Swine Flu - Show me the misery

[daepp]

So what happened to the swine flu? Was this a negligent overreaction or an intentional one? Don't we, as a society, have a problem with those who create mass hysteria and panic?

Flu deaths were down this year - where is the media on this obvious contradiction?

[vash]

my mom's neighbor..the guy that taught me to hunt and fish..his daughter died right before thanksgiving. she was 35, a teacher in texas. great girl. we always joked about marrying her because her dad had a great west texas ranch to hunt.

all this hype turned me into an obsessive hand washer. i am probably not alone. sure it helped.

[masraum]

Sorry, you have reached a number that has been disconnected due to death by swine flu. Please check your number and dial again.

Yeah, you should hear the hysteria when hurricane season starts. They start getting geared up for it in the media on the Gulf Coast when the damn things are still over off of the coast of Africa.

"There is a storm brewing off of the west coast of Africa. The extreme 25 knot winds have caused white caps on 3 waves. We believe that there's a possibility that this storm could develop into a category 5 storm and hit our region in the next 4-6 weeks. Stay tuned for updates this developing situation every hour every hour."

I did have some sort of flu for a couple of days last fall. Maybe that was it.

[sammyg2]

The flu is very serious and kills people every year.
The seasonal flu kills around 36,000 people a year on average.
The swine flu did about a third of that.

Yes it is serious, but there is a reason that there was so much hype about the swine flu when the politicians and liberals pretty much ignored the seasonal flu.

They had a health care welfare tax bill to pass.

Much like their global warming hoax, it looks like their efforts to brainwash the people is in danger of failing.

[red-beard]

Sammy, it's OK. The new fix is to legalize marijuana. That way the people's heads will be full of mush, when they brain wash them. Kinda like the Hulu commercials, except real!

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

So what happened to the swine flu? Was this a negligent overreaction or an intentional one? Don't we, as a society, have a problem with those who create mass hysteria and panic?

Flu deaths were down this year - where is the media on this obvious contradiction?

But... but... but... the answer is obvious; we killed the swine flu... or at least whupped it into submission.

You saw all those people on TV getting the shots all across the country.

Why are you having trouble connecting the dots?

We opened up a can of whupazz on the swine flu and it said, "UNCLE!!!!!"

Isn't that what happened?

[aigel]

The issue is that kids were much more affected by this swine flu than the usual flu. I don't know, but it sure is more concerning if kids die than if a geriatric person succumbs to pneumonia. I don't think it was a mistake to be careful with this one. This plot is sobering. Every dot on this is a dead kid and a grieving family.

George

CDC - Seasonal Influenza (Flu) - Weekly Report: Influenza Summary Update

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

So what happened to the swine flu?

Haiti.

[Erakad]

George is right. What we had was a virus, not the horrendous advertised super flu, but one that was more in line with the seasonal flus. The major difference was the ones most affected were the very young (possibly due to lack of prior infection) and the very old (immuno-compromised?). In my small community, we saw no serious (read hospitalizations), with most limited to sore throat, fever, and cough. Off the top of my head I can't give you the worldwide figures for deaths, but I do know they (the numbers) were in line with seasonal flu.

[DanielDudley]

I agree there was a link to passing health care, but the idea that a younger generation hasn't developed immunity to a flu variant is valid.

I believe that there has been a fear of a fast spreading pandemic since AIDS. If Aids had been an airborne virus, it could have been very ugly.

[daepp]

C'mon - the results no where matched the hype.

[jyl]

We've talked about this quite a lot already. I guess you didn't do a search?

The answer is that if you are an infant, child, or young adult, your risk from H1N1 this year was far higher than from normal seasonal flu. If you are an elderly person, your risk from H1N1 this year was substantially lower than from seasonal.

Through mid-Dec, appx 1200 children (0-17 years) died from H1N1, including appx 240 pediatric, appx 8600 adults (18-64 years) died, and appx 1400 elderly (65+). That is very different from seasonal flu, whose deaths are 90% among older people. The chart George posted shows the comparison for pediatric - this is 4X the normal death rate.

If a 2 y/o dies, typically 70+ years of future life are erased. If a 70 y/o dies, typically a few years of future life is erased. I believe that, if you total how many years of future life have been erased, H1N1 has already been more severe than seasonal flu.

I think it is bizzare to complain that we did too much about H1N1 or that not enough people were killed. If someone told you a disease is coming that could kill tens of 10,000s of children and young adults in the US over 8 months - who wouldn't normally die otherwise - wouldn't you expect the medical authorities to try their best to fight it? Vaccination, treatment, prevention, public awareness? And if it turned out that "only" 10,000 such people died, would you then complain that the authorities shouldn't have bothered responding?

I think you should wear a T-shirt that says "NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE DIED FROM H1N1". On the backside it can read "I LIKE TO COMPLAIN".

[The Gaijin]

Some very good points John. But in the rush to vaccinate the whole population and making this out to be a threat to everybody might have caused a mis-allocation of resources.

Maybe some more of this "treatment, prevention, public awareness.." is what is needed in these situations?? Recognizing those with underlying health issues and those that exhibit certain symptoms - might be a better way to confront this.

Lot's of hype in the media about vaccines and hand washing. I did not see any common sense about eating right, getting rest and when to see a doctor..

It is not like this flu did not travel around the Southern Hemishere last summer (their winter) and they should have had a better idea what was coming.

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by jyl

i think you should wear a t-shirt that says "not enough people died from h1n1". On the backside it can read "i like to complain".

+1000

[Pazuzu]

Do you guys really think that this is over? I expect to see this thing flare up, and far worse, next year. We watched it jump species in it's first year, it's a sturdy little bugger.

[daepp]

Too much hype.

When things are really serious, no one will listen.

IMHO of course.

[Jim Richards]

Are your kids vaccinated for H1N1, David?



Well stated, jyl.

[daepp]

My wife did not get them vaccinated. I don't know all her reasons, but she did discuss it with our pediatrician.

I just spoke with my GP - he agreed there was way too much hype. He likened it to religious fervor.

Re: the chart and the H1N1 deaths, I think the following:
- based upon the constant news/hype 6-12 months ago, would you have believed at the time that deaths would only be 236?
- more importantly about the graph, did they test for H1N1 in those prior years. I thought it was new/newly isolated

I do not want to make a capital case out of this (nor come across as a complainer tho it may be too late for that ) but I am not convinced that this flu was anywhere close to what was suggested.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by DAEpperson

- based upon the constant news/hype 6-12 months ago, would you have believed at the time that deaths would only be 236?

That's 236 kids, not total deaths. I suggest you talk to one of those parents, if you don't think that's enough misery ...

George

[porsche4life]

I have the opportunity to get the H1N1 vaccine free... I don't that I will though....