger anymore they cook the **** out of everything now 'cause everyone's afraid of FOOD POISONING! Hey, wheres you sense of adventure? Take a ****in' chance will you? Hey you know how many people die of food poisoning in this country? Nine thousand, thats all, its a minor risk.

Take a ****in' chance bunch of goddamn pussies.Besides, what d'ya think you have an immune system for? It's for killing germs! But it needs practice, it needs germs to practice on. So if you kill all the germs around you, and live a completely sterile life, then when germs do come along, you're not gonna be prepared. And never mind ordinary germs, what are you gonna do when some super virus comes along that turns your vital organs into liquid ****?! I'll tell you what your gonna do ... you're gonna get sick. You're gonna die and your gonna deserve it because you're ****ing weak and you got a ****in' weak immune system!

Let me tell you a true story about immunization ok. When I was a little boy in New York city in the nineteen-forties, we swam in the Hudson river. And it was filled with raw sewage! OK? We swam in raw sewage, you know, to cool off. And at that time the big fear was polio. Thousands of kids died from polio every year. But you know something? In my neighborhood no one ever got polio. No one! EVER! You know why? Cause WE SWAM IN RAW SEWAGE! It strengthened our immune system, the polio never had a prayer. We were tempered in raw ****!"

Hard to say at this point. We're seeing a lot of deaths, but I imagine many new diseases or strains of existing diseases have seen a lot of deaths until we adapted. This week a 13 yr old boy in Toronto died from H1N1 within 48 hrs of developing mild cold symptoms. Terrible. I don't recall any other strain of influenza striking so quickly. But, as I wrote I'm sure that many viruses were 'super diseases' until we adapted or developed a vaccine that rendered them impotent. Hopefully the H1N1 vaccine will be effective.

 

[David Suro]

With all due respect to those affected, it's media hysteria.

Some stats for the US:

Number of deaths for leading causes of death
•Heart disease: 631,636
•Cancer: 559,888
•Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
•Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
•Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
•Diabetes: 72,449
•Alzheimer's disease: 72,432
•Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
•Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
•Septicemia: 34,234

The swine flu has killed about 1,000 Americans since its outbreak.

 

[flyor64]

The media storm has gotten a little crazy over here as well. Big discussions in the paper and on the news speculating whether Scandanavia is seeing a mutated strain since it has "exploded" so quickly this fall. Last count on the news was 200,000 infected with H1N1 in a country of 4,5 million...

Big news last week was five people in Sweden dying from the vaccine...so that's brought a whole new dimension to the discussions on the news. A "damned if you do...damned if you don't" scenario. Not sure if they took the chicken-egg based vaccine and were allergic to eggs (I've heard that is bad joo joo).

Perhaps one of the swedish posters can shed some light...

 

[scribe]

There is definitely a spike in deaths over the normal flu, and it is happening much earlier in the season. The media has been reasonable. Remember the hysteria when it first appeared in Mexico last spring?

 

[Cobblestones]

I'm just recovering from influenza A (they didn't bother to test if it was H1N1, since at this time, there's 99% correspondence). Kids went through it, too, although they were fine again much faster. My wife can't even tell if she got it or not (she said she felt tired a few times, but likely because she had to put up with a sick husband for 4 days).

I'm now looking at one of those. Anyway, revenge is mine; it comes in the form of sizzling bacon in my frying pan.

 

[Bala Verde]

I'm now looking at one of those. Anyway, revenge is mine; it comes in the form of sizzling bacon in my frying pan.

I like the fact that they try to capitalize a disease from the entertainment POV (as opposed to the pharma industry)... Or haven't we seen that before already?

I wonder who sold jute peasant-ware in the Middle Ages, after the Plague had ravished Europe...Although from an entertainment POV, the church probably already had a monopoly selling anti-plague medallions...

 

[David Suro]

With regard to my earlier post, heart disease is the cause of death for 600 times more people than H1N1. However, media attention to swine flu vastly outweighs media attention to heart disease.

I think it would be great if the media reminded people every day that if they do not eat well and exercise they will have a greater risk of heart disease.

It is difficult not to think that the fact that there are companies that profit from the administration of vaccines has something to do with the amount of media attention H1N1 receives.

I try not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but business is business and we are discussing hundrens of millions of dollars if not billions of dollars.

 

[broken chain]

I'll bet a dime to a dollar(with respect to all those that have the bug)that a majority of them were in poor physical shape.People need to strengthen their immune systems through exersize and nutrition.I wouldn't go so far as to swimming in the Hudson river but you can improve your immune system.The generation we have now is the 12 pack o beer,bag o chips,remote control group.The government robs em blind,legislates only favorably for the rich and they could care less.But let the cable go on the fritz and you've got mob mentality.How appalling,the cable went out in the middle the the amazing race,call out the national guard!This flu bug has been blown way out of proportion in my view.In this age of technology news stories are broadcast i nstantaneously,each network trying to one up the other.There is only so much news to report so anything that happens gets broadcast saturation to the point of ad nauseum.Take the balloon boy incident for example,theres probably a movie about it in production this very moment.

 

[usedtobefast]

those that forget history, are doomed to repeat it. i think world health
do not want another influenza death march. better safe than sorry.

 

[clarkhopes]

Hi Everyone,

I am going to discuss some important tips for swine flu. I am sharing some home remedies to avoid swine flu.

1. Have five duly washed leaves of Tulsi (known as Basil in English; medicinal name Ocimum sanctum) everyday in the morning. Tulsi has a large number of therapeutic properties. It keeps throat and lungs clear and helps in infections by way of strengthening your immunity.

2. Giloi (medicinal name Tinospora cordifolia) is a commonly available plant in many areas. Take a one-foot long branch of giloi, add five to six leaves of Tulsi and boil in water for 15-20 minutes or long enough to allow the water to extract its properties. Add black pepper and sendha (salt used during religious fasts), rock or black salt, or Misri (crystalised sugar like lumps to make it sweet) according to taste. Let it cool a bit and drink this kadha (concoction) while still warm. It will work wonders for your immunity. If giloi plant is not available, get processed giloi powder from Hamdard or others, and concoct a similar drink once a day.

3. A small piece of camphor approximately the size of a tablet should be taken once or twice a month. It can be swallowed with water by adults while children can take it along with mashed potatoes or banana because they will find it difficult to have it without any aides. Please remember camphor is not to be taken everyday, but only once each season, or once a month.

4. Those who can take garlic, must have two pods of raw garlic first thing in the morning. To be swallowed daily with lukewarm water. Garlic too strengthens immunity like the earlier measures mentioned.

5. Those not allergic to milk, must take a glass of hot or lukewarm milk every night with a small measure of haldi (turmeric).

 

[scribe]

^^ This is a clever bot isn't it?

 

[nightfend]

Honestly my favorite part about this stupid flu scare is the way they present the warnings.

For instance, the news will tell you in an urgent tone to go out and get your inoculation right away. Then in the next breath, mention that you can not receive the vaccine unless you are in the priority group of children and pregnant women.

 

[Anonymous]

I work for the post office...am a carrier...at work they read out this memo from upper management over at death star hocus pocus...they are predicting 35 to 40percent of the workforce to go down with it and not be able to work for on average three weeks...everyone laughed and I said to the manager that it was pure bull****...he came back with the 'we gotta be safe...safe, safe, safe...'

The feds seem to sort feed upon real paranoia via germs...that and terrorists...

 

[Beech Mtn]

Government is doing this because of the 1918 flu pandemic, when slow reaction on the part of government led to many thousands of deaths (hugely exacerbated by the fact that WWI was going on, and a kajillion young men worldwide were crammed together like sardines in barracks, trenches, tents, etc.). After that fiasco, there was no way western governments weren't going into overdrive on any novel flu that looked at all worrisome.

Current strain appears to be mild, but the real danger is if it mutates into a more dangerous strain. Flu viruses mutate very quickly, and this also happened in 1918-1920, where there were 3 waves, dangerous, mild, and then dangerous again.

 

[James Jordan]

The swine flu has killed about 1,000 Americans since its outbreak.

Actually in most cases, as is the case here in Australia, this strain of the virus has only contributed to deaths and not be the primary cause. In nearly all the case the person was suffering from a serious illness or disease which was the primary reason for death and the virus just helped make the situation worse.

There is actually really good research which shows that our obsession with protecting ourselves from bacteria and viruses has weakened our immune systems.