Swine Flu/H1N1 Influenza A

[Nicolas King]

Alright, so this has been in the news for several weeks, and I figured a topic just for it couldn't hurt.
What are your thoughts on it? Think it's being blown out of the water or that there is need for concern?

 

[Arisa Havishmen]

I think everyone is making this WAY bigger then it is. I mean ya, its killed like what 250 people in all of mexico, but thats compared to the MILLIONS that live there. Also I think countrys not buying meat from canada is just stupid, its confirmed you can't get it from eating pork. Also, if you have the proper health care it wont kill you.

20,000 PEOPLE DIE OF REGULAR FLU EACH YEAR

 

[Estrella Drage]

Uhh, it wasn't just Canada that people weren't buying meat from. But that's besides the point.

I think it's being blown out of the water. There's no problem with taking precautions, but I don't think we need to start donning masks or be afraid to shake someone's hand.

The people who really get sick and/or die already have respiratory/health problems. As Arisa said, people already die of the regular flu.

It sucks that there are different strains of the flu coming out all of the time, but we have to deal. I'm not afraid of the flu... and if I die, well then it's my time to go I guess.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

It was a REALLY huge deal here in my city just because about 99% of the population is from Mexico, which can be seen from anywhere in the city, and I guess that's where people were saying it originated from? People were wearing masks out (not on my side of town, but on the side closer to Mexico) and at the store that I work at, ALL our hand sanitizer was bought out within a few hours! We had to rush order some more because people kept asking.

I have a kick ass immune system because I almost never get sick, but during this whole "epidemic" (is that the right word to use?) I actually got really sick, which is HIGHLY unusual for me. It didn't help that I'm exposed to about a billion germs a day at work, touching the merchandise & especially money.


Also, people who got tested for the Swine Flu weren't even allowed to go to school as they waited for their results (which took a week long) so, yeah, it was a big deal here, but I don't see why. I think we're over-exaggerating. -_-

 

[Lily Drage]

It is a big deal here too. We have one of the highest concentrations of the illness in my state in the nation. I think it is important to inform people of the issue and remind them how to prevent themselves from getting sick. One county in my state has over 350 cases confirmed in it, and that county is quite small compared to others in the state.

I am getting sick of the news coverage though. There is more going on in the world than H1N1 and I would like to see that instead.

 

[Sukie Takahiro]

Its a quite a big deal here in Singapore.
We have temperature-taking twice a day in school.
And one can get fined just by coughing or sneezing without closing the mouth or nose.

 

[Aurora Merrythought]

There has been a couple of confirmed cases in Scotland and there hasn't been any school closures as of yet. I know in London that there have been a few school closures as their has been traces of the virus so they have quarantined the building. I don't they have blown it out of proportion as it's going to add to those numbers dyeing from normal influenza every year, and in the Flu Season it's going to hit us hard.

 

[Nicolas King]

People like to over react to things.
I know there have been several cases in Canada, and one confirmed death, but there have been zero cases where coming in contact with a pig or eating pig would give you the flu. In fact, if you cooked the pork at all it would denature the virus (as heat always does to proteins) and thusly render it entirely useless. So even supposing the virus was in the pig it'd be no threat once it was cooked.
There were three confirmed cases in my city, but it never got out of control. Though, I guess when you went to the emergency room they questioned you about flu like symptoms and if you could have swine flu they gave you a mask and brought you in nearly immediately.
What really sucked was when Egypt passed a law to kill all their pigs (to keep the country safe, supposedly) and they started to slaughter thousands of pigs before WHO noticed and released more information about the flu, and how pigs have nothing to do with it, and then they started to officially call it H1N1.

 

[Hilary Grace]

When I heard about Egypt I actually laughed...... it just shows how much a country can blow something like the flu out of proportion. Though I do understand the seriousness of it..... it was kind of funny.

In my neck of the woods things have calmed down a little, but there was talk for a while about closing down my school because we had so many borders getting sick. We've had I think five or six cases in my city, though they were mostly mild and everyone is/has recovered nicely. Our hospital and schools have been taken over with huge signs and notices warning people to wash their hands, hand sanitize before entering buildings, cough into your elbow, stay a meter away from anyone sick, get tested if you've been to Mexico since March ect.....

I actually think it has had a negative effect, blowing it out of proportion I mean, because I feel people are getting desensitized to the idea of H1N1. Everytime someone mentions they have a headache, sneeze, have anything wrong with them around my city (especially with the teens who are sitting through flu presentations) there is a joking chorus of "SWINE FLU!!"

I just feel that if they want people to pay attention, less could be more.

 

[Kida Frost]

Swine Flu is Flu just with Swine on the front of it

its just trying to get the focus off the financial crisis

That is my opinion

Nuffsaid

 

[Vivienne Esquire]

The annoying thing about Swine Flu is that it's becoming the new "I like pie". :mellow:

 

[Kida Frost]

The annoying thing about Swine Flu is that it's becoming the new "I like pie". :mellow:

LOL pie

we want someone in our school to get swine flu
cause then we have 7 days off school

 

[Lexi Rodriguez]

I hate Swine Flu...

Philippines has tons of cases of that now...

And classes are suspended because of that...

I have one week with no classes ...

 

[Marko Prince]

I think that swine flu is pretty scary :mellow: :mellow:

 

[Violet Bellamy]

But why? It's just the same as the normal flu.

We're getting lots of warnings at work to wash our hands because of swine flu. Not that we didn't wash our hands anyway.

That said, my boyfriend either has swine flu or regular flu.

 

[Marko Prince]

Why?? Well if anyone in the area catches it the school closes down...... so it must be pretty bad.

 

[Nicolas King]

This is getting the attention it is because, really, no matter how bad it is, you never want another disease you have to deal with. People are having enough of a problem with the 'regular' (and always mutating) flu, so adding another strain of the virus to our problems is not on WHO's priorities list. It's best of new things are contained and dealt with quickly - while they can be - before it becomes serious, global, mutated to be its most productive, and a pandemic.
Aside: It is worse than the normal flu, but this strain of 'swine flu' (H1N1 Influenza A) is not as bad as the strains they had in say 1928. Thing is: Everybody knows it can mutate again, in order to continue to exist, and become that bad - or worse - again. Nobody wants that, so get rid of it while you can and ensure you don't risk anything.

 

[Nicolas King]

Well, this is officially a pandemic.
How does that make you feel?

 

[Barbara Grant]

At first I thought this was all being blown out of the water, I mean it's only a slightly more lethal version of the flu which hardly anybody had, but in a matter of weeks it managed to spread from Mexico and is now worldwide. It's now reached level 6, the stage at which schools were supposed to be closed at. But schools aren't being closed, only when there's a cse of swine flu in a school will that school be closed. It's really starting to scare me now but I think it's one of those things which will fade away, fewer and fewer people will get it until it is eventually gone, like so many illnesses before it. And I think people are fogetting we have a cure for it, as long as it is caught straight away Swine Flu can be treated. The whole thing is starting to confue me, I must say, but I sincerely hope the schools don't close down, if the school's close down it wont only be the schools, it'll enetually get to a point were everything will close down. We really don't want that now do we :uberyawn: !

 

[Avory Brandt]

Well, this is officially a pandemic.
How does that make you feel?

I still don't care. I was actually sitting in the hospital when this was announced and the ten or so other people that was sitting in the waiting room too, took no notice. We actually took more interest in the fact that we all lived the most obese part of the country Never heard a waiting room go into laughter like that before, it was funny

But yes, back to this thing. As Nicole said, there is a cure to it so I still think there is no need to worry about it. Plus, in the news article it said, Swine Flu is now officially a pandemic but health officials say don't panic, so I won't

I mean, I don't want to sound like a hypocrite, I freaked out at the beginning when I found out it was in the country, but after a day or so I got over that fear and I think everyone else should.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Where do you draw the line with quarantining?
One person in a school gets it, the whole school gets closed down.
That person might have played sport against another school, does that school have to be closed down, too?

 

[Maisie Hampton]

This article: UK swine flu death is first out of America's

So that's going to start something off, the person died in Scotland, Sunday. The UK total for 'people with the disease' is 1,226. Also to answer Cam's questions, I think that people shouldn't take the quarantine thing OTT, however it is best to contain the disease, it seems it's to late for that now though.

 

[Vivienne Esquire]

As Nicole said, there is a cure to it so I still think there is no need to worry about it.

There's a cure? :blink: I thought there wasn't..



Well, there's been a confirmed case at a school not far from me (I don't go there, but I have friends that do) so that's a wee bit worrying.. The kids at that school mix with the kids from my school a lot, so it could very quickly spread here.

On June 14 the Ministry of Health announced a 65% increase in cases in just 24 hours. There is now 86 total cases in New Zealand, moving the country into the top 10 infected per capita ratio.

 

[Nicolas King]

There's a cure? :blink: I thought there wasn't..

I'm fairly certain there is not, as it's still deadly if you can't fight it off and you're not found quickly enough. I know the US is working on a cure, but I don't think they've got it yet, there are treatments - but no cure, and it's the treatments that WHO has been distributing to countries that need it.
If there was a 'cure' nobody would be worrying, just make enough of it and wipe it out like we did with polio, measles, mumps (In North America, at least).

 

[Violet Bellamy]

My sisters are currently quarantined from daycare. Why? Because they have runny noses.