Is it overkill on the Swine Flu reporting?

[Postman]

I went to my primary care physician this morning for a routine exam and the conversation drifted toward the Swine Flu hysteria..

He said that "the media" is blowing this all out of proportion. He asked why "the media" hasn't made it known that over 30,000 people died from the yearly flu as opposed to what the effects of the Swine Flu have been....

He's a Rwer but I sort of understand his point...

[Uzybone]

1. nothing to do with him being RW, he is right

it is over hyped. But to be fair, I heard Brian Williams say on nightly news yesterday that "normal" flu kills 36,000 people a year.

[phantom power]

2. I guess I don't think so.

It's got an unusually high mortality rate, it's showing up in many countries, and it transmits human to human.

Never helpful to freak out, but it is showing signs of becoming a pandemic.

:shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. DId he also tell you that the W.H.O is consider upping the alert level to 5?

or that what has health and sanitary authorities world wide spooked is that it is not the usual suspects who are dying, the very young, the old and the immuno suppressed, but people in their prime?

Now I used to think that was a RW talking point, but it is not, it is a talking point of the ignorant

By the way... the US media actually has been doing a descent job and oh noes they are covering quite a bit of news, not just flu

Oh and I forgot one final piece of data... did he also tell you that Flu infections crash in the US around April and May?
(I mean the world does not matter to these folks, so saying in the northern hemisphere is too much)

(Oh and in the breaking news dept. we had the first reported death in the US and more are expected)

[Mojorabbit]

4. It is the opposite in my household

The OSHA standards require all sorts of special infectious disease requirements set in place. My husband is a family physician and from yesterdays fax from the cdc must now start testing certain patients and sending the swabs to be tested. Once we have confirmed cases in our area we go into a heightened set of procedures re protection of the staff and measures to ensure patients in the waiting room are protected.

[Blue_Roses]

5. I just asked the same thing.

I had the flu a few weeks ago and it seems to be the same symptoms. What's the difference in the two?:shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Did they test you at the lab

if it was type A it could have been H1N1, it is a strain of type A, and that requires more advanced testing, at places like oh... CDC

If it is type B, then it was your common, every day, human strain

[Blue_Roses]

17. no, he just went by the symptoms...

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Then we may say, to use proper terminology that you MAY BE

a suspected case of swine flu, not a confirmed case... if we wanted to add you to the stats

But the only way to know if you had the the flu, for sure, is a swab and a lab

Not to be crass

And when you had it, many physicians were not testing... and were just going by symptoms, which is SOP most years

Them tests are expensive

[Uzybone]

8. from all Ive heard and read

its the same symptoms as the regular flu. The regular flu killed 36K americans last year.

[Mojorabbit]

18. Flus

continuously mutate as it passes thru humans. History has shown that it can mutate to a more virulent strain and this is a novel strain not seen before. As it spreads to more and more people there is that possibility. Hopefully it will stay mild. It is prudent to track it closely.

[Fleshdancer]

6. without the hype though, would as many people get tested if they felt the symptoms?

I think it's ridiculous to call it hysteria when people are simply talking about it and officials are updating the public. It would be difficult to track the virus and study the way it spreads if people who had it didn't think to get tested for it. I think this is the ultimate purpose of so much coverage.

We didn't know this hybrid virus existed several weeks ago and the US didn't have any known cases of it one week ago. To have as much information on it as we do right now is pretty damn cool IMO.

[bicentennial_baby]

10. +1

:hi:

[eShirl]

11. good point

[demokatgurrl]

14. Do you go and get tested for the flu every year?

I sure as hell don't . And if you do get the flu and you get a test and it confirms, yep, you have the flu. Then what? You go home and go to bed until you get better.

And some years I go and get a flu shot like a good little citizen, and then it turns out that the flu that ends up spreading is not the one for which the vaccine was developed. The result is like what we're seeing with this- infection and no vaccine for the susceptible.

Hysteria is wearing those stupid masks which cannot block a virus particle. Phelgm, yes- they can keep plegm from being coughed into your nose and mouth but a virus can get through.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Two points

if you are tested and found to be positive in the first 48 hours you can be given antivirals that will reduce the severity

Two, the masks... we like to make fun

Well a psychologist made a great point yesterday

They make the ones who think it is not serious take it a little more seriously, and give a measure of control to those who are freaked out

So we may debate whether they are useful or not in the medical sense, but not that stupid from a psyche perspective

[Fleshdancer]

21. The masks are to keep your germs away from other people

It was a common thing to see when I lived in Japan, especially during the typical cold and flu season. I think the masks are highly courteous and I wish Americans would start wearing them every time we start to feel under the weather. To date, it seems most Americans are interested in only taking precautions that benefit ourselves instead of society as a whole. In a nutshell, this is the greatest difference I see between Western and Asian societies, but that's a topic for a different thread.

This particular virus is a hybrid and the medical community is still trying to learn about it. Tracking it makes perfect sense to me.

[Shell Beau]

22. The masks only work if they are changed very frequently.

Otherwise they just become saturated with the germs that the person will just keep breathing in.

[City of Mills]

9. Percentage of deaths vs. number of infections

If the swine flu becomes a full-blown pandemic, I wonder how the numbers will stack up?

[demokatgurrl]

12. I'm with your doctor

it's true that tens of thousands die each year from flu. This is just an other flu but it was susceptible to a catchy name, a name that can bring back back associations with the swine flu of 1976 (when the vaccine turned out to be the problem).

The media LOVE this kind of story. They can put on their deadly serious demanor and pontificate and count dead bodies on maps... makes for great TV.

[stillcool]

13. A Doctor friend of ours..

told us yesterday the numbers were under-reported, and the spread was significant. I would hope that people would rather be aware of the potential, and take precautions, than to be ignorant and spread it further.

[damntexdem]

15. Not according to the World Health Organization:

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/scitech/2009/04/29/D97S77JO1_un_who_swine_flu/index.html

[FarCenter]

16. The introduction of a new flu with the same CFR would result in about 90,000 deaths

Your doctor cited 30,000 deaths annually from existing strains of flu. However, only about 10% of the population gets the existing strains due to natural immunity, flu shots, etc.

A new strain, encountering little immunity and no vaccine, would likely involve 30% of the population. Even if it has the same Case Fatality Ratio, this would result in 90,000 deaths. Scaled up to worldwide figures it would be 1.8 million or so.

It would not be statistically significant with respect to total death rates, but it is likely to strain medical resources in a number of countries.

[Milo_Bloom]

23. Our Dr. sent out an e-mail lambasting the media on this.

He pointed out how nonsensical the current panic is and reiterated there is absolutely no reason to panic or change your normal routine, beyond washing your hands more often.


From his e-mail.

There actually is a very, very small chance that this virus could cause severe illness and whenever this occurs hospitalization and even fatalities are reported. The likelihood of a pandemic is miniscule, but newspapers, governments agencies and the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals do their best work and make their biggest sales when people are scared.


Tamiflu is recommended for treatment and prevention of this influenza virus. The company which gets the drug's royalties (Gilead) has as a major stockholder--previously Chairman--one Donald Rumsfeld.

Local pharmacies are already running low on Tamiflu.

Connect these dots.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN2445216420090424

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tamiflu.asp

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53O17O20090425

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200904251215dowjonesdjonline000319&title=who-says-initial-findings-show-swine-flu-responds-to-tamiflu

The usual boring admonitions apply: wash your hands, stay well-rested and well-hydrated. You do not need to buy Tamiflu. It is an effective antiviral drug but has possible side effects.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/health-illness/treatment/medicine/medications/tamiflu-psych.htm

[tabasco]

24. Won't know that for about another month.

If we're all dead, it wasn't over-reporting.

[dana_b]

25. yes and no

right now it does seem like overkill BUT, from the CDC site, they are worried that the virus is changing and becoming more virulent here in the U.S. (like it is in Mexico).

"The more recent illnesses and the reported death suggest that a pattern of more severe illness associated with this virus may be emerging in the U.S. Most people will not have immunity to this new virus and, as it continues to spread, more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths are expected in the coming days and weeks."

go here: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

[riverdeep]

26. Humans have a built in sensitivity to novel threats.

We notice the NEW danger more than the well-worn one. When was the last time a newspaper had the headline "STAIRS A MAJOR KILLER"? Stairs kill a lot of people, but it's so commonplace, we no longer consider it a danger.

The fact that so much of this is unknown further feeds the reporting, we have a fascination with the unknown as well. Given these tendencies, we're doing it about right in terms of coverage. Regardless, automobiles will kill more people than even the most deadly flu has, but we won't freak out about cars, they're so...common.

[Control-Z]

27. Funny - I've only watched the news

a few times in the past few days, and each report included that information. Perhaps they've had some complaints.

[hedgehog]

28. They have to report on the flu to give people a break from the

Obama's First 100 days story

[bluedawg12]

29. There are probably many things going on.

One is the nature of 24 hour cable news coverage. So any story gets round the clock coverage.

I once watched while a broken water main in Rhode Island get 24 hour round the clock televised coverage.
It was hilarious, they had a camera on site showing the "drama" of cars driving around the water gushing out, then the heart pounding drama as someone finally turned off a main valve and lo and behold the water stopped!

Then there is the internet. That creates a demand for instant news and instant info.

Right now the story has news value and people are mostly curious, some concerned, a few frightened, especially those with little ones at home, or even a few here on DU who posted while feeling ill or with a fever.

It's probable that people will get bored and be onto something new next week. Maybe another water main will break! :rofl:

In the meantime, this is a good opportunity to look at how our government and the world responds to a potential crisis. Someday, hopefully not this time, there will be a serious global health care crisis, so this is a good chance to look at how we prepare and react.

NO more Katrina's is one way to think of this and with President Obama in charge I feel that all bases will be covered and I personally feel much more secure than had this happened with chimp in charge.

This is also a good way for folks to learn about viruses, anti-virals, vaccines and how epidemiology works now that we no longer have ( that rw climate change denier) Robin Cook :eyes: to write gripping novels about outbreaks.

Also, people do have an interest in knowing, as that is empowering and good quality information is hard to come by.

I have mostly gone directly to the WHO and CDC web site for updates, not media sources.

Here is a link to an article just posted from a Progressive Blog hosted by public health professionals that helps place things into perspective.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5545680&mesg_id=5545680

Also, this link, from a thread here at DU (which contains the above article too) has been a place where links to public health information is being posted in one handy place.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5545680&mesg_id=5545680


One more thing to consider. The rightwing response to anything that suggests that the government should work for the people as opposed to their mantra about small government and privatizing everything. Nothing will suit the "party of NO!" If President Obama reacts to this with appropriate calm and organizational measures then, it's an overreaction, if they do nothing and this does become an out of season outbreak with high mortality rates, then, they would blame the President and the Dems for being negligent.

I guess the repugs and the rw would have preferred we outsource this to Halliburton or KB&R rather than the CDC. :rofl:

[riverdeep]

31. Nothing brings the role of goverment squarely to the fore than public health.

For all those who say government does nothing, and don't get me wrong-I myself am highly skeptical of governmental nonsense since power is also a contagion, the success of public health works is a sticking point.

[bluedawg12]

32. Exactly, that's why we must demand preparedness.

That's my take home lesson on this current outbreak. Let's look at what our plans are for crises when they do emerge and are they adequate. Katrina was a travesty, all of the damned warnings and modelling about a Cat4 and the weak levee's and then a Cat 4 (was it? it's been a while, this is from what I recall) hit and well, we saw the human horror and tragedy.

NO more Katrinas.

[4lbs]

30. On one hand, all this information and talking is resulting in actual quick and aggressive action

by the federal government. That's always a good thing.

However, I also feel that some in the media are trying to make this out to be worse than Anthrax and the Bubonic plague combined, which it isn't.

Especially, the idiot right-wingers trying to pounce on this as a result of illegal immigration, when the real cause of introduction into the U.S. has been a bunch of kids on spring break vacation in Cancun, Mexico bringing it back with them to New York.

So far, just about 100 confirmed cases in the U.S., with a single death.


Each year, millions of people contract Influenza B, the virus we associate with the standard "flu".

Several hundred thousand are hospitalized from the standard flu, and almost 40,000 die each year.


I'd be more worried about contracting the regular flu than the swine flu.

[bluedawg12]

33. The media covers a groundhog when he is rudely awakened.

What people do or do not worry about is highly personal and subjective.

The best way to know what is of concern is keeping up to date, as little or as much as it suits ones own interest and desires. I am guessing, but it seems like the ones likely to be more concerned are the ones with little guys at home, or folks with underlying illness that may compromise their immune system.

I trust more what is coming from this administration by infinity, than the last crackpot in power.

"Every year in the U.S., 5 percent to 20 percent of the population gets seasonal flu. The virus affects the nose, throat and lungs, and peaks from late-November through March, according to the CDC. About 200,000 Americans are hospitalized annually from the seasonal flu, and 36,000 die, said the CDC Web site. A widespread outbreak of a new strain could increase deaths and sicken millions worldwide, world health officials said. " http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXZ7s4f9bkCM&refer=<br%20/>home

[ProdigalJunkMail]

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