Swine Flu??

[etchy6]

worried, or not?

 

apparently september it is alll going to kick off in the UK...

 

should we be worried?

i know some businesses are crapping themselves, including my dad...

 

but is it all a kahuwakachaka, or is it for real?

[BoooSt]

its totaly curable and the uk has the biggest stock pile of tamiflu vacine and more on order dont worry about it...at worst it will be a good excuse for a few days of work.

[Jak Jack]

I'm not worried, new reporters are just making a big deal about it:p

[wenglish]

its a concern to many and its not beaing helped by the media who seem to be hypeing it all up. another death linked to it this time a 19 year old in london.

 

its the people who are normally at risk of flu and such things that need to be worried as there are a lot of people in the uk who have weak immune systems and may not be able to cope with it.

[krissovo]

Bad for business and something like this could kill off businesses just hanging on. Many people will take advantage of time of work and will further kill the business.

 

Tamiflu will be worthless in the next few months especially the way the UK government are handing out the stuff as the virus will find a way to toughen up.

 

Its very real but will it will not really hit until next year on the 2nd and 3rd wave of the pandemic.

[SnakeEyed]

in my opinion, i dont see what all the fuss is about. to me, all it seems to be is just another form of flu, which normal flu kills loads of ppl each year but is not mentioned to be a "pandemic", its just the media takin everything out of proportion, so nothing to worry about. imho.

[iant84]

It's no worse than seasonal flu. The media are just being twats, causing panic. The media's treatment of scientific topics is a pet hate of mine, they really are awful sensationalist cocks.

 

Also, Tamiflu doesn't really work very well at all, read the scientific papers on it rather than the press reports:

 

http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD001265/frame.html

 

Basically, Tamiflu makes you get better ~16hrs sooner than no drugs at all. Woo. They aren't miracle cures, they work a bit but aren't all that.

 

[Edit] NHS report on Tamiflu basically concludes the same thing: http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/TA168fullguidance.pdf

[hank]

What happened to bird flu?

[gorf]

if they are so worried why are they waiting another 8 weeks before issuing a vaccine to those "at risk":confused:

[SnakeEyed]

What happened to bird flu?

 

exactly, yeh nice one, the media made such a fuss about bird flu, and it came to nothing, the same is gonna happen with Swine flu

[Phizz]

Load of media crap.

 

Tamiflu??? Please... that had been previously "stockpiled" due to the bird flu scare. The government spent billions on it. Now its all sitting in a warehouse needing some excuse to use it... coincidence? And as pointed out it does practically nothing but perhaps in some cases help a little with combating the flu while filling your body with all sorts of other chemicals cause who-knows-what side effects. Human guinea pigs.

 

As pointed out, the sickness and death causes and rates of "swine" flu are EXACTLY the same as normal flu - but reporting it is making money, so report it they do. The 19 year old who died was clearly reported as having underlying health problems causing a very poor immune system. ANY virus could have killed him.

 

And the vaccine?? Does nobody remember GCSE science, when we were told you can't vaccinate against a virus because viruses constantly mutate and continually change? Like the common cold? Well they already developed a vaccine for the flu H1N1 strain last year (swine flu) and guess what - that vaccine is useless now because it has mutated already. And it will mutate again. And again. Not that vaccines do fupp-all anyway - they are more like innovative business plans by pharma companies to get billions from the government with a poor history of success rate, a huge history of terrible side effects, and an up and coming major problem of pushing what should be childhood diseases into adulthood (when the lesser non-natural immunity wears off) where they are much more dangerous.

 

I could go on, but rant over.

 

Worry not.

[Dunc]

Pile of crap ain't it. To date all 3 people who have died from swine flu have had some underlying illness that has left them more susceptible to the virus then your normal semi fit and health Tom, Dick or Harry. If you have an illness/condition, are very old or very young then go ahead and worry. However if you are none of the previous 3 things man up and buy some Kleenex! Typical media bullshit as always but advantageous to the government and any other knob end wrong doer as it distracts a large proportion of the idiot public from the real issues in life.

[krissovo]

Lads, yes the virus will only kill the same (more than likely 2x higher) amount of people than a normal flu virus but in combination thats a serious multiplier.

 

This round of swine flu is like compairing flick knife against a cluster bomb. The virus WILL mutate and become more resistant to treatments as well as powerful. As stated not this wave but the 2nd and 3rd will get worse!

[harry_a]

its going to be like 28 days later, just without the zombies.

[Phizz]

Lads, yes the virus will only kill the same (more than likely 2x higher) amount of people than a normal flu virus but in combination thats a serious multiplier.

 

This round of swine flu is like compairing flick knife against a cluster bomb. The virus WILL mutate and become more resistant to treatments as well as powerful. As stated not this wave but the 2nd and 3rd will get worse!

 

So far it's about the same, if not less. Not at all 2x.

 

What makes you so sure it going to "get worse"? Why doesn't the common cold or normal flu "get worse" as they mutate year after year?

 

Where are you getting your info from? Sounds like chinese whispers to me.

[krissovo]

 

Where are you getting your info from? Sounds like chinese whispers to me.

 

I was a business continuity manager for one of the largest companies in the world 12 months ago (number 35). I still consult in the area and work for the same company and the information is from multiple experts at professor level globaly. I attended in region of 20 seminars over the last 3 years and witnessed 10 computer senarios.

 

My company is investing in the region of €500 million over the next 24 months to try and combat the virus.

[Afro1599968737]

I was a business continuity manager for one of the largest companies in the world 12 months ago (number 35). I still consult in the area and work for the same company and the information is from multiple experts at professor level globaly. I attended in region of 20 seminars over the last 3 years and witnessed 10 computer senarios.

 

My company is investing in the region of €500 million over the next 24 months to try and combat the virus.

 

that should be scenarios mr business continuity manager sir

 

and thats alot of money

it might be cheaper to find an active strain and infect everyone in the company to immunise them from any potentially more virulent strains that emerge in the near future

[krissovo]

I am a very dyslexic bcm so sorry for spelling

[Afro1599968737]

I am a very dyslexic bcm so sorry for spelling

 

in which case i'm sorry for having a go at you

 

 

the suggestion was serious though; i've heard of several people trying to get themselves & their children infected "while its still harmless"

and we've been doing it with chickenpox for years

[The Geoff]

its going to be like 28 days later, just without the zombies.

 

Go watch/rent/download the original Terry Nation "Survivors". Just as scary as any zombie film, but no zombies. Yes, it's that scary.

 

 

On a semi-serious note, I'll be watching what happens with an eye on my zombie plan. Zombie plans are serious in my book, a joking way to refer to your worst case scenario, and if you don't at least have a vague one you should.

 

Chances are Edinburgh, being a tourism center in August, will get hit hard. It should give me a good view of when, where and how people will panic if the worst happens. Worth watching, even with the snuffles.

 

Of course, there's a small but non-zero chance that H1N1 will mutate into a more deadly form, and we'll see a significant percentage of the population die, to the extent where the everyday running of a city becomes a problem. It's why you need a zombie plan.

 

Small, but non-zero. That's the key phrase.

 

It doesn't take a hell of a lot before your priority is food and avoiding the bad humans. This is an interesting trial run.

 

 

Whilst I'm being serious with the above, I don't think there's any reason to panic. The chances of an extinction type event are tiny. And I've got a sleeping bag, tent, and big knife.

[Phizz]

 

Where are you getting your info from? Sounds like chinese whispers to me.

 

I was a business continuity manager for one of the largest companies in the world 12 months ago (number 35). I still consult in the area and work for the same company and the information is from multiple experts at professor level globaly. I attended in region of 20 seminars over the last 3 years and witnessed 10 computer senarios.

 

My company is investing in the region of €500 million over the next 24 months to try and combat the virus.

 

Well I assume your company, as with most companies, aims for profit at the end of the day. In which case I assume it hopes to gain reward from that €500m investment. In which case I can only assume it is a pharmaceutical company producing and selling vaccines/drugs/whatever (sorry I can't think why any other company would invest so much - correct me if I'm wrong)

 

In that case, all this media frenzy and public panic is very much excellent for your business, so I'm sure you could only be motivated to promote it. And the "multiple experts at professor level globaly, seminars, and computer scenarios" COULD well be manufactured, or at least concluded through incomplete/selective experience and testing, to further your cause and hands-down convince governments to buy billions of your products.

 

You can't say it hasn't happened before.

 

(And dude, I ain't digging at you personally - in fact I could be wrong about the above.) But from my own extensive research into the subject of swine flu, those "facts" you stated are completely presumptuous. I mean come on, there were similar "experts at professor level globaly, seminars, and computer scenarios" for BIRD FLU and all that did was steal a ton of taxpayers money for a useless tamiflu stock-pile.

[The Geoff]

More likely his company is getting hold of a huge supply of temp workers who can do the job at short notice, just to keep the cashflow going.

 

The big problem for companies is 35% of the workforce not turning up for a few days. And 35% of the end-customers. It's enough to put many companies out of business these days. 500m Euros could simply be insurance.

[Phizz]

More likely his company is getting hold of a huge supply of temp workers who can do the job at short notice, just to keep the cashflow going.

 

The big problem for companies is 35% of the workforce not turning up for a few days. And 35% of the end-customers. It's enough to put many companies out of business these days. 500m Euros could simply be insurance.

 

Interesting, but I don't see how all these shortly available temp workers (who by nature are probably poorly-skilled and currently unemployed) would be able to help out more than just the basic job roles. And those basic roles are probably the most expendable in businesses. I mean they are not exactly going to just walk in to the role of any experienced professional above £30k salary and continue the job where they left off...

[The Geoff]

No, they're the ones who answer the phones and type credit card numbers in. You know, the ones who actually make the money happen every day. OK, if you're an "artist" and take a month off it's research, but if the guys who work the tills all take a day off the world shuts down.

[skidmarks]

my yr old son is not the strongest hes gone thru alot im very worried for him what i want to know is what can be done for one so young