Patty in Wisc

They just said on news that it was diagnosed somewhere in Illinois & I think it's moving north here. The Mayor was just on news talking about several school closings here as 1 child & I think 2 adults have it here. They had contact w/ children at 4 schools which are now closed as of tomorrow. Look out Bill & just j!
11 states are on watch & possible swine flu there.

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john_ny

Patty - The USDA Secretary was on the news today, saying that it should not be called, "swine flu", because it was transferred human to human, and you cannot get it from eating pork. I think this is a good idea, as it is not right that a bunch of hog producers are blamed for something that they had nothing to do with. I think the same thing should be done about the term, "Greenhouse gasses". These things have nothing to do with greenhouses; in fact, it is quite the opposite; in an actively growing greenhouse, on a bright day, by 10 AM there is virtually no CO² present.

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buzzwinder

Thanks Patty, Be carefull up there in Millwaukee as well!!

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Bill for my friend

momoese

Run for your lives everyone, the killer pigs are coming!!!

Really it's not that big a deal. My wife works for a doctor so they have to keep track of this stuff. While there is no vaccine for swine H1N1 viruses, they are no more deadly then any other influenza virus that we deal with every year, and no, you can not get sick from eating pork. The people dying are those who have compromised or weak immune systems such as the very young or very old.

Here is some info from the CDC
CDC - Influenza (Flu) | Key Facts about Swine Influenza (Swine Flu)

Patty in Wisc

Thanks for correcting me. Last I heard it was swine flu in Mexico that spread here. There is another post about this epidemic that I saw 5 min after I posted. Sorry
M'gosh, our local news is sure making this sound scary!
Where's my nearest fallout shelter?? Maybe I should duct tape my house!
(anyone remember that guy?)

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momoese

Code red, get out your duct tape!

saltydad

Actually this is a mixture of flu virus from swine, birds and humans. The surprising thing about it's lethality in Mexico is that it strikes hardest at the young and strong, rather than those with weak immune systems, as is usually the case. Hopefully that will not be the case here. The only confirmed death in the US as of now is a 22 month old boy from Mexico in Texas. So it's back to basics, folks....wash hands frequently, stay away from large public gatherings, cut down on the kisses and handshakes, and cover your coughs and sneezes.

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momoese

A 22 month old child is not strong. The young and healthy in Mexico are moslty ignorant about things of this nature. Keep in mind the people working at the pork farms are for the most part healthy young adults that then bring the flu home to their young children and it spreads from there.

I say not only back to basics but watch out for those pesky illegal immigrants fresh from the pork farms!

My wife says this..."I work with sick people all day long and we are 2 hours from Mexico, surrounded by Mexican immigrants in our daily lives and I'm not worried at all"

If you get sick see your doctor and they will prescribe the proper medication and you'll be fine.

The local news will do anything, and say anything to attract more viewers and sell advertisements, it's that simple. If we all turned off the "news" I use that word lightly, we'd all be much better off!!

BREAKING NEWS ALERT!!!!!!!!! CODE BRONZE......the banana flu is taking over the world, stay away from the yellow fruits!!!!

momoese

Just in case you want to Know.

36,000 people die in America from the flu each year (source=CDC)

stumpy4700

A couple European countries are starting to call it the Mexican flu.

Tog Tan

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!
It has just been discovered that a couple of terrorists have hijacked a US fighter and were undetected until they fired a couple of missiles into the US but missed and they landed in Ma...hee....hee..hee...co!

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Bob

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momoese

Does it come in matching colors to the threat level colors?

Bob

You're hired as new marketing director!

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proletariatcsp

Patty, the virus has been present in Cananda for a few weeks now and I'm sure its only a matter days before it runs its course throughout the US.

Mitchel, the virus is a completely new bug, it is not simply an enhanced or mutated form of influenza like the Mexican flu or Avian flu. Of the 150+ victims in Mexico, most were between the ages of 20 and 40.

Scientists still do not know why young and healthy people are at the highest risk of infection, but they attribute it to the fact that Humans have no immunity to the virus. If you contract the virus, you have a short time to receive medicine because your body can not fight the infection, and it will cause pnuemonia.

Of the reports you are hearing about the severity of infection, ie, some cases are mild and others deadly. That is because the body cannot fight the infection, how it affects YOU will depend on how your body and the virus both react to the anti-viral medication. The news is not refering to anyone that has not received treatment, they are saying that once a person is taking the anti-viral the symptoms may be weaker or remain the same.

Howard is absolutely right, wash you hands frequently and do your best to avoid touching surfaces like door handles. The virus can live on surfaces for 7-10 days. As far as I know, the virus is mostly spread through touching unless a person coughs or sneezes directly on you. I wouldn't bother trying to avoid public places, once a person has contracted the virus they are infectious to others for 1-4 days before showing symptoms. Chances are that you will not know if someone is sick.

Hilarious!

John, it is terrible that Egypt slaughtered their pigs. Scientists have already determined that the desease is not being transmitted back and forth between humans and pigs. They say it originated about a year ago--when the virus evolved into something very different from the swine flu of the 1970's and began infecting humans. So far, there is no indication that pigs are re-contracting the virus from humans.

Just wash your hands allot, and if you start running a high fever then go to your doctor.

momoese

I'm aware of that. Read the link to the CDC info I posted. It explains exactly what it is and what two meds will work to fight it. Today they are saying that it's not even going to be as bad as our seasonal flu virus. We'll see.

Now if you want to really go deep into it, some conspirators believe it was created by the government and that the virus in Mexico is stronger than the virus here.

momoese

Here ya go Chris, this is fun!

Is Swine Flu A Biological Weapon?

Patty in Wisc

Our Governor Is in town & just cut in local programming to announce a public health emergency here. 2 or 3 more schools are closed "INDEFINATELY" untill they can sanitize everything in them. Wow.
I'm almost done duct taping my house but, Bob, I may have to order more from you LOL.

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saltydad

Here's the latest as reported in Medscape

Potential Impact of Swine Flu: An Expert Interview With Neal A. Halsey, MD

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April 30, 2009 — Editor's note: The outbreak of swine influenza A (H1N1) viral disease is continuing to grow in the United States and globally, with 91 laboratory-confirmed US cases and 1 death, according to US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) information updated April 29 at 11 am EST. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a phase 5 pandemic alert, and the CDC has implemented its emergency response and warned that the more recent illnesses suggest a pattern of more severe disease associated with this virus in the United States. Because most people are not immune to this new viral strain, the CDC expects more confirmed cases, more hospitalizations, and more deaths in the near future.
To learn more about the potential impact of H1N1 viral disease on public health, as well as treatment and prevention strategies, Medscape Infectious Diseases interviewed Neal A. Halsey, MD, professor in the Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Halsey's primary research and teaching effort is directed toward the prevention of infectious diseases with the safest vaccines possible. He has conducted or participated in epidemiologic studies of vaccine-preventable diseases and phase 1, 2, and 3 vaccine trials for influenza, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, inactivated polio virus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, tetanus, Lyme disease, rotavirus, and Argentina hemorrhagic fever viruses

Medscape: How serious is the swine flu situation?
Dr. Halsey: The swine flu changes things and will change priorities for many people. The evidence that we have so far is that this does represent a potential threat to global public health, and a lot of resources are going to have to go into trying to prepare as best we can to minimize the impact.
That will include development, as rapidly as possible, of vaccines against this new strain and making those vaccines rapidly available. If we see more widespread transmission, especially this year, then drug therapy will be an important part, especially here in the developed world.
We need low-cost drugs against influenza in the developing countries as well, because we won't have enough vaccines to protect the population against this new virus. We don't have sufficient vaccine production capacity in the world to make enough vaccine for everybody.
The biggest concern I have is that this will distract us from use of other vaccines that also can protect against disease, like the new pneumococcal vaccine, and even the push to continue to introduce the Hib vaccine. But this new influenza is a serious threat.

Medscape: Are existing influenza vaccines effective against the new strain?
Dr. Halsey: No.

Medscape: How long would it take for a new vaccine to be developed and produced against this virus?
Dr. Halsey: That's what the manufacturers are going to be asked this week, and the answer, with the traditional method, is that we usually give manufacturers 4 to 6 months. They find out about the virus that's going to go in at the end of January, beginning of February, each year, and they make the vaccine, and make it available beginning as early as the end of September, beginning of October.
They've already been making the vaccine they thought was going to be in widespread use, and the key question is whether they should stop what they're doing and put the effort into producing vaccine against this new strain, and that will have to be answered.
There are some new technologies that are being used that may be more rapid in terms of making new vaccine, but they have not yet been widely used. All vaccines currently approved for use require eggs for production, and the supply of eggs is likely to be limited and the manufacturers do not have the capacity to produce enough vaccine for everyone, so there will be shortages.
A number of the manufacturers are experimenting with making cell-based vaccines that don't require eggs; that also could speed up the process, but so far, none of those vaccines that I know of has been approved for use. If we had the production capacity using these cell-based vaccines, it could be more rapid.
I'm sure that both the CDC and WHO are meeting with manufacturers of flu vaccines, and they're all looking at this, trying to determine what their capability will be, but we don't have any answers yet.

Medscape: Are antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu effective against this strain?
Dr. Halsey: Oseltamivir, or Tamiflu, and zanamivir (Relenza) are effective against this strain, but amantadine and the older drugs are not. They've tested the virus and it is susceptible to oseltamivir and zanamivir, which is the only good news out of what we've heard so far.

Medscape: Are there any concerns, with this new strain being a mixture of swine and avian and human strains, that this was in any way genetically engineered or terrorist-related?
Dr. Halsey: No, it doesn't look that way to me. We have been anticipating a potential pandemic from a virus that would come through that same kind of mixing. We know that especially pigs, or swine, are a great mixing bowl, because they are susceptible not only to the swine flu, but also influenza from birds and influenza from humans. So the same pig can have in its body simultaneously several different infections with several different viruses and allow for that mixing. This happens naturally, and that's part of why, especially in Asia, we've been seeing some problems with transmission. You don't need to invoke any concern about bioterrorism to explain how this may have happened.

Medscape: What do you see as the overall potential impact of this swine flu?
Dr. Halsey: The swine flu epidemic, or if it turns out to be a pandemic, which is what we're all concerned about, may turn out not only to have a significant effect on public health and potential mortality, but it could also potentially impair everything else we're trying to do with regard to immunization, in terms of using everybody available to deal with this problem.
It also could have a significant exacerbating effect on the global economy. They've already shut the schools in Mexico; they didn't have audiences for the soccer matches. You can imagine the impact it will have with regard to travel. Some individual countries in the European Union have issued some statements, or cautionary advisories, with regard to travel.
Imagine what the economic impact of loss of tourism in Mexico is going to be, and potentially the United States. So I see this as rapidly having an exacerbating effect on the current recession. This is not a small issue.
Dr. Halsey reports receiving research grant support from Wyeth for studies of pneumococcal disease in Guatemala and from Berna for studies of combination vaccines in Guatemala. He also serves on data and safety monitoring boards for Novartis and Merck.
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Laurie Barclay, MD

Laurie Barclay, MD, is a freelance writer and reviewer for Medscape.



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Laurie Barclay, MD
Laurie Barclay, MD, is a freelance writer and reviewer for Medscape.

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__________________
Men In Nursing- "A Few Good Men"

"Gardening is the purest of human pleasures." - Francis Bacon





"If by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people, their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties; someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicion that grips us; that is what they meant by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal."
John F. Kennedy, September, 1960


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proletariatcsp

Touche! Still any manufactured bio-weapons have a long way to go before they trump heart disease deaths of 150,000 each year!

Excellent article, thanks Mitchel