Six probable cases of swine flu in Washington state

[skooooo]

Source: KING news


SEATTLE - Washington State health and political officials announced Wednesday evening that there are several possible cases of swine flu in the state.

One 11-year-old Madrona School student from Seattle was hospitalized Friday.

Also in Seattle, one 27-year-old male is suspected of having the flu.

Plus, a 33-year-old woman, who is a physician, is believed to have the virus. Her husband and two children are also experiencing symptoms.

Read more: http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_042909HEB-swine-flu-kids-KS.2c1b44e.html

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Crap, this thing is all over the place.

[Matariki]

1. Common flu far more deadly than swine flu in U.S.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Common-flu-far-more-deadly-than-swine-flu-in-U-S/SYwVqQF_3Umy0qY3qhp9zQ.cspx

The Centers for Disease Control estimates 36,000 people die annually in the United States from the flu. A disproportionately large number of Floridians are in the group. The flu is far more dangerous for the very young and very old.

[skooooo]

3. I have to fly across country..

...on Sunday. I don't mind getting sick, if that happens. I do worry about my lungs because I'm asthmatic, and that can get really nasty (bad bad bad).

[Baby Snooks]

5. Really?

This is the first time we have had to deal with this strain. So don't assume what you are assuming. This could kill 360,000 people in this country. Or 36,000,000.

The Spanish Flu was not a common flu. It is suspected to have been an avian flu. It killed an estimated 50 million people. And in terms of percentage of population then and now 36 million people in this country alone is not out of the realm of possibility.

Maybe not now. Maybe not in the fall. But maybe next year. The Spanish Flu was apparently three pandemics. The third one the most deadly. They suspect it kept mutating as it kept spreading.

[pnwmom]

8. We didn't have antibiotics to treat bacterial secondary infections

during the Spanish flu. And we didn't have any antivirals either.

[ronnie624]

10. Bacteria Fingered As Killer In 1918 Flu Pandemic

What killed tens of millions of people around the world in the 1918 flu pandemic actually might not have been a flu virus. A new study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases blames different agents: bacteria.

The flu virus weakened lungs, opening the door to fatal bacterial pneumonia in most of the pandemic's 50 million victims, according to researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93747214>

[Oregone]

21. Viral infections often lead to secondary infections

(hence, why antibiotics are not always wasted in treatment)

Buuuuut, just because someone with the flu dies of pneumonia, you don't chalk up that death strictly to bacteria and write off the virus that weakened them and caused the condition in the first place.

Further, we do not have enough evidence to prove the people would not have died anyway, even without the secondary infection.

Yeah, death rate probably would of been lower if the bacteria was treated. But who knows how much and if the virus still wasn't deadly on its own.

With enough research, we might be able to find out that depression doesn't lead directly to deaths. Rather, pills, guns, and nooses are the actual cause of death in depression related suicides. Hence, depression is harmless.

[Oregone]

6. Do you have to keep spreading this lie in every thread?

[Matariki]

13. I posted a link to FACTS from The Centers for Disease Control here

and in it's own thread because it's important. You have a lot of nerve calling that 'spreading this lie in every thread'.

Or maybe you just really love a good panic? Maybe if there's some apocalyptic pandemic you're hoping it will add some excitement to your sorry life?

[Oregone]

18. You posted a link to a number.

Numbers without context mean nothing.

You are lying by claiming this number proves the standard flu is more deadly than the swine flu.

Yes, it kills more people. It also kills more people than ebola. Is the standard flu more deadly than ebola? Think about that one real hard.

This isn't about stirring panic. Its about educating people and quelling misinformation. You shouldn't be out here trying to convince anyone they should be less worried about this than the standard flu (and thereby, not concerned about exposure).

[Matariki]

19. Yawn. Talk to me about this in a couple of weeks

when everyone has forgotten about it.

[Oregone]

20. Oh, they definately may

And they definitely may not. And there is still the chance of a winter resurgence (like with the Spanish Flu). Beyond that, it should further be concerning to merely observe more evolving H1N1 strains (and eventually, one will make a great impact).

But in the meantime, your "FACT" doesn't really fully support your premise. Yes, its a number. But maybe you should also look at the incidence rate, and the mortality rate before telling people how "deadly" something is.

Again, think about it. Is the standard flu more deadly than ebola because it kills hundreds of times more people a year?

[skooooo]

25. better swine flu than ebola!

That's my cry!

[grillo7]

22. Nice job, Oregone...

Also, one key difference is that many newer influenza viruses like the 1918 strain, and based on the fatalities in Mexico, this one so far, usually kill the most healthy people in a population rather than the old and sick, due to a hyperactive immune reaction.
Sorry about these pesky facts.
While seasonal flu is technically responsible for more deaths annually, it also doesn't have the ability to kill 50 million healthy people. We have to be vigilant and informed if we want to minimize the chances of this growing in scope...it shouldn't be downplayed.

[Mojorabbit]

7. THis is a novel virus, not regular flu

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/04/as-swine-flu-sp.html#more

April 29, 2009
As Swine Flu Spreads, Its Chances to Mutate Increase

TOKYO—Swine flu has reached Asia, with South Korea reporting its first suspected case yesterday. Like the vast majority of other cases outside Mexico so far, it is mild, but virologist Kennedy Shortridge warns that is no reason for complacency. He says that the farther the virus spreads, the more chance it will mix, or reassort, with other flu viruses in circulation and turn into something more lethal. "The prospects for change are considerable and worrying," he says.

Shortridge is a professor emeritus at the University of Hong Kong, where he led investigations into the initial emergence of H5N1 avian influenza in 1997, when it killed six of the 18 people it infected. The city squelched that outbreak by slaughtering all 1.4 million chickens and ducks in the territory. H5N1 re-emerged in 2003 and since then has claimed 257 lives while devastating poultry flocks throughout much of Asia and parts of Africa. He has long advocated global cooperation in the surveillance of circulating flu viruses to spot emerging new strains so public health officials could plan a response and drug companies could get a head start in making vaccines.

Shortridge was among the first to suggest that pigs might act as mixing vessels for new combinations of viruses. And the swine flu now spreading from Mexico "fits into the mixing vessel hypothesis," he says.

Analysis of flu specimens by Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, have found that the virus is made up of pieces of human, swine, and avian viruses from North America, Europe, and Asia. The mixture "gives an order of complexity we really don't understand at this point," Shortridge says.

In particular, he says he is concerned that this patched-together virus might not be stable and could easily reassort with other viruses encountered in a human or animal host. The virus has now spread to Asia, where the H5N1 virus is circulating. And he says that in many areas there are strains of human H1N1 in circulation that are resistant to Tamiflu, the drug of choice for treating the disease in humans. He speculates that swapping one or more genes among these viruses could result in a virus that is more pathogenic or more easily passed from person to person or both.

As a precaution, Shortridge suggests sequencing as many viral samples as quickly as possible to watch for any telltale changes in the virus—a massive job requiring worldwide cooperation. He says such cooperation seems to be off to a good start, thanks to the experience of dealing with the 2003 SARS crisis and recent efforts to prepare for an influenza pandemic. "There is a success story in this in that the world is alert" to the possibility of a pandemic, he says. Still, he adds, even better collaboration and communication will be required in the face of a threat that could change overnight.

—Dennis Normile

[Milo_Bloom]

11. Shhhh... stop ruining people's panic.

[Matariki]

14. No kidding. It's like freaking porn or something.

I think too many people are bored with their existence and want an exciting pandemic to distract them.

[girl gone mad]

15. This is a new influenza.

At this point, no one can predict whether it will evolve to be virulent and deadly or whether it will be mild and peter out.

[Matariki]

17. How the hell is posting statistics from the center on disease control

'pretending to have the answers'?

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. That 36,000 death figure is out of context

You're comparing Apples (seasonal flu) to Oranges (pandemic-potential flu); this flu can mutate as it passes through hosts, could be stronger, could be weaker. If it's stronger, nobody has immunity to it- look up "cytokine storm" to learn why this flu is different from seasonal flu...
Seasonal flu kills approx. 36,000 a year of mostly elderly and infants, those with weakend immune systems. If a pandemic occurs, it kills mostly those with stronger, healthy immune systems.

As Obama himself has said, this is time for concern. Not a time for panic, but also not a time for "pooh-poohing" and keeping one's head in the sand. Educate (fully) yourself, and be prepared.

[Matariki]

2. Do you know what the difference in syptoms between swine flu and regular flu?

[skooooo]

4. Is that a trick question?

[Matariki]

16. No. I don't know what the symptoms are that set it apart from influenza

I did a search and can't find any info. Do you know? (not a challenge, an honest question.)

[grillo7]

23. The general symptoms are the same, it's a cytokine storm that you have to be worried about...

Try googling cytokine storm. Basically, when you have a healthy immune system, and your body encounters a completely new virus, it can cause your immune system to overreact.
This is worse than it seems.
What generally happens at this point, is that you either a) rapidly drown as your lungs are destroyed by your own body, or b) experience a condition called DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation)which causes you to bleed from basically...everywhere. Or both! This seems to be what happened to many of the 1918 victims, and was also responsible for the SARS deaths. Unfortunately, we don't really understand it very well, and are not successful at treating it.
Regarding swine flu, what's worrisome is that almost all of those who have died in Mexico have been between the ages of 25 and 50, which is consistent with what happened in 1918.
Hopefully, the virus has mutated and is now more benign. But, it could also get much worse. Right now, we just don't know, and it's best to be aware and vigilant--not panicking--but informed.

[mbperrin]

9. Suspected, believed, might, coulda woulda shoulda. We already did

the whole swine flu thing in '76.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASibLqwVbsk

Was a bust then. But it sure has gotten the thieving bankers off the headlines, hasn't it?

[ronnie624]

12. So many stooges spreading panic and misinformation. n/t

[AllHereTruth]

24. People. Please just stop.

The Mainstream media spreads this every few years. All of you buy into it. You feed off their bullshit...i am so fucking sick of all this. Every 2 years its a PANDEMIC. An EPIDEMIC.

Look. The CDC is in the process of making the vaccine. Is SHOULD be available for next flu season. There is NO reason to panic. Yet every single thread on every single fucking website has 'OMGZ WE ALL DIE NOW OK'

Grow up people and look around you. Do you not see that all you need to do is wash your fucking hands. Keep away from people who are clearly sick. Maybe use a little extra hand sanitizer. Thats it. Thats ALL you can do. Stop all this bullshit already.

The CDC has it under control. When they tell you to PANIC AND HEAD FOR THE HILLS, Then maybe you should, but until then please just shut up and stop panicking.

Yours Truly, Me

*EDIT*

If you want information on this 'Swine Flu' read this Scientific American story. Lays out that it is a different strain but nothing to panic about. Just to keep away from those who...you know...look sick and...you know...you wont get sick.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=worry-about-swine-flu