H1N1 Are things about to get really, really bad?

[Ferd]

Those that have been around here for any length of time will tell you that I am not an alarmist. But I cant help but say that right now I am a bit freaked out. I have 2 small boys and my sister is pregnant and now the government is saying that the H1N1 virus is about to go viral….

They are saying 30k to 90k dead and as many as 300k in need of intensive care in the next few months. I suspect this is a low ball estimate. I know if I were in charge, I wouldn’t alarm people right out of the shoot. This thing could get really ugly. It could be as bad as the 1919 outbreak that killed God only knows how many.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...rus-spreading/

[coadie]

This is fear mongering. We have flu epidemics. This one is a distraction and they want to blow it up big time so they have a chance to be heroes. We were much further with the bird flu and Benign spongiform Enchelopathy.

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by coadie

This is fear mongering. We have flu epidemics. This one is a distraction and they want to blow it up big time so they have a chance to be heroes. We were much further with the bird flu and Benign spongiform Enchelopathy.

im not so sure about that Coadie. it may turn out to be a mild round but regular flu kills 30k (mostly elderly) each year. this one by itself is hitting pretty hard and it is killing the young and healthy. I know a 14 year old that died last week.

and I really think the government is going to take it on the chin if things get bad.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Ferd

Those that have been around here for any length of time will tell you that I am not an alarmist. But I cant help but say that right now I am a bit freaked out. I have 2 small boys and my sister is pregnant and now the government is saying that the H1N1 virus is about to go viral….

They are saying 30k to 90k dead and as many as 300k in need of intensive care in the next few months. I suspect this is a low ball estimate. I know if I were in charge, I wouldn’t alarm people right out of the shoot. This thing could get really ugly. It could be as bad as the 1919 outbreak that killed God only knows how many.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...rus-spreading/

Jeff and I have discussed this, and have said from the beginning that our kids aren't going to receive this new H1N1 flu shot. However, Jeffrey gets a regular flu shot every year, because he has asthma, and getting a cold or flu usually means pneumonia for him. The year he went to public preschool, he was out of school a total of 6 weeks with three bouts of pneumonia. His doctor said it was directly related to being exposed to so many different bugs at school.

Being homeschooled has greatly reduced his episodes of sickness, but it's still VERY worrisome for his Daddy and me, trying to decide which is more risky--a new vaccine with unknown risks, or risking him catching a flu bug he has no immunity against.

Has your doctor recommended that Jack get a shot?

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Jeff and I have discussed this, and have said from the beginning that our kids aren't going to receive this new H1N1 flu shot. However, Jeffrey gets a regular flu shot every year, because he has asthma, and getting a cold or flu usually means pneumonia for him. The year he went to public preschool, he was out of school a total of 6 weeks with three bouts of pneumonia. His doctor said it was directly related to being exposed to so many different bugs at school.

Being homeschooled has greatly reduced his episodes of sickness, but it's still VERY worrisome for his Daddy and me, trying to decide which is more risky--a new vaccine with unknown risks, or risking him catching a flu bug he has no immunity against.

Has your doctor recommended that Jack get a shot?

I am right there with you! We go in for Jacks 15 month check up either this week or next so I am sure they will make the call then. But I suspect our Dr. will suggest it.

[coadie]

30,111 confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza 09 and 112 deaths in Australia.

The straight up mortality rate for 30,000 people would be around 5-600 in a year.

CNN stated on April 28, 2009 that there were at least 800 deaths in the U.S. due to normal influenza in each individual week between January 1 and April 18, which is higher than the combined worldwide death toll for the swine flu.[115]

so if normal flu death rates are 800 per week and swine flu deaths in america are at 400 total, there are some comparisons.

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by coadie

30,111 confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza 09 and 112 deaths in Australia.

The straight up mortality rate for 30,000 people would be around 5-600 in a year.

CNN stated on April 28, 2009 that there were at least 800 deaths in the U.S. due to normal influenza in each individual week between January 1 and April 18, which is higher than the combined worldwide death toll for the swine flu.[115]

so if normal flu death rates are 800 per week and swine flu deaths in america are at 400 total, there are some comparisons.

yea i got that. same thing happened in the early stages of the 1919 out break. then the fall came and poof....

CDC is saying that half the country could actually be infected. some areas could have between 50% and 100% of their ICU beds filled with H1N1 victims.

[HeavenlyOne]

Originally Posted by Ferd

yea i got that. same thing happened in the early stages of the 1919 out break. then the fall came and poof....

CDC is saying that half the country could actually be infected. some areas could have between 50% and 100% of their ICU beds filled with H1N1 victims.

Ferd, they said the same thing about bird flu and the West Nile Virus. After hearing it so many times about other possible epidemics or pandemics that never came to pass, I don't jump anymore about new possibilities that might not even happen.

[coadie]

Originally Posted by HeavenlyOne

Ferd, they said the same thing about bird flu and the West Nile Virus. After hearing it so many times about other possible epidemics or pandemics that never came to pass, I don't jump anymore about new possibilities that might not even happen.

By fall 2005, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s well-publicized effort to importvaccines to Illinois amid a national flu scare had failed.
Stymied by federal regulators who wouldn’t allow the unapproved drugs intothe country, the Democratic governor was stuck with a $2.6 million bill formedicine expiring in refrigerators on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.Critics accused him of grandstanding, debates emerged over whether to pay andBlagojevich searched for someplace that could use the vaccine.
Blagojevich announced his solution in December 2005 – the state woulddonate the medicine to Pakistan, which was then reeling from an earthquakethat had killed 80,000 and left millions homeless.
“We are in a unique position to help thousands of Pakistanis who arestruggling to recover from a terrible tragedy,” Blagojevich said in astatement.
It turns out, Pakistani officials say, the vaccines never helped anyone.
Instead, health authorities in Pakistan crushed and burned the half-milliondoses because they wouldn’t give their people an expired vaccine, according tointerviews and government records.

Rod bought the vaccine, we never had it imported (attempted to import)and it was discarded?

Making health political seems to be the hot trend.

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by HeavenlyOne

Ferd, they said the same thing about bird flu and the West Nile Virus. After hearing it so many times about other possible epidemics or pandemics that never came to pass, I don't jump anymore about new possibilities that might not even happen.

Bird flu was a strain of H1N1 but it didnt spread by air. the worry was that it would become airborn.

This H1N1 is now airborn. West Nile is alive and well in the USA but controling Mosquitoes seems to be holding it at bay. however there was never the worry of Pandimic with WN.

H1N1 is a different animal all together. Humans have no natural defense against it and from time to time it kills a bunch of people. maybe we will dodge the bullet on this one. I sure hope so. but H1N1 is nothing to ignor for sure.