Pork disease

[Madame Adequate]

Whilst I'll gladly admit that the media are happy to blow things out of proportion, I'm pretty sure that the WHO, CDC, Department of Health, and so forth kind of know what they're doing. When the chairperson of the WHO says "Influenza viruses are notorious for their rapid mutation and unpredictable behaviour." and is talking about how she's reaching out to vaccine producers, donors, the World Bank, etc. etc. to gather resources and assess capabilities of dealing with this, I'm inclined to take it somewhat seriously. Being as, you know, they're the people with the medical degrees in infectious diseases and all.

Also: Pretty sure the difference is that we don't know what the severity of this is. Might be the cases in Mexico are exceptions for some reason. Other hand, might be that a third of the world is going to be infected and 5% of infectees are going to die. Around 100-120 million dead would be kind of a big deal.

[NeoTifa]

It's being blown way outta proportion. Every flu virus mutates with every person it infects, so every flu virus gets smarter. This is just another one of those strands. And why is it called Swine flu? It's caught person-to-person, not pig-to-person.

[Bunny]

HEY GUYS IT ISN'T THE SWINE FLU ANYMORE

It's Influenza A (H1N1).

And why is it called Swine flu? It's caught person-to-person, not pig-to-person.

The genetic structure of the virus was derived from pigs. It's person-to-person now but has not always been the case.

[Momiji]

Whilst I'll gladly admit that the media are happy to blow things out of proportion, I'm pretty sure that the WHO, CDC, Department of Health, and so forth kind of know what they're doing. When the chairperson of the WHO says "Influenza viruses are notorious for their rapid mutation and unpredictable behaviour." and is talking about how she's reaching out to vaccine producers, donors, the World Bank, etc. etc. to gather resources and assess capabilities of dealing with this, I'm inclined to take it somewhat seriously. Being as, you know, they're the people with the medical degrees in infectious diseases and all.

Also: Pretty sure the difference is that we don't know what the severity of this is. Might be the cases in Mexico are exceptions for some reason. Other hand, might be that a third of the world is going to be infected and 5% of infectees are going to die. Around 100-120 million dead would be kind of a big deal.

According to the WHO, Influenza is responsible for 250,000 to 500,000 worldwide deaths annually. While it's true that we don't know the severity of this particular strain just yet, I find it sort of ludicrous that that number would increase so exponentially when the symptoms of this H1N1 strain are pretty much identical to any other strain of influenza, and that one can only be diagnosed with it if they're tested for it. Surely a deadly virus of pandemic proportions would have more up its sleeve, there's no denying that-- but until it shows these traits, how can anyone know what it's going to do to people? Of course it's better to play it safe and warn the world, but the world's already overreacting. I'm looking at you, Egypt.

I trust the people with the medical degrees who are researching this. However, I do not trust and have a very bitter brand of disdain reserved for the media that seems to want to scare its viewers for ratings. That's unforgivable.

I'm not denying that this whole H1N1 stuff has the potential to have a bad end for a lot of people. That would just be stupid. But until I see more evidence that this could become much more than a tougher version of the flu bug, that's what it will remain in my eyes-- a tougher version of the flu bug that already is responsible for around 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year.

[Freya]

I dunno PoePoe, I always made my disease be normal like a normal flu then BAM hit them with kidney and heart failure! I'd watch out for that if I were you. It could come from no where!

[Jiro]

Let's give consideration to the possibility we are all inside a version of Pandemic. Think along the lines of Start Ocean: TTEOT.

[Momiji]

I dunno PoePoe, I always made my disease be normal like a normal flu then BAM hit them with kidney and heart failure! I'd watch out for that if I were you. It could come from no where!

I always hit them with more subtle and less deadly symptoms like hypersensitivity, fever, and pulmonary edema. Once there is no vaccine possible, I then throw in the more visible symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea to dehydrate them, and them top it off with encephalitis as my coup de grâce.

Let's give consideration to the possibility we are all inside a version of Pandemic. Think along the lines of Start Ocean: TTEOT.

So there's someone in an alternate universe playing us all like characters from a video game, and we become sentient to that fact, so we come out of the video game and kill the players? Wow. My player must be bored out of his smurfing mind.

"Okay, so I'm playing as Justin."
"What's his special attack?"
"Uh... he goes to classes, comes home, and sits around on his computer all night, reading about medical ailments, ends up falling asleep at 4AM, and forgets to set his alarm so he misses his classes in the morning."
"That's... exciting."
"Yup." *puts gun in mouth and pulls the trigger*

I've never played any other Star Ocean game before, but I don't understand what people mean when they say it's a bad game. The plot twist at the end made it fantastic.

[Madame Adequate]

I'm an end boss!

[Crimson]

I bet in an ironic twist, if it was a zombie flu the coverage would be little to none.

[Jessweeee♪]

They shut down a couple of schools in my city and some events were cancelled S:

[Madame Adequate]

I bet in an ironic twist, if it was a zombie flu the coverage would be little to none.

Coverage would be 100%.

Oh you mean press. Sorry I was thinking surface of the Earth, in terms of napalm.

[Jessweeee♪]

I really think the media is blowing this way out of proportion. My mom won't shut up about it.

Seriously, what makes this H1N1 strain any different from any other strain of influenza, especially when the symptoms are identical? Is it just that we don't have a vaccine developed for this particular strain yet?

How many people even get their flu shots, anyway? I'm more worried about all of the panicking than the flu itself S:

[Momiji]

I really think the media is blowing this way out of proportion. My mom won't shut up about it.

Seriously, what makes this H1N1 strain any different from any other strain of influenza, especially when the symptoms are identical? Is it just that we don't have a vaccine developed for this particular strain yet?

How many people even get their flu shots, anyway? I'm more worried about all of the panicking than the flu itself S:

Hard telling. I decided it was a good idea to get the meningococcal meningitis vaccine when it was an epidemic, since such a disease is rather life-threatening. Maybe it would be against good judgment to not get the flu shot, but I think since so many people think the flu isn't a serious disease, they forgo it. And really, relatively, it isn't as life-threatening, or else I would have died by now (I seem to get the flu every year). I really think the flu shots are more for those who are more susceptible to the nasty stuff that can result from the stress of influenza, like pneumonia.

Really though, the way I see it, as long as people take the proper precautions and take care of themselves in general, they're gonna be A-OK. Then again, this is just me talking as if this is just a super-flu bug going around. If this suddenly mutates and we get a whole bunch of awful ailments not normally connected to influenza, yeah, I'd say we're a little more smurfed.

[Ramza Beoulve]

They shut down a couple of all the schools in my city country and some all the events were cancelled S:

[Psychotic]

Oh great, this thread turned serious!

Yeah, it's something that could kill me. But there's a whole bunch of diseases out there that could do that. I could also get hit by a bus. I could get stabbed or shot in the street. I could slip and fall in the shower, cracking open my head. Terrorists could blow me up. A meteor could fall from the sky and kill me. Aliens could show up and zap me into a thousand little pieces.

So swine flu? I don't give a . I can't be bothered to spend my entire life looking over my shoulder.