Gripe A - the flu

[John.St]

Perhaps you will be interested in this article in New York Times, written by the physician Elisabeth Rosenthal

Swine Flu: First, Sow No Panic

"As a physician, as a student of public health and even as a journalist, I cringe when I see the swine flu, or H1N1, called “the deadly virus.” Evidence to date does not suggest that it is any more deadly than the average flu."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/weekinreview/03rosenthal.html

You may be required to create an account (I have one) but it is easy and for free.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/weekinreview/03rosenthal.html

You may be required to create an account (I have one) but it is easy and for free.

....alternatively, if you don't like leaving your details on other people's websites, there is always BugMeNot

In this instance, http://www.bugmenot.com/view/nytimes.com

 

[citygirl]

Well, I caught it. And I can say it was no better or no worse than your average run of the mill flu. The first two days were the worst - high fever, chills, stomach cramping and a lovely chest infection. But I got the meds and after only a few days, was feeling much better. I am not going out in public yet as I don't want to risk infecting anyone else but knock on wood - I haven't had any real problems.

 

[EvergreenGal]

Citygirl....glad you are recovering!! If I may ask, how old you are, roughly....
I have heard that people in their mid to early 20's and very young are more likely to get this..due to the fact that their bodies haven't built up enough in their immune systems to ward it off.

Did you use the tamiflu?

Stay well!

 

[Grazie]

citygirl, get better soon. You are not missing anything OUT HERE - it is cold and windy (and wet!), so best to stay indoors and feel better. Good to hear you are on your way to a speedy recovery. Grazie

 

[citygirl]

I'm in my early 30s. I caught it very early and started taking tamiflu right away. It takes a few days for the results to come in but given my symptoms, they put me on it right away as a preventative measure. 5 days on that and they advised me to stay in my house for at least a week so as not to a) get anyone else sick and b) not get worse.

Within 2 days of being on the medication, I was feeling much better. I still have the cough but the fever/chills are gone and the cough is now much less dry/painful.

 

[pauper]

You are not missing anything OUT HERE - it is cold and windy (and wet!), so best to stay indoors

...and now its snowing!!

Comenzó a caer aguanieve en la Capital y el Conurbano

 

[John.St]

Citygirl, glad you have recovered.

The Gripe A = H1N1 started in Mexico in 2009 APR.

As per 2009 JUL 22 the world wide death toll is slightly above 700 (seven hundred) or about the same number of people who were killed during that same period by a coconut dropping on their heads from a palm.

In any normal year 2-400 million people catch the flu.

In any normal year the world wide death toll from ordinary common gripe=flu is 500,000 (half a million) - give or take 50,000.

Unless it somehow gets much worse, we are watching a media driven scare without any sort of basis in reality.

 

[perry]

I agree fully with your comments John and fear that our society will have more controls as well as change our way of life that Argentina is famous for.

I for one will not take the vaccine in any form as the long term dangers of the vaccine have not be explained to the general public.

Also stated before if the government and society just implemented some basic changes of the road laws and enforced them the deaths and injuries could be halved. Why is there no will to do this?

I am suspicious about all the controls related to Gripe Porcina as most free thinking people are.

 

[John.St]

Remember the horrible 'Bird flu'?

World wide death toll after 5 or 6 years below 6,000 (six thousand) - or about 1/30 of the number of homicides in the US alone - to say nothing about the enourmous number of people killed in traffic accidents.

The 'white powder' scare - some psycho sent a few infected letters - and eight years later authorities all over the world are still going bananas over any letter or parcel with samples of wheat flour or whatever white powder.