So Much For School...[Swine Flu Discussion]

[Enkidu]

I wish my college would close down, I need to catch up on some sleep. D:

I think the media makes it bigger than what it is to scare Americans to listen to the Government and fall lower than what we have to. The normal flu kills 36,000 Americans a year! Swine Flu killed only 150s (Last I checked) in Mexico. =|

Well its the same with AIDS, The numbers they give for death caused by aids is the cumulative total, not the actual death count per year. Most of the deaths caused " by aids" is only rapidly increasing because more and more diseases are being classified as aids or the like, exponentially increasing the number of deaths per year ( as the definition of aids is constantly being rewritten or expanding to include more and more sysmptoms/diseases . )That is however not to say that AIDS is not a real threat, but STD's are 20x ( thats an actual statistic not an estimation/guess ) more common than aids throughout the world.

[HottSushiz]

Aww why doesn't your school get to be closed down, i have a assignment in Graphics coming up, but in my region (New Zealand) around 10 students got the flu, and got quarantined.

[Torte de Lini]

Can anyone say SARS or Avian flu?

This so blow out of proportion it's funny. Also has anyone seen the people wearing masks? Unless you have a high-grade mask a virus will pass through it as easily as you fit through a door.

I'm glad someone agrees with how I see this.

[damio]

This "pandemic" is just a hypochondriac thing. There's really little to no difference between the Swine Flu and a regular Flu. People are dying in Mexico because they lack adequate health care!

LOL

I just said something along the lines of this over IRC

"<+damio> what is really funny though, is normal influenza kills more people per year than swine influenza has yet"

[Okami]

*laughs* I freaking LOVE Freud! Like, he makes me laugh so hard. (My teacher even has a Sigmund Freud action figure, I'm about ready to steal it) His theories are so ridiculous that it makes him so fun to learn about! n__n If it's not one thing or another, it's all about your mother, you know.

I've been waiting for this unit all semester! As soon as she told us about it in our first week I went out and bought a notebook and started taking down dreams. So I've got all of my dreams since February posted down. I've been scarred. I can't wait to burn the thing!!

And Lini, obviously you havent delved very much into Adolescent Sociology. It's amazing what I've learned. It's a very knowldgeable class! I'm going into the field of Adolescent Psychology, I'm going to become a "Crisis Counselor"...meaning working with teens who are suicidal, drug/alcohol addicts, self-mutilators, anorexics/bulimics, etc. So all of that stuff we're learning in there right now, goes hand-in-hand with what I'll be working with in about six years or so.

Plus, the teacher I have so Soc and Psych worked in a runaway shelter, worked for a suicide hotline, and worked as a social worker before getting her Masters to become a teacher at my school. She knows her stuff. And she forcefully makes it fun! ^___^

[Sat_Fool]

The Swine Flu is very similar to the 1918 flu that killed so many. It is following the same trend at present with a weak strain in the spring. Hopefully that is the only similarity. The 1918 flu returned in the fall as a major killer of young and healthy people.

The way it killed was by the persons own immune system over producing antibodies and thus killing off the body. Sick and those with weakened immune systems were safer.

What is scary about this flu is it came out of nowhere. The first figures made it look like a killer but on examining the figures, a lot of the deaths were not caused by this flu in the end.

The fear for the Avian flu is almost all that caught the flu died. That is the fear. If it became capable of transferring between humans, then it could become very deadly.

With this flu, it is a new strain. No vaccine is available and it is a known killer. Any vaccine will take at least six months to develop and manufacture. And that is hoping that it doesn't mutate enough before the vaccine is available.

A farm worker returning from Mexico transferred the swine flu to his pigs. This means that it can move back and forth between species. This means that it could mutate even further.

As for our children's school. It has a plan to use their web presence to continue with classes. Kids were not to happy.

[Poryhack]

No vaccine is available and it is a known killer.

At present it's not any more of a killer than your standard influenza.

[Greencat]

I think it has only been 150 killed within two weeks. Regular flu kills ~36,000 people a year. 300 x 12 < 36,000

[Aqueel]

I've read 26 deaths so far, making it a 2.45% death rate....

Of course, this is Wikipedia, so believe what you will from this.

[Greencat]

26? That's not real bad. =/

Maybe it was only 150 Severe cases or I mis-read it.

[Zafur]

It was first stated as 150, but then Mexico apparently retracted the statement and gave the new, smaller number. It was apparently an error in diagnosis or something, forgot by now.

[Aqueel]

Apparently the other deaths were caused by other things.

[Eatsushi]

My school isn't going to be closed (I think) and anyways we are going to great america May 8th