Wut?

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x--JooJooFlopO-('-'Q) :
Nope. The bird flu can kiss my ass along with Y2K and killer bees.

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Don't forget SARS.

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Maradon! stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
Don't forget SARS.

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Or its dissapointing sequel Monkeypox.

Or the post-9/11 chemical attack scare that was no small blessing for the duct tape industry.

And my body fought that off in two days without the aid of antibiotics. BRING IT ON.

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Sean.
The worst thing I've had in the past five years was pinkeye.

And my body fought that off in two days without the aid of antibiotics. BRING IT ON.

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Just sayin'.

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Blackened thought this was the Ricky Martin Fan Club Forum and wrote:
I think that this 'bird flu' is supposedly more deadly to the healthier people.

Just sayin'.

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Yeah, something about the flu casuing your immune system to go haywire so the stronger it is the more damage it does to you.

I'm sapsoed to play dodgeball in an hour, not sure if I'm gonna make it though.

Then we get Pandemic flu, which is always bad news. It happens every generation or so, and rarely fails to kill millions of people. With the emergence of highly pathogenic H5N1, as there is now, it's more or less a sure bet, and we're really due for one.

Plus once it does occur, the vaccine will take roughly six months from development to mass distribution, by which time the damage will essentially already be done. Antiviral drugs are then a very good way to protect yourself in those six months, but the supply is limited, so it's prudent to get some while you can, even if the advisories disagree.

Unless of course you're on the list, in which case you should probably disagree, too.

Pvednes fucked around with this message on 06-10-2006 at 03:43 PM.

Alarmism is just the in-thing these days, because it attracts media attention, which then justifies grant $$, which in turn keeps academics happy. Remember all the hype about weaponized anthrax? Ooooh, scaaareey! How many people died in the attack we had? Oh, yeah: 3 or 4.

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We were all impressed when Bloodsage wrote:
Of course, the last pandemic was right about 100 years ago, and medical science hasn't improved at all since. If it happens, it'll certainly suck to be a poor person in a 3rd-world country, but I'm not holding my breath that half the healthy populace in the US will croak.

Alarmism is just the in-thing these days, because it attracts media attention, which then justifies grant $$, which in turn keeps academics happy. Remember all the hype about weaponized anthrax? Ooooh, scaaareey! How many people died in the attack we had? Oh, yeah: 3 or 4.

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But the TV movies said it'd be bad! And without them to inform us, who will?

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From the book of Bloodsage, chapter 3, verse 16:
Of course, the last pandemic was right about 100 years ago, and medical science hasn't improved at all since. If it happens, it'll certainly suck to be a poor person in a 3rd-world country, but I'm not holding my breath that half the healthy populace in the US will croak.

Alarmism is just the in-thing these days, because it attracts media attention, which then justifies grant $$, which in turn keeps academics happy. Remember all the hype about weaponized anthrax? Ooooh, scaaareey! How many people died in the attack we had? Oh, yeah: 3 or 4.

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Actually, the last one was in 1968, which was a wussy one that only killed three quarters of a million people. There've been those kinds of pandemics in 1900, 1918, 1957 and 1968 last century. There's been two or three a century documented since records on that sort of thing began. Either way, now that we've got a new strain gearing to pounce, it's inevitable that it will happen again.

As for the improvements in medical science since then, hey, guess what! Antiviral drugs and vaccines!

Pvednes fucked around with this message on 06-10-2006 at 05:16 PM.

These things, as you point out, happen regularly, and are nothing in particular to worry about, since the odds of being killed on the way to work in traffic are probably much higher. Preparation is fine; irresponsible fearmongering isn't.

So neener.

The 1968 one was caused by antigenic drift, so wasn't quite as lethal as others. The 1918 one was caused by antigenic shift--which is what's expected to happen with this one. It killed well over 25 million people.

Assuming we get massive outbreaks of person-to-person pandemic flu, I plan on being smart. I'll jack up my intake of vitamins and so forth, be careful about paying attention to where confirmed (not suspected) outbreaks occur, and try to get through it as intelligently as possible. If nothing else, things like West Nile, SARS, etc have taught me that you live happier and longer by paying attention to actual facts than giving in to hysteria. Especially when it hasn't actually happened yet.

These sort of drugs aren't a replacement for normal measures, (coughing into your arm, proper hygiene, vaccines, social distancing measures, quarantine, etc) they're a supplement to them. Quite an effective supplement, in fact.