Swine Flu

[BomberGal]

Hey BG...thought I would pop in on the whole partner thing. It is a generational term. To quite a lot of us fossils, a 'partner' is taken to mean one you are in a de facto (as in living with but not married to) arrangement with, or a person of the same sex with whom you have a loving live-in relationship with. The term partner became a more socially acceptable and less offensive way of referring to a defacto when defacto became a 'sullied' word. If you had said boyfriend/girlfriend then DR may not have assumed you were living together.

cheers
bunnie

Thanks, but DR used the word partner first (my situation is too complicated to put a word on it at the moment), so I just went with it. To us non-"fossils", it's only an interchangeable word.

 

[skipper kelly]

I have a bad cough and a craving for bacon.

 

[campbell]

NSW piggery under quarantine but pork still safe

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25866079-952,00.html

Interesting development. very rare for staff to pass it on to the pigs.

and bellingen hospital is closed due to staff infection.

I wonder what the incremental cost is to the health budget for agency staff to keep hospitals open due to staff infections.

 

[campbell]

No hospital bed for Qld swine flu victim

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/br...d-for-qld-swine-flu-victim-20090802-e5r0.html

A seriously ill man had to be flown for more than four hours in two rescue helicopters because of bed shortages at north Queensland hospitals.

it happening all over qld.. no ventilated icu beds.

 

[bit_pattern]

No hospital bed for Qld swine flu victim

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/br...d-for-qld-swine-flu-victim-20090802-e5r0.html

A seriously ill man had to be flown for more than four hours in two rescue helicopters because of bed shortages at north Queensland hospitals.

it happening all over qld.. no ventilated icu beds.

Tasers would solve this problem!

 

[bit_pattern]

Deleted!!!

Oh, and are you just grabbing your talking points from the News Ltd. banner on the front page??? First Kyle and Jackie O-my-god I'm a ****ing sex offender, now this!

 

[Eagle87]

Now this is something worth worrying about:

Plague rears its ugly head.

the lung disease is caused by the same bacterium as bubonic plague. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is the most virulent and least common form of plague, capable of killing sufferers within 24 hours of infection. It spreads through the air and can be passed from person to person by coughing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/03/china-pneumonic-plague-ziketan

 

[bit_pattern]

The mutations begin...

Resistant flu virus mutation found

Nick Miller

August 4, 2009
THE H1N1 flu virus has mutated into a form resistant to the Australian-developed antiviral drug Relenza.
Researchers said the mutation posed little threat to humans yet: the virus was not a strain of swine or bird flu, and it was found only in the lab, not in patients.

 

[campbell]

Pigs banned from Ekka over swine flu fears

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25880299-952,00.html

PIGS have been banned from this year's Ekka - to protect the animals at the event from humans who are infected with swine flu.

Interesting development. They say the peak for the flu is 3 weeks here in QLD.
Ekka is next week,imo you would have to be crazy to go to the ekka this year.

 

[Dry Rot]

The mutations begin...

That's seasonal flu but here is an interesting article, long but worth a read

...“One of the fascinating things that the media and most everyone else pays no attention to is that early on, very early on, the CDC knew that there were problems growing this strain of virus used for the conventional vaccine approach now being ramped up for swine flu,” says my informant. “ The low yields and long time to production should not be news to anyone in the know. The current vaccine manufacturers have come out and said, ‘hey we’re getting low yields and its taking us a long time to produce that low-yielding vaccine,’ but insiders have known this since last April.

“This gets back to just how smart a virus we’re dealing with. To boil it down to simplistic almost cartoonish terms, this thing has figured out how to survive the environmental conditions in which influenza viruses have never survived, namely heat and humidity.

“It is contrary to all of influenza history to see a virus surviving the way this one is. It knows enough that vaccines- ever since we started creating vaccines- are produced in eggs and it’s genetic code knows enough not to allow a vaccine to be produced in eggs quickly. This is not by chance that we’ve got this problem. This all gets back to a virus that has been around for hundreds of years and through hundreds of years of experience has morphed itself into something that is wary of being trapped or deceived....

http://biomedreports.com/component/...ng-for-very-possible-worst-case-scenario.html

 

[bit_pattern]

That's seasonal flu but here is an interesting article, long but worth a read



http://biomedreports.com/component/...ng-for-very-possible-worst-case-scenario.html

So it is. The sub editor at The Rage must have stuffed up - the header is still on their front page as Swine flu mutation beats antiviral. But the header in the actual article reads 'Resistant flu virus mutation found'

 

[Dry Rot]

So it is. The sub editor at The Rage must have stuffed up - the header is still on their front page as Swine flu mutation beats antiviral. But the header in the actual article reads 'Resistant flu virus mutation found'

No probs.

But here's some good news - some good advice from Russia

Russian fans told whisky will stop flu

Tue, 4 Aug 2009

The head of the Russian national team's fan club has urged supporters travelling to Wales for next month's World Cup soccer qualifier to drink whisky to repel the swine flu virus. "Welsh whisky is on offer to Russian supporters as a disinfectant," Alexander Shprygin said. "This will relieve any symptoms."...

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/soccer/68238/soccer-russian-fans-told-whisky-will-stop-flu

 

[Niximus]

Spent the weekend in Melbourne, surprise, surprise I'm home sick today. I've only just been able to sit up. **** you Melbourne! **** you and the pig you rode in on!!

 

[betterthanu]

Ive got the flu atm. Thought it might be swine flu but apparently its Influenza A. Find out for sure tonight when my doctor rings. She said the only difference between this and swine flu is that swine flu come on more gradually.

 

[Dry Rot]

So it is. The sub editor at The Rage must have stuffed up - the header is still on their front page as Swine flu mutation beats antiviral. But the header in the actual article reads 'Resistant flu virus mutation found'

Here's the real deal - very worrying report if this starts to spread

Tamiflu Resistant Pandemic H1N1 Cases in Texas
Recombinomics Commentary 03:14
August 4, 2009

"We have found resistance to Tamiflu on the border. We have observed some cases, few to be sure, in El Paso and close to McAllen, Texas," said Maria Teresa Cerqueira, head of the local PAHO office. Cerquiera said one patient diagnosed with a Tamiflu-resistant strain had been treated with Zanamivir -- an anti-viral made by GlaxoSmithKline -- and another was given no alternative medication. Both survived.

The above comments describe at least two oseltamivir resistant patients along the Texas / Mexico border. The cases are at opposite ends of the border (see map) and raise concerns that the resistance developed in the absence of Tamiflu treatment....

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08040901/H274Y_TX_Cases.html

 

[bit_pattern]

Here's the real deal - very worrying report if this starts to spread



http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08040901/H274Y_TX_Cases.html

Just reading that makes me want to wash my hands. Might invest in some of that antibacterial handwash

 

[campbell]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25886675-3102,00.html
A CRITICALLY ill 16-year-old girl with suspected swine flu has been airlifted from Townsville to Sydney to access life-saving medical equipment.
Deputy Premier Paul Lucas told Parliament today that Queensland's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young made the decision to transfer the teenager to St Vincent's Hospital last night following advice from intensive care specialists.

He said the patient required treatment with a heart-lung bypass machine, not traditionally used in intensive care for patients with the flu.

The extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, machines are usually used when someone is having open-heart surgery to take over the role of the heart and lungs.

I hope she improves, poor little midge.

 

[betterthanu]

Ive got the flu atm. Thought it might be swine flu but apparently its Influenza A. Find out for sure tonight when my doctor rings. She said the only difference between this and swine flu is that swine flu come on more gradually.

Nope doctor rang before, i have swine flu.

 

[Dry Rot]

Increasing mortality rate

...the H1N1 death rate has increased more than 60% after holding steady at about 0.44% since mid-June...

http://bmartinmd.com/2009/08/h1n1-mortality-rate-increases.html

Possibly because Tamiflu resistance is more widespread than currently thought

...Some have suggested that the identification of H274Y is due to expected random mutation selected by the Tamiflu treatment. However, the development of resistance during treatment is rare. There are examples of cases in children in Japan involving sub-optimal dosing, but in those case resistance was linked to changes at a variety of positions and the resistance was limited to the patients being treated.

However, there is no indication that the above cases were treated with Tamiflu. Moreover, there have no reports of resistance in a patient undergoing treatment for a pandemic H1N1 infection. All other examples of resistance involved patients who developed symptoms while on prophylactic Tamiflu. Thus, these patients were asymptomatic when prophylactic treatment began, and when they developed symptoms, samples were collected and the sequence with H274Y was identified. Although such H274Y positive sequences from Quebec and Tokushima have not been released, each of the other sequences (A/Denmark/528/2009, A/Yamaguchi/22/2009, A/Osaka/180/2009) have H274Y and also signaled independent introductions.

Thus, the H274Y in pandemic H1N1 is similar to H274Y in seasonal H1N1, which involved multiple introductions due to recombination and genetic hitchhiking, raising concerns that the level of H274Y is markedly higher than reported. Evolutionarily fit H274Y is circulating in mild cases were are being sequenced on a delayed basis at best, or it is circulating at a mixture, and detected in prophylactic patients when they develop symptoms.

These data raise concerns that at risk patients with H274Y are being treated with Tamiflu, leading to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths, which have been on the rise worldwide in recent weeks ...

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08091001/H274Y_Toll.html

 

[campbell]

Increasing mortality rate



http://bmartinmd.com/2009/08/h1n1-mortality-rate-increases.html

Possibly because Tamiflu resistance is more widespread than currently thought



http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08091001/H274Y_Toll.html

perhaps.

This article on tamilfu and children is interesting.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25912853-5017817,00.html.
CHILDREN with seasonal flu should not be given antivirals such as Tamiflu because harmful side effects outweigh relatively meagre benefits, according to a study released today.

In some children Tamiflu caused nausea and vomiting, which can lead to dehydration and other complications, researchers reported.

The study did not cover the current outbreak of swine flu, but its conclusions suggest that antivirals may not significantly reduce the length of illness or prevent complications in children infected with the new A(H1N1) virus, the researchers said.

 

[campbell]

Victorian piggery put in swine flu quarantine

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25953319-5003402,00.html

Its been real bad in my area, and my workplaces. real bad.

 

[Dry Rot]

Interesting economic modelling re impact of swine flu on the UK economy

http://www.oef.com/free/pdfs/ukmswineflu(jul09).pdf

 

[bit_pattern]

http://www.theage.com.au/national/infectious-disease-risk-in-swine-flu-jabs-20090820-es2a.html

Infectious disease risk in swine flu jabs

Nick Miller and Julia Medew

August 21, 2009
LEADING infectious disease experts have called on the Federal Government to abandon its mass swine-flu vaccination plan because of fears the vaccine is a contamination risk that could spread blood-borne diseases.

 

[Dry Rot]

Brits seem to be taking winter swine flu seriously.

UK prepares mass graves for swine flu victims
Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:46:26 GMT


Two women are given masks as they arrive at a swine flu treatment facility for the collection of Tamiflu antiviral drug in east London on July 21.
London is to set up mass graves for the victims of the swine flu pandemic after a 59-page official report predicted that Britain will be witnessing the pandemic disease in fall.

Britain's Department of Health has warned the UK officials and policy-makers to announce a state of emergency in the country.

The official report confirms the UK government plans to set up mass graves for the victims of the swine flu pandemic.....

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104187&sectionid=351020601

 

[Eagle87]

Brits seem to be taking winter swine flu seriously.



http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104187&sectionid=351020601

Interestingly, that report is based on no data, no WHO figures and no official government figures.....

It is already the subject of much discussion and debate in the UK. The "information" for the report comes primarily from the pharmaceutical companies and contains a range of potential death scenarios ranging from 55,000 to 750,000 - even this is based on an very old model of "likely deaths from flu pandemics" which gets rolled out every time a pandemic threatens (last time was Bird Flu, how did that pan out?) ...

Its a report without credibility or evidence and is based on a "worst case" scenario which assumes that virus mutates into a worst possible form.

It also comes out just as the UK plans for a mass immunisation against the virus while the vaccine is under attack as potentially being unsafe....

The US vaccination program in the late 70s infamously killed more people than the virus it was to protect one from and humorously left its particpants up to 8 times more likely to contract the virus.....

But as you were DR, yep its all over and the world might end.