H1N1 Scare Justified?

[Seil]

So with all the PSA's and media reports and crowded line-ups, I wanna talk about H1N1, or Swine Flu. Mainly 'cause it's all I hear over the radio at work. So yeah.

With all the new safety measures being put into place, the vaccine out before it's officially sanctioned in Canada, all the warnings and boxes of sanitizer on the wall, is it really necessary? There have been a few deaths in British Columbia and I think about 30 total in Canada, but is this a new media scare?

[bluestarultor]

From what I hear, H1N1 only lasts like 5 days and doesn't even make you as sick as the normal flu. Tons of people die every year from the normal flu. Granted, most of them are the very young and elderly, but still.

Someone in my area went so far as to say by the time they can confirm it's H1N1, you've already recovered.

[pocheros]

All I know is I wanna be afraid for awhile without anyone laughing at me! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfIjEz1cvt8)

I doubt it should be that much of a cause for concern among the individual. I mean, if you get the "regular" flu when your immune system is compromised/you're elderly/whatever is it's still not unheard of for it to develop into pneumonia and kill a few people every year. Okay, that's probably not the best way to put it, but basically: it's slightly more potent than all the other flu's you've been exposed to in previous years, so unless you're not in good health you should just get your vaccine and not worry.

[Sir Pinkleton]

I hear it targets those with better immune systems though, aka the healthier types of people like young adults and the like. I've also heard that it affects different peoples immune systems differently.

So I don't know much of anything, probably.

[Krylo]

Yes, it's another media scare.

It's getting to the point that when they announce AIDS has mutated into an air carried flesh eating doom virus no one is going to care because they've been all scared out. It's the media that cried wolf.

[synkr0nized]

I've read a few articles that track/estimate projected deaths from H1N1 based on data we have so far that still have it fall short of your typical flu season deaths. I'm sure it has the potential to be worse, but it just doesn't seem to be getting any kind of momentum to cause significant problems.

[Archbio]

It's getting to the point that when they announce AIDS has mutated into an air carried flesh eating doom virus no one is going to care because they've been all scared out.

But I don't want to be a crumpled pile of clothes comically topped by some hair on the floor!

[Invisible Queen]

At this point I'm sure the media has actually killed more people than it's saved by stressing everyone out about the swine flu. Don't read newspapers or watch TV, it'll do you more good than getting inoculated.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

Media beatup. Regular flu kills far more.

[Geminex]

I was under the impression that they were more horrified because of the potential that H1N1 could mutate or combine with some other form of of virus, creating some sort of killer flu? I'm not sure, haven't followed this.

There should be a hybrid between bird flu and swine flu. It might be horribly lethal, but in return we'd be dying of the "flying pig disease".

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

People have discussed that but it doesn't justify the huge precautions and scare factor going around.

[EVILNess]

I am personally more scared of the vaccine and the scary as hell side effects I have heard about.

[Archbio]

Oh, yes, you can get mad autism from vaccines.




And then get cured sponteanously. Then your head collapses on itself.

[Krylo]

Oh, yes, you can get mad autism from vaccines.




And then get cured sponteanously. Then your head collapses on itself.

Did dystonia girl end up being a hoax or something?

Also, I love how the super ridiculously rare neurological disorder that can be caused by anything from genetics to psychoactive drugs is immediately claimed to have been caused by a vaccination even though the only link is that it happened ten days later.

I mean, she couldn't have possibly taken another drug in those ten days, and it's impossible it could have been a coincidence that a pre-existing genetic 'flaw' happened to surface then.

Man, I bet she rode in a car like the same day. Cars must be to blame!

What? Millions of people drive cars and don't get dystonia, you say? Well millions of people get seasonal flu shots and have similar luck.

Or ate bread. Man I'll bet everyone who has ever had dystonia ate bread in their lives.

Edit: I hate the media and their scare tactics. It's all so damned stupid.

You will die if you get this. You will die if you get vaccinated. Blah blah blah.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

But I heard some guy took the vaccine and then DIED. What do you have to say to that?

Yeah this kind of press comes out whenever its vaccine time and because so many people take them its easy to find people having problems after the vaccine whether it related or not.
We've been making influenza vaccines for a long long time and they mostly harmless unless you have preexisting conditions.

[TDK]

The figures I have heard are around 300 people in the US have died from Swine Flu so far.


Around 40,000 die from regular flu every year.

Not really worried about it.

[Azisien]

My main concern is how fast they pumped out the H1N1 vaccine. I have not studied much of the modern vaccine making process but, was this thing even tested properly?

[Marc v1.0]

I'm just waiting for the "Is the Swine Flue Vaccine dangerous for you?" and the "Do we have enough Swine Flue Vaccine to protect everyone?" stories run back-to-back

[NonCon]

Well, you had everyone complaining that they weren't getting it out fast enough, and other people, on Fox News if I recall correctly and I think I do, saying "This is what happens with socialized health care." I'm not saying that they did rush it out, or even if they did that it was the right choice, just that I wouldn't be at all surprised if they did to shut these people up.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

Well assuming we have lots of studies on H1N1 influenza strains and vaccines that already work for most of them I would assume it should be fairly straight forward to build one for swine-flu and we already would know most of the risks as the vaccine is similar to others that are thoroughly tested.

[Lev]

If you are weak, there is a small chance you will die.

So, don't be weak.

[BitVyper]

If you are weak, there is a small chance you will die.

So, don't be weak.

Yeah, you damn pussies.

and doesn't even make you as sick as the normal flu.

Friend of mine had it, and I'd say it seems pretty bad, but then one case doesn't exactly make a complete study.

[krogothwolf]

Friend of mine had it, and I'd say it seems pretty bad, but then one case doesn't exactly make a complete study.

it probably varies from person to person, just like the normal flu does.

[Archbio]

Did dystonia girl end up being a hoax or something?

It was more of a vague reference to Jenny MccCarthy's son (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_McCarthy#Activism_and_autism_controversy), who just kind of "got better." I'd do more of an effort to plug the Monty Python punchline there, but that would be unfair to the good old witchhunts. They might turn out to have been less deadly!

[bluestarultor]

You know, on the entire vaccine-autism thing, as of 2001, the mercury-based preservative has been removed from all standard vaccines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal_controversy#Effects_of_the_controversy) .

Just thought I'd throw that out there. On top of that, no link has ever been found between Thiomersal and autism, since the numbers failed to change after its removal. Even so, people have found other things to point their fingers at (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_autism).

[EVILNess]

Nah, the side effects I was referring to was that every time I get a flu shot I get sick as a dog a week later. I totally forgot an entire sentence* in my other post, didn't mean to sound anti-vaccine.

*Shut up, I got distracted.

[bluestarultor]

Nah, the side effects I was referring to was that every time I get a flu shot I get sick as a dog a week later. I totally forgot an entire sentence* in my other post, didn't mean to sound anti-vaccine.

*Shut up, I got distracted.

Well, vaccines aren't without side effects. After I got mine for meningitis, I had this really unsettling thing where when I was sitting or lying down or even walking, I was (relatively) normal, but when I was just standing, my heart rate went through the roof. At first, my mom just figured I was having panic attacks (which I was incredibly insulted by, because I've never had one in my life, since my stress manifests in headache form) until I demonstrated for her that it was only when I was standing. Once she realized my heart rate actually went DOWN when I started walking, she rushed me to the walk-in clinic, where their reaction amounted to, "huh, well that's interesting." It went away after about a week, but I spent most of my time only getting up to get from place to place while it lasted.


Edit: VVV I guess that makes sense. I'm on medications that slightly elevate my heart rate as it is, but not above the normal range. I just don't get why it would only be when I stood, unless maybe my heart went into overdrive trying to pump the blood back out of my legs, which is helped by muscle movement. Sitting and lying down are both inactivity.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

Mot of the time vaccine side-effects are due to preexisting conditions of the person that are aggravated by the vaccine and aren't general to teh vaccine. This is particularly so with the worst side-effect.

[PyrosNine]

Pyros had the swine flu, and it sucked, but it was gone in like 4 days and was no different than any other flu. I thought It was just the normal flu but my doctor was all like "You got the H1N1." and I was all like "NO WAY!"

And then she said WAY!

The fever may have shaded my perceptions of this event though.

I'd get the vaccine if I could've, because what makes h1n1 so scary is that there is no immunity to it. We're all actively immune to hundreds of Flu variants, but h1n1 is just exotic enough to infect almost everybody. It's not deadlier than the flu, but its just more likely to propagate, and the more like it is to spread the more likely that someone will die. It's statistics that is making it a "terror". If you have 10 people trip and fall over, they'll all be fine, but if you have 300 people trip and fall over, statistically speaking a few of them will die from it.

Also, it makes pigs sick, and Farmers are panicky, and will kill piggies that could easily recover from it or generate antibodies to protect future piggies. Poor piggies.

[Magus]

Hey, guys, I got the vaccine Friday. I haven't yet developed autism or died but I'll fill you in when it happens.

Anyway, I'm now invincible. Kneel before me, puny, weak mortals. Nothing can destroy me. Other than, like, all the other diseases in the world, and bullets, and car crashes, and aneurysms. But other than that--NOTHING.

EDIT: I find the whole autism-vaccine link to be pretty laughable, since I'm sure there were people with autism and other mental impairments of the same class prior to the invention of running a thread soaked in cowpox through an open wound. But I may be wrong. After all, in a world where there were no murderers prior to the invention of video games, anything is possible.

[Archbio]

I haven't yet developed autism or died but I'll fill you in when it happens.

I don't see any proof that your head hasn't imploded, though.