Six swine flu cases confirmed in Canada

[jdobbin]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says the federal government will take whatever measures are necessary to keep the public safe, after confirming six cases of swine flu in Canada.

Four of the cases are in Nova Scotia and another two in British Columbia.

Some of these cases are linked to travel in Mexico.

The U.S. has warned there will be deaths in the U.S. as a result of this. I don't think Canada will be able to avoid that either.

[bush_cheney2004]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

Some of these cases are linked to travel in Mexico.

The U.S. has warned there will be deaths in the U.S. as a result of this. I don't think Canada will be able to avoid that either.

I guess the actual deaths in Mexico don't count, just "US warnings". Good grief.....

[xul]

I don't think Canada will be able to avoid that either.

Usually the virulence of a new human virus coming from animals decreases when it descends down from generations to generations in human bodies, and eventually it will vanish just like SARS and Ebola virus. The symptom of the cases in America and Canada is "mild" is a good sign. That probably means these patients are second-hands or third-hand....victim, and the virulence has decreased.

[Sir Bandelot]

Somehow this whole things seems to be overblown. Only a few dozen deaths so far worldwide, but unknown numbers of people who have contracted it and will survive. Likely that far more will die from common influenza this year.

Is it another knee-jerk reaction by out-of-touch MBA's, as we saw in the dreaded SARS outbreak, or a government fear tactic to distract the public?

[bush_cheney2004]

....Is it another knee-jerk reaction by out-of-touch MBA's, as we saw in the dreaded SARS outbreak, or a government fear tactic to distract the public?

"We're all going to die !!!" [True, but not because of Swine Flu]

Edited April 27, 2009 by bush_cheney2004

[M.Dancer]

Somehow this whole things seems to be overblown. Only a few dozen deaths so far worldwide, but unknown numbers of people who have contracted it and will survive.....

Well I suppose 86 is a few dozen...but with over 1400 infected and spreading quickly watch for the conspiaracy theories to sprad infectously...

Is it another knee-jerk reaction by out-of-touch MBA's, as we saw in the dreaded SARS outbreak, or a government fear tactic to distract the public?

[Sir Bandelot]

Its not a conspiracy theory, its about hysteria.

A conspiracy theory is- "You want to see how to get a wall built?"

Edited April 28, 2009 by Sir Bandelot

[Sir Bandelot]

Or this one-

Oil slips under $49 on swine flu worries

So there is a benefit to the industry and consumer with this. Is this some new form of economic stimulus? Call it "Obamanomics". Anything to get them to buy, buy, buy.

Buy and be safe, from the terror

[Topaz]

Virus grow were it warm and hot and Mexico, the southern part of the US is more exceptable to this virus. If, we Canada, stay on the cool side , perhaps it won't spread as fast as down south. One point, though, they are trying to find the pig who cause this and they can't find it. I also wonder how the pig got the bird flu and another virus ??? Could this be a man-made virus, to reduced Mexico's population or even the world's. Too many people to fed.

[bush_cheney2004]

Virus grow were it warm and hot and Mexico, the southern part of the US is more exceptable to this virus. If, we Canada, stay on the cool side , perhaps it won't spread as fast as down south. One point, though, they are trying to find the pig who cause this and they can't find it. I also wonder how the pig got the bird flu and another virus ??? Could this be a man-made virus, to reduced Mexico's population or even the world's. Too many people to fed.

Good plan....but I wonder why the Big Chill didn't work on SARS?

There is plenty of food in the world....the challenge is distribution.

[M.Dancer]

. One point, though, they are trying to find the pig who cause this and they can't find it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...3/BNStory/Front

You need a new toaster

Could this be a man-made virus, to reduced Mexico's population or even the world's. Too many people to fed.

And a few more rolls of tinfoil...

[sharkman]

Virus grow were it warm and hot and Mexico...

Thank you Topaz, if nothing else you gave me a chuckle. Yes, it looks like a big deal.

[Sir Bandelot]

New health threat system was slow to alert

"Scores were dead before authorities were fully aware of swine flu outbreak"

According to their Interactive Map of swine flu cases worldwide-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30485593/

Eight deaths in Mexico

One death in the United States

There are some cases of infection in a few other countries, no additional death reports.

And yet in the United States, over 100 schools have been closed out of fear of the swine flu!-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30489075/

“There was two kids,” he said as he bounced up and down with nervous energy. “There is one who sits next to me. His name is Jesus and he got sent home. He had a bad cough and he had a fever.”

Someone explain to me how this level of fear is justified- beyond its psychological impact on the American public. Namely, inspiring distrust of the Latino population.

[bush_cheney2004]

.....Someone explain to me how this level of fear is justified- beyond its psychological impact on the American public. Namely, inspiring distrust of the Latino population.

US states (and school districts) have a standard protocol to follow; it has been developed over the past ten years for all manner of public calamity. Voluntary and mandatory quarantine measures are part of this protocol, and that includes managing "clusters" at individual schools.

I was asking the same question about Ontario during the SARS fiasco in Canada. (British Columbia did a much better job.)

Edited April 30, 2009 by bush_cheney2004

[BubberMiley]

Someone explain to me how this level of fear is justified- beyond its psychological impact on the American public. Namely, inspiring distrust of the Latino population.

Because whenever a virus mutates and becomes transmissible by human-to-human contact, we simply don't know what's going to happen. It could burn itself out without doing much damage, or it could become worse than the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. All we can do is be vigilant to try to prevent its spread, and furiously search for a vaccine.

[Sir Bandelot]

In Egypt, all pigs ordered slaughtered

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/200...30/1915246.aspx

http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Compone...0a.grid-4x3.jpg

Yet according to the Interactive World Map of Swine Flu, Egypt has no cases of swine flu.

Seems the real pigs, have yet to be slaughtered

[Topaz]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...3/BNStory/Front

You need a new toaster

And a few more rolls of tinfoil...

Again Dancer, the news I heard said they couldn't find the pig that carried the virus BUT after seeing the US owned, Mexican run pig farm, its a miracle that more people aren't dead.

[Keepitsimple]

Let's keep everything in context. According to the Canadian Medical Association, up to 2500 Canadians die every year from the flu - that's about 7 every day on average.....yet we are having a lot of trouble finding anyone who is even seriously ill as a result of "Swine Flu". Something is starting to smell.

But even if these numbers stand up, they, too, should be seen in context. All influenza is potentially deadly. In a normal year, between 6,500 and 7,500 Mexicans die from pneumonia-like diseases. According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the flu kills up to 2,500 Canadians and about 36,000 Americans annually. Worldwide, the number of deaths attributed to the flu each year is between 250,000 and 500,000.

But history provides other examples as well. My favourite is the great swine flu panic of 1976.

That one, too, began with fear and fanfare when, in February, a 19-year-old U.S. army recruit at Fort Dix, N.J., died after contracting a mysterious strain of swine flu.

Politicians swung into action. Faced with the spectre of another 1918-style pandemic, then-U.S. president Gerald Ford promised to inoculate every American citizen with vaccine. The Canadian government followed suit, with the proviso that – because of the cost involved – it would be able to inoculate only some.

Throughout 1976, the swine flu story swung between fear and farce. In August, Ontario's health minister announced the province's first swine flu death, a Goderich man. This, as it turned out, was untrue. A coroner later determined that the victim, who choked on his on vomit, had never been infected.

At Queen's Park, politicians debated who would get the scarce vaccine. All agreed on police officers and doctors. But should bank tellers be vaccinated? And what about bus drivers?

In the U.S., Nobel Prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling argued that Vitamin C would fight swine flu better than any vaccine. Here at home, the Toronto Star helpfully suggested that those inoculated against the virus should be required to give up the right to strike.

Ontario's government hemmed and hawed until, in the end, it decided to offer the vaccine to anyone who wanted it.

Alas, few did. By December, the Star reported that municipal clinics set up in Toronto to offer free flu shots were shutting down for lack of customers. Which perhaps was just as well. For when several Americans developed a mysterious and deadly paralysis after being inoculated, swine flu shots were abruptly suspended in both countries.

In the end, the only known death from the 1976 swine flu pandemic was the original army recruit. Outside of Fort Dix, only two other people caught the bug. They both recovered.

Link: http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/627097

Edited May 1, 2009 by Keepitsimple

[BubberMiley]

Let's keep everything in context. According to the Canadian Medical Association, up to 2500 Canadians die every year from the flu - that's about 7 every day on average.....yet we are having a lot of trouble finding anyone who is even seriously ill as a result of "Swine Flu". Something is starting to smell.

That's true. But this is a reassortment of four previously known influenza viruses into a new virus that can be shared between humans. That is a very significant event. We are in a crucial phase where it's spreading rapidly throughout the world. No one knows if tomorrow it will further mutate into something extremely deadly. There's no need to panic, but there's every reason to wash your hands.