SWINE FLU

[atdsutm]

at least we are having beef for BYOB

[Shintetsu]

Spam TamiFlu, riiiight.. 'Til it becomes mutated. Excellent choice, gents.

[Twin-Skies]

Not to dispell the caution, but I think it's time we put into perspective the actual lethality of swine flu is, as compared to normal influenza.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_...deaths.htm

How many people die from flu each year in the United States?
The number of influenza-associated (i.e., flu-related) deaths varies from year to year because flu seasons often fluctuate in length and severity. CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. This figure includes people dying from complications of flu. This estimate came from a 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Medication Association (JAMA), which looked at the 1990-91 through the 1998-99 flu seasons [10]. Statistical modeling was used to estimate how many flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death on their death certificate was listed as a respiratory or circulatory disease. During these years, the number of estimated deaths ranged from 17,000 to 52,000.

In 2009, CDC published additional estimates of flu-related deaths comparing different methods, including the methods used in the 2003 JAMA study. The seasons studied included the 1993-94 through the 2002-03 flu seasons [9]. Results from this study showed that during this time period, 36,171 flu-related deaths occurred per year, on average.

How did CDC estimate that an average of 36,000 people die in the U.S. each year from flu?
This statistic came from a 2003 JAMA study by CDC scientists [10]. The study used statistical modeling to estimate that during 9 influenza seasons from 1990-91 through 1998-99, an annual average of 36,000 flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death on their death certificate was listed as a respiratory or circulatory disease. A 2009 study that appeared in the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses made a similar estimate for the 10 influenza seasons from 1993 to 2003 [9].

What are flu-related deaths?
Flu-related deaths are deaths that occur in people for whom influenza infection was likely a contributor to the cause of death, but not necessarily the primary cause of death.

In short: be wary, but don't treat the situation as if it's the next apocalyptic contagion.

[Mjting]

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090516/ta...5be5e.html

[Grim]

Just in case you haven't heard, we already have a case in the country.

Duque confirms first A(H1N1) RP case

MANILA, Philippines—Take the health warnings seriously—it’s here.

Health Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III Thursday night confirmed the first case of Influenza A(H1N1) infection in the country—in a 10-year-old Filipino girl who arrived from the United States with her parents on May 18.

“The DoH confirms today the first case of AH1N1 in the Philippines. She is a female traveler who arrived in the country on May 18 from the United States, whose throat specimen tested positive based on results from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM),” Duque said.

Duque, who is in Geneva, Switzerland, attending a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting, held a video conference with reporters at the WHO regional office in Manila to break the news Thursday night.

“I talked with the president and from the tone of her voice she was very concerned. In fact, she gave me the go signal to conduct this press conference,” Duque added.

Dr. Eric Tayag of the Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center said the girl, who was not identified, had also been to Canada.

The girl, he said, developed a fever, cough and sore throat on May 19, the day after arriving, and was brought to the RITM in Muntinlupa City where the diagnosis was confirmed Thursday.

Despite the index case, Duque said: “There is no community outbreak in the country, measures are being done to prevent transmission, including quarantine of immediate household of the first case. The first case is something we have been preparing for as a result of public and private sectors’ effective surveillance system.”

Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said the test results came Thursday afternoon from RITM and the patient was immediately given antiviral Oseltamivir.

The first case no longer had fever and cough but still has sore throat, said Villaverde.

Tayag said specimens from the index case will be sent to a WHO collaborating center in Melbourne as routine procedure for all specimens that will test positive for the novel AH1N1.

“The child developed the symptoms a day after arrival, so this is also a call for vigilance on the part of the public that people in the country and incoming travelers from abroad, especially from infected areas, submit themselves to quarantine screening and continuous monitoring of health, especially body temperature for 10 days, and to report to the DoH any flu-like symptoms,” said Villaverde.

Villaverde reiterated that the public should observe proper hygiene, strengthen resistance and do social distancing—avoid going to crowded areas if the need is not urgent.

Since there is only a single confirmed case, Villaverde said, there is no need to postpone the opening of schools in June.

Up till then the country had been flu-free despite the disease afflicting citizens of nearby countries like Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.

In Geneva, a month after the world was alerted to a potential influenza pandemic, doubts fostered by the mild symptoms of the new swine flu virus have prompted the WHO to think twice about sounding the maximum alarm despite the spread of infection in 41 countries.

The WHO on Thursday raised its tally of swine flu cases around the world to 11,034 and 85 deaths. Most of the 791 new cases have been reported in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Mexico confirmed three more deaths linked to the A(H1N1) virus, while the United States confirmed two additional deaths since Wednesday’s tally.

‘Imminent pandemic’

At least 38 other countries in the Americas, Asia and Europe have reported cases since the outbreak in Mexico, but the world remains at flu alert level five, signaling an “imminent pandemic.”

WHO Director General Margaret Chan is hesitant about declaring a fully fledged pandemic by moving to Phase 6, even though travelers have carried the virus to other continents.

The maximum alert level would indicate sustained community transmission in a second region outside the Americas.

On Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso reiterated his appeal for calm as the number of swine flu infections in his country soared to 292, including the first two cases in Tokyo, the world’s largest urban area.

Antoine Flahaut, an epidemiologist and head of the School of Public Health (EHESP), said that the technical elements were in place to move into the pandemic phase.

“But the WHO senses that recommendations which go with that are not adapted to the situation,” Flahaut explained, pointing to air travel restrictions or advice to wear surgical masks.

“Invoking phase six would be disproportionate with the current situation,” he added.

The doubts have grown because of the relatively mild symptoms of swine flu, which experts acknowledge is no worse than seasonal influenza for now.

Many of the deaths have occurred among those who were suffering from other ailments, a common pattern for ordinary strains of flu.

When the WHO’s annual assembly opened on Monday, British Health Secretary Alan Johnson voiced doubts about phase six that had been growing behind the scenes after countries rushed to contain new cases of swine flu.

More time needed

“I think you, as you and others have said, need more time, we need more time to study this,” Johnson told Chan, prompting nods of approval from other health officials afterward, including China, Japan and New Zealand.

“She (Chan) has taken that on board,” WHO spokesperson Thomas Abraham said late Thursday, underlining that most of the cases in Japan were largely confined to students or their close entourage.

Chan acknowledged earlier this week that the WHO’s pandemic response plan, introduced three years ago, was largely designed around the more deadly and virulent, but less transmissible, H5N1 bird flu virus.

“This scale was based on geographical distribution, but the public belief is that pandemic means seriousness,” said Sylvie Briand, acting director of the WHO’s Global Influenza Program.

But the WHO is also looking ahead at the potential progress of the new virus, and fears of its impact in poor countries, where millions of people are already weakened by chronic illness.

“Whatever the member states might say, we are in phase five,” Abraham pointed out.

Similar to 20th century

In studies released by the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists pointed out the similarities between the new A(H1N1) virus and ones behind pandemics that marked the 20th century.

Those pandemics in 1918-1919—which killed an estimated 50 million people—in 1957-1963 and 1968-1970 started off as mild but went through waves that became more lethal at their peak, often the second season, and had different impacts in different regions.

The viruses also affected young people—a feature underlined by the WHO in the current outbreak—and were highly transmissible, according to researchers from the US National Institutes of Health and George Washington University. Reports from Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

[Hempire]

well....i still stand by my love of the plant....

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRele...BW20090427

- Cannabis Science Inc. Reports on Prospective Life Saving Treatments for H1N1 Swine Flu and H5N1 Bird Flu in View of the Current Global Threat

I'd even go far as to say that yea they put in that word prospective and the word anecdotal only because there is very little support from the US government about the research on Cannabis regarding its medical use...obviously they prefer the pharmaceuticals...

[Grim]

Can't find a link for it yet, but I've confirmed it from a friend. DLSU has been quarantined due to having one student with a case of swine flu. They will have no classes from June 4 to 14.

[Hempire]

My love for the plant.... still ROOTING for it....it seems the Flu is still safe, i would OH NOES at it when it mutates into something more deadly which i don't hope it happens and i don't think it will....but still if it does....

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just replace BIRD with SWINE...and of course the HERB can't be replaced. Eat herbs = HP healed. =D

[Aruren]

A case of AH1N1 has been confirmed in DLSU-Manila.

DLSU-M has decided to close until June 14.

[Mjting]

thats good..and bad news for students-depending on how they look at it.

[Sforza]

Tri-sem will be cut even shorter. Deadlines will be even shorter, more tests, etc. I'd say bad for the students.

[Shintetsu]

Lasalle is a stone's throw away from where I am(live). Fingers crossed.

[Mjting]

yeah. bad for some, good for the slacker-who-wants-to-chill-types

[NiX]

Hala Andrew papapasukin kayo niyan ng mga Sabado!!! Or maybe they'll have you come to class on Fridays to make up. Pray that they don't have you come on both Fridays and Saturdays.

[Mjting]

^ ditto.