Swine Flu.

Just wait until the flu reaches pandemic levels in Mexico and a few million folks flood across the border to escape and/or seek treatment in U.S. hospitals. Then the fun really begins!
 
Originally posted by bk43:
Airborne transmittion is on relatively large droplet nuclei which are easily filtered by about any mask out there, even one you pick up at the hardware store to use while mowing the grass.

Do not expect those selling N95 masks at $2 to $4 a pop for swine flu to share this fact with the public.
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Bob

2.73 for a box of two at Walmart, same as always for N95 masks. The "surgical" style non N 95 masks come in a box of 10 for the same price. That's if you get them down the medical aisle. The ones down the painting aisle actually cost more usually. Great stuff to have when sanding, working about pollen, etc.

N95 masks, or better, properly fitted are what is generally suggested for infection control and protection (of a certain level) against disease.

Shrug. The main purpose for most people is keep them from touching their mouth and nostrils with dirty and possibly contaminated hands.
 
Originally posted by Lt JL:
It's the Type A Swine Flu, which has been around a while. We already know how to make a vaccine. there are two antivirals that work. The only extraordinary thing about this one is the virus seems to spread faster. It is emminently treatable. Lots of us have probably already had a version in the 70's.

If this is true, and I'm not saying it is or it isn't as I haven't done any research, it looks like the Big O is keep true to the doctirne of never letting a good crisis go to waste. I try not to be a paranoid about what the goventment is up to, but sometime they just make it too darn easy to worry. Watch for what new govenrmental controls are put into place in the name of preventing the spread of this "dread disease", and then think about how else those controls could be used. Meantime I'll just sit in the corner and mutter to myself "They're not out to get us." over and over while rocking slowly.
 
Recheck your number of deaths. We've had 50 confirmed cases here in the US (a first world country - for now). We've had no deaths. And common sense (where'd we find that?) says if we had the death rate of Mexico, we'd have had 3 or more. If we've confirmed 50 cases, we probably have hundreds. In Mexico, for whatever reason, the death rate has been pretty high, up over 6% last time I saw the confirmed cases and deaths attributed to it. Might be a bunch of factors involved. One is we take better care of our sick. We have a limited number of emergency rooms, but they're not overflowing with sickie's, yet.

This is the end of flu season, traditionally. Both here and in Mexico. The time to worry is about October. I would think the know-it-alls at the CDC will be pushing to include the swine flu in the soup for next fall.

How do you tell if you've got a cold, the normal strains of the flu, or the now celebrity swine flu? If you wallow in the flower garden and grunt a lot, its the new one.
 
This particular strain is a lot like the great flu pandemic of 1918. It doesn't seem to kill people right away, it is after the "flu" has passed and then a second bout of flu like symptoms appear, mostly in seemingly young and healthy people, between the ages of 20 and 40.

This is known as a cytokine storm. It makes for some good reading if you want, if not, just remember the phrase if you do get the flu, get better and then get sick again.

This is from wikipedia, so there are much better articles out there about the whole process, but this will give it to you in a way that is understandable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm

bob
 
N95 masks, or better, properly fitted are what is generally suggested for infection control and protection (of a certain level) against disease.
N95s are only used for Respiratory Isolation, or "this clown probably has infectious TB, batten down the hatches".
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In other situations where respiratory protection is indicated, a regular isolation mask is acceptable. This is healthcare industry standard practice.

The N95 stuff is an OSHA requirement that grew out of the infectious TB scare in the early nineties. It started as OSHA HEPA workplace rules and morphed into OSHA N95 workplace rules a few years later. No real scientific basis as TB is a large rod carried by large droplet nuclei. Real easy to filter and no challenge for practically any mask.

Bob
 
Interesting information wrapped in lots of politics. I think I'll go by Home depot and pick up some paint masks today.

I've already got lots of food and toilet paper.
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During the bird flu scare I had people who were afraid to travel to Asia. I observed to them that maybe 70 people worldwide, or whatever it was at that point in time, had died of bird flu. 20,000 people -- mostly elderly and infants -- die regularly of the flu in the US every year.

My feeling is that swine flu dangers are being overhyped. Better odds of getting killed in your car on the way to work, I betcha.
 
... In Mexico, for whatever reason, the death rate has been pretty high, up over 6% last time I saw the confirmed cases and deaths attributed to it. Might be a bunch of factors involved. One is we take better care of our sick. ...
When I took a trip to Mexico in the early '70s, hygene and sanitation were practically non-existent, especially in the poorer and rural areas. Pockets of squalor here in the US looked like Beverly Hills by comparison.

Maybe it's better now. If not, then there's a reason right there.
 
I don't know if I agree with Jack Flash's post. He's right about transmission and lack of sanitation, but once you've got the flu, you've got it. Squalor doesn't really influence the course of the illness. Worse, most people there, as here, don't bother with medical care or hospitals for flu or other minor illness. They just hunker down at home (like most posters here) and expect the week or so of downtime.

Because of the scarcity of Tamiflu and the requirement it be administered in the first few days, I don't see that as a factor, either. If you don't feel well, you take a nap. Only after the period where the anti-virals would be of benefit do most of us seek medical help.

It seems to me the spread of the infection would be much more widespread in Mexico because of the poor living conditions and proximity with barnyard animals. Shugarts example above of "barnyard sins" might tend to show it pretty well, and I assume thats in the good ole USA.

My exception is to the illness being worse there than here, and I have no idea why its killing about 7% of the cases there. Of course if the 2 guys in LA are found to have died of it, and the US count as of last night at 64 is correct, we're already at 3% death rate. Pretty high, except we don't know what their other medical problems were.
 
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