Swine flu

[Jon MW]

...

There aren't any vaccines for swine flu - that's the problem. 

Basically, there are a lot of governments with their heads in the sand on this one.  It's inevitable that a pandemic will eventually come along and wipe out a lot of people.  Will it be this one, who knows?

Pandemic action plans will have been made and updated regularly.

And swine flu isn't that dangerous, so "wipe out" seems a little excessive. Or are you considering becoming a tabloid journalist as a career change?

[kinboshi]

...

There aren't any vaccines for swine flu - that's the problem. 

Basically, there are a lot of governments with their heads in the sand on this one.  It's inevitable that a pandemic will eventually come along and wipe out a lot of people.  Will it be this one, who knows?

Pandemic action plans will have been made and updated regularly.

And swine flu isn't that dangerous, so "wipe out" seems a little excessive. Or are you considering becoming a tabloid journalist as a career change?

There will be a pandemic that wipes out tens if not hundreds of millions of people within our lifetime.  I doubt it'll be this one, but a mutation of the H1N1 strain could easily be the cause of such a pandemic.   

It's not cause for panic, and there's pretty much nothing that can be done to be honest. 

[rex008]

Not so sure about that. Anti-virals are getting better all the time, and didn't exist until a few years ago. 141 out of 27k is a mortality rate of 0.5%, which is bugger all compared to previous flu pandemics (2.5-20%). Yes, it could mutate, but anti-virals should still take the edge off.

Personally, I'd rather get it now, before it mutates. At least you're likely to have resistance to a mutated strain if that happens.

[Acidmouse]

Whats the death rate for so called normal flu? I wouldnt be suprised if it was a similar percentile.

[kinboshi]

Not so sure about that. Anti-virals are getting better all the time, and didn't exist until a few years ago. 141 out of 27k is a mortality rate of 0.5%, which is bugger all compared to previous flu pandemics (2.5-20%). Yes, it could mutate, but anti-virals should still take the edge off.

Personally, I'd rather get it now, before it mutates. At least you're likely to have resistance to a mutated strain if that happens.

I've said it before, there are too many people on the planet for the population to be sustained at the level it is.

As for anti-virals, yes some fortunate people in the West might gain some protection from a nasty flu pandemic, but that won't help 3/5 of the world's population who don't receive vaccinations and medicines for serious diseases that are currently available.  A lot of them don't even have basic medical treatments or enough food ffs.

[rex008]

Whats the death rate for so called normal flu? I wouldnt be suprised if it was a similar percentile.

Around 0.1% according to wikipedia.

And Kin, yes, population growth is a worry, but it's a fairly dangerous thing to think about. Who would you prefer to kill off first? If mutated flu kills off 20% of the third world and only 2% of the first, would that be a good thing?

And that's me being devil's advocate, before I get flamed to hell and back  .

The only way the flu will be good for population control is if it mainly gets the catholics, frankly. Every sperm is sacred and all that bollox  .

[kinboshi]

Whats the death rate for so called normal flu? I wouldnt be suprised if it was a similar percentile.

Around 0.1% according to wikipedia.

And Kin, yes, population growth is a worry, but it's a fairly dangerous thing to think about. Who would you prefer to kill off first? If mutated flu kills off 20% of the third world and only 2% of the first, would that be a good thing?

And that's me being devil's advocate, before I get flamed to hell and back  .

The only way the flu will be good for population control is if it mainly gets the catholics, frankly. Every sperm is sacred and all that bollox  .

Famine's culling lots in the third world, the same who are being denied condoms which would prevent the spread of AIDS and help to provide the necessary birth control in those regions.

So yeah - I'm with you on the catholic church.

[Harmony26]

Have you got kids, rex008?  If so hope they stay alive and well.

If you are hoping for kids one day - hope you succeed.

If you are not bothered, fine, that's your decision.

[neeko]

Each death is tragic however in a pandemic, death will get reported as statistics.

Each year flu kills 500,000 people, a flu pandemic wil probably kill 10 to 50 times that, people in rich countries and rich people in poor countries will have a lower deaths per capita than everyone else.

Being borthered or not will have no affect on statistics.

[ScottMGee]

As for anti-virals, yes some fortunate people in the West might gain some protection from a nasty flu pandemic, but that won't help 3/5 of the world's population who don't receive vaccinations and medicines for serious diseases that are currently available.  A lot of them don't even have basic medical treatments or enough food ffs.

Be grateful we won the ovarian lottery and were born in the West.

[AndrewT]

As for anti-virals, yes some fortunate people in the West might gain some protection from a nasty flu pandemic, but that won't help 3/5 of the world's population who don't receive vaccinations and medicines for serious diseases that are currently available.  A lot of them don't even have basic medical treatments or enough food ffs.

Be grateful we won the ovarian lottery and were born in the West.

According to an email I just received I've won first prize in the Ovarian lottery.

I just need to send a $500 processing fee to the guy in Ovaria and then I'll get a cool $1,000,000.

[Colchester Kev]

As for anti-virals, yes some fortunate people in the West might gain some protection from a nasty flu pandemic, but that won't help 3/5 of the world's population who don't receive vaccinations and medicines for serious diseases that are currently available.  A lot of them don't even have basic medical treatments or enough food ffs.

Be grateful we won the ovarian lottery and were born in the West.

According to an email I just received I've won first prize in the Ovarian lottery.

I just need to send a $500 processing fee to the guy in Ovaria and then I'll get a cool $1,000,000.

Dont fall for it Andrew, it's all a load of fanny.

[kinboshi]

As for anti-virals, yes some fortunate people in the West might gain some protection from a nasty flu pandemic, but that won't help 3/5 of the world's population who don't receive vaccinations and medicines for serious diseases that are currently available.  A lot of them don't even have basic medical treatments or enough food ffs.

Be grateful we won the ovarian lottery and were born in the West.

According to an email I just received I've won first prize in the Ovarian lottery.

I just need to send a $500 processing fee to the guy in Ovaria and then I'll get a cool $1,000,000.

It will only be paid into your Sky Poker account.

[AndrewT]

As for anti-virals, yes some fortunate people in the West might gain some protection from a nasty flu pandemic, but that won't help 3/5 of the world's population who don't receive vaccinations and medicines for serious diseases that are currently available.  A lot of them don't even have basic medical treatments or enough food ffs.

Be grateful we won the ovarian lottery and were born in the West.

According to an email I just received I've won first prize in the Ovarian lottery.

I just need to send a $500 processing fee to the guy in Ovaria and then I'll get a cool $1,000,000.

Dont fallopian for it Andrew, it's all a load of fanny.

FYP

[Colchester Kev]

As for anti-virals, yes some fortunate people in the West might gain some protection from a nasty flu pandemic, but that won't help 3/5 of the world's population who don't receive vaccinations and medicines for serious diseases that are currently available.  A lot of them don't even have basic medical treatments or enough food ffs.

Be grateful we won the ovarian lottery and were born in the West.

According to an email I just received I've won first prize in the Ovarian lottery.

I just need to send a $500 processing fee to the guy in Ovaria and then I'll get a cool $1,000,000.

Dont fallopian for it Andrew, it's all a load of fanny.

FYP

Should have known my pun would go down the tube