Swine Flu

[Doc Durian]

Buy disposable rubber gloves and some face masks. Lots of hand soap. A few bottles of bleach in the house. Lots of water. Food stores are okay but chances are you won't need it.

My folks remember the last flu epidemic. They got sick at the same time one over the bucket & the other on the toilet. The bad part about it is if both people get sick, you won't be going anywhere for a few days. So, just make sure you keep your house well-stocked with whatever you might need for, say, a week.

A week?

And I hoping they are P2-3/N95 grade masks...not those silly little things they hand out under the guise of protecting the doctor or nurse instead of the patient.

No matter what the mortality rate from any new wave, virulent or not, an immune system buster like a genetically reassembled cocktail one part H5N1 and one part H1N1 is going to lay a whole lot of people up. Way beyond anything recently experienced.

I notice you stopped short of suggesting others encountering th tail end of Clinton's term enacted hoarding laws.

We do live in an ever increasingly JIT environment, wouldn't you agree?

[IndiReloaded]

I don't think ppl need more than a general well-stocked home and cleanliness. What I mentioned are standard household items for us, but we live in an earthquake zone. But I think many people don't keep this stuff on hand, so I thought I'd mention it.

Tamiflu? Nah, not needed if you are normal, healthy. Just make the pharma cos more rich than they already are. Just get lots of sleep.

[Illusional]

people love things to gossip about and our world loves to blow things out of proportion.

raverboy

[Doc Durian]

I don't think ppl need more than a general well-stocked home and cleanliness. What I mentioned are standard household items for us, but we live in an earthquake zone. But I think many people don't keep this stuff on hand, so I thought I'd mention it.

Tamiflu? Nah, not needed if you are normal, healthy. Just make the pharma cos more rich than they already are. Just get lots of sleep.

And that's besides the eight or so seasonal flu strains which laugh at Tamiflu, although the world media keeps harping on about the effectiveness. But they have plenty of it.... seems the logical course, no?

The Australian government was quoted in the AP Press (small 4-6 sentence box located in a distant newsprint corner in all the local "credible" newspapers) a couple years ago. It was about the effectiveness of a pandemic and the police/fire service expectations of how long they could cope with current numbers and resources.

They expected a minimum of 2-3 weeks of nuclear family reliance against a backdrop of civil unrest for a mild but virulent strain.

I read it, just like I read a similarly sized mini column about how the 5,000 virally seep proof body bags the Victorian government had quietly ordered from a Bendigo, Vic company.

Neither story was carried outside of the country from my internet searchings. In fact, one of them never made it to the internet.

But that's how these things go.... isn't it?

[SAVANAH]

Swine flu is bad, esp in America, don't think it's as big a deal as made out to be especially when you look at all other diseases taking effect on peoples lives, it's nothing like AIDS or Cancer yet for some reason has taken the spotlight, I understand that Swine Flu in regarded as more 'contagious', but c'mon we have way bigger problems to worry about, world hunger for example, people starve to death everyday yet it's not been declared a pandemic, if you contract the flu you go to your GP and sorted, you either have swine flu or normal influenza then you get treated and look you're healthy again.

I don't know maybe I'm taken it a bit too lightly and I def sympathize with all infected and all who passed on, but no need to stop 'living', in fear of it.
We have only had two reported cases in SA and maybe that's the reason I feel 'not as affected' but yes I also think governments could take more precautionary actions to contain the disease, then again there's only so much that they can do.

We can't live in fear, what happens happens, and is the path chosen for us.

[Illusional]

my idea of the swine flu is just it's another "new" strain of the common flu.. you won't die from it so what's the big deal?

raverboy

[akazie]

why Australian health authorities recently descended on an Aussie town full of aboriginals after an aboriginal man died from H1N1, the first in the nation to do so.

Do you have a news link of this?

[Lipp]

Wouldn't it be counter-productive for people to wear face masks since they would stand a great chance of spreading the infection by fidgeting around their face so much?

[Doc Durian]

Wouldn't it be counter-productive for people to wear face masks since they would stand a great chance of spreading the infection by fidgeting around their face so much?

Surgical grade masks are handed out to protect those around the wearer, not the wearer. Respirators/masks have to be properly fitted, worn, and disposed of.


Akazie,

[url]http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25675665-2761,00.html[/url]

[Doc Durian]

And further to this:

It's become established in their community of Kiwirrkurra.

[url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/29/2611829.htm[/url]

Watch closely the figures over the coming days and weeks.

[vashti]

I thought of you when I saw this, Doc.

CDC Recommendations for State and Local Planning for a 2009 Novel H1N1 Influenza Vaccination Program

[url]http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/statelocal/planning.htm/?breaknews[/url]

[Doc Durian]

Note: Immunization of military (e.g., deployed forces) may be appropriate given the current circumstances; however, this memo focuses on vaccination of civilian populations under the authority of CDC and state and local health departments.

Do you like how they passed the proverbial buck?

If you go back over the last 4 years of Contingency Planning before a clear pandemic cause (but suspected H5N1), they and other agencies are very clear about who gets what and where.

As it's showing no signs of abaiting in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter months are yet to be upon us, it looks like they'll be hooking up those triage/cot trailers they've prepared and pitching their field tents soon enough. Plus all those makeshift morgues.

Even with a mild form remaining, they're going to need them.