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WHO says swine flu pandemic is imminent

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that's good because Wall Street is rising too, now economists will have to come up with different theory !

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"WHO chief Chan said it was too early to say how the swine flu outbreak will develop.

“There may be a possibility that the virus will die out and stop, and that would be the best for us, but it can turn the other way,” she said." We can cross our fingers, knock on wood, carry a rabbit's foot but I think it is better just to prepare for the worst and wash our hands, face, masks, etc..even goggles are reccomended, since this virus can also get into your eyes. NO JOKE! Look at the news of the doctors and nurses in Narita International Airport, they are all wearing goggles too.

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Unless you can seal yourself shut for 6 months til they develop a vaccine it might actually be safer to catch this now and gain immunity before 1) the virus becomes drug-resistant and 2) the health service becomes overwhelmed.

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"Chan stopped short of recommending that vaccine manufacturers switch their production of seasonal flu vaccine to one that works against the pandemic..."

Well, we can in part thank the pushers of said seasonal flu vaccines since in part it's all the drugs that have helped strengthen the immunity of the virus. If this flu hits Japan the country is going to see one of the largest and quickest spreads, and possibly deaths, out of all the countries -- people here are so susceptible because of overmedicating (ie. for common colds and the flu). Let's hope it peters out.

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History has this nasty habit of repeating past tragic events. We've seen a neo-great depression over the past year or so and now a return to a flu pandemic that could make 2009 another 1918 if not resolved.

As with any generation's dark moments, all we can truly do is to be informed, take the proper precautions, hope for the best and hope that our fate is not as dark as those who lived through the 1918 pandemic.

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Had a quick email message from a friend yesterday who actually works for the WHO (logistics and coordination of research on infectious diseases). At the moment, he said the people he works with a still trying to find out why this flu strain with such a mild toxicity at the current time has managed to "kill" so many people in Mexico. He also reminded everyone to not get complacent about this because the flu has a nasty habit of jacking up its virulence without warning.

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it might actually be safer to catch this now and gain immunity

You can't get a natural immunity to influenza

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Now those in charge of the Winter Olympics are in a bit of worry that this flu might still be in effect when the Winter Olympic come on in Canada in the Province of B.C.!!!!!!!!!!

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Damned pigs.

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Storm in a teacup, this. A few poeple will get it, the weaker ones will die, and then it'll die down. It's just the flu. Now if we were talking about Ebola, or the Rage virus it'd be a different story and I'd be squelching with fear. But this is just going to give mask companies a nice shot in the arm, thanks to the locals' bizarre believe that dressing like a surgeon acts as a talisman against airborne virii.

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It's the end of the world.

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IvanCoughalot - I trust you are not being serious? "Just the flu" Thell that to over 50 million people in 1918...

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wibble - 50 million underfed, malnourished people, living in overcramped conditions with outside lavatories and, usually, a weekly bath night. World War One didn't exactly beef up their immune systems, you know.

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wibble - 50 million underfed, malnourished people, living in overcramped conditions with outside lavatories and, usually, a weekly bath night. World War One didn't exactly beef up their immune systems, you know.

vs. overworked, over-medicated, under-rested people. the japanese must be one of the most sickly nations on earth; constantly sick with minor coughs and allergies. vs. 1918 i wonder about the state of the nation's immune systems

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Welcome to the future.

When a population reaches maximum carrying capacity, starvation, sickness and war work as an evolutionary feedback loops to bring numbers back down to sustainable levels.

Since the petroleum era has endowed humans with a surplus of energy large enough to grow abundant food and the global population far beyond carrying capacity, the density dependent mechanism working as a limiting factor in response to explosive population growth in this case is an epidemic.

Living in sprawling urban mega cities is simply not sustainable on any level; spiritually, physically, mentally, and socially. Before any major disruption in the modern way of life would result in mass starvation ( the end of petronomics ) a global pandemic and/or world war is plausible in direct proportion to peak oil production as a feedback loop to correct the huge global population imbalance.

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Who says swine flu pandemic is imminent?

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Please, look up how many people die yearly from the flu. Worldwide it is estimated at 300,000-500,000. How many have died from this swine flu? Nothing anywhere close.

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nandakandamanda - Looks like JT says it is. The WHO haven't made a statement saying that.

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Ivan,

The 1918 virus' victims were mostly healthy people. The virus killed by overworking the immune system, so those with healthy immune systems were killed.

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I hate to admit this, but these kind of things are good for my business.

If you keep you living and working places clean, including pulling up the tatamis, if you care to keep those ugly things but they are really a virus heaven, scrubbing your shower down with bleach, no leaving any bread, cheese, milk, eggs, butter, and most of all rice and keep you sink completely clean (use paper plates and cups btw) each night. Wash your hands more than usual, you should be ok.

Stay away from smokers! Believe it or not, a smoker will get the flu faster than a great many people and yes, that second hand smoke does carry bugs.

Also, if you are the typical Tokyo-ite and like to drink in bars, bring your own glass.

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Oh dear government. Please save me ... Yawn

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Hello Moonbeams

'The 1918 virus' victims were mostly healthy people. The virus killed by overworking the immune system, so those with healthy immune systems were killed.'

Those poor saps died of the alleged vaccinations and drugs they were plied with. People who for whatever reason did not take the meds were the ones who survived.

Vaccines don't work. Germ-theory is basically flawed. Whether this new outbreak of flu (if it really exists), ... whether it was engineered in a laboratory or not, it best dealt with by your own immune system. Just use commonsense and take basic precautions like not licking door handles of public conveniences and eat well. The drugs they want you to take for these killer bugs are at best Trojan Horses and at worse they'll maim you or even kill you.

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So if you eat pesticide tainted dumplings from China, will it kill the swine flu virus???

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...the federal government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus,” Obama said.

Did he say this before or after his round of golf?

Moderator: Why is every one of your posts an anti-Obama rant? The purpose of the discussion board is for mature readers to have an exchange of views. If you have an opinion on the swine flu epidemic, please post that. Otherwise....

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to those talking about annual flu deaths: this flu is killing young healthy people, flu usually causes the deaths n the elderly and infirm - who were on the way out anyway. There in lies the difference.

Get this flu and build up a resistance?? are you serious? this flu not your usual one, it is apparently pure agony. I read of one guy who got it in Mexico and survived. An insane fever and a feeling of being on fire, unquenchable thirst, pain that made him pass out, he needed oxygen to breathe in the end. I will pass on that thanks very much.

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There are thousands of deadly diseases out there. This panic over a flue strain that has killed all but 8 people so far is totally overblown.

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Looks like JT says it is. The WHO haven't made a statement saying that.

The WHO raised the warning level to 5(imminent pandemic) because in Spain the flu passed from a person who had been to Mexico to a person who had not been to Mexico. Level 5 requires two different regions of the world, to have human to human infections.

This panic over a flue strain that has killed all but 8 people so far is totally overblown.

It's a 159~ deaths related to the swine in Mexico so far, which puts the death rate in Mexico at about 5% of those infected. Perhaps overblown but better to be on the safe side of things.

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If this were Ebola or something much more deadly I'd be more concerned. It looks as though the efeects of this flu are much like most influenza that runs its course each year. The young, the old and those with compromised immune systems face the largest threat. Your average healthy adult doesn't have much to worry about other than feeling like sh*t for an amount of time and being locked up in the hose. Wake me when it's over.

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usaexpat: "The young, the old and those with compromised immune systems face the largest threat."

Not sure, but it seems like that's not entirely true. The dead, at least the one case in the US where an infant died, may have been so, but infection seems indeed to be prevalant amongst young adults.

" Wake me when it's over."

Just don't say that if you go to bad with a bad fever... hahaha. Seriously, I'm not panicking at all about this and am more worried about increased times waiting at immigration due to measures to combat the spread, but I think it's better to be cautious than to be wrong in retrospect, in the case of potential epidemics (errr... pandemics).

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I am so glad that most are taking precautions. We certainly would not want a repeat of 1918. First global warming, then the economy and now this what in the world is going on?

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I am not surprised to read that some have brought up the Spanis Flu that boomed in 1918 right after WWI.

Most of those that had it to survive are not around anymore. I know my Father was taking private flying lessons with hopes to join the Army Engineers & once over in England could apply for a position in flying. Only the War was over before he could pass his local flying lessons.

He spent his time helping sick people into wagons, truks or cars to be transported to the hospitals. Only go go down with the same. The family doctor suggest, to the father, that they get him to fresh sea air like the Pacific Coast. That was the answer for his survival though he passed away in 1993 with the age of 83, & reason we do not have many of those still around at this time.

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There are thousands of deadly diseases out there. This panic over a flue strain that has killed all but 8 people so far is totally overblown.

Allow me to make a comparison to the swine flu problem and another event in the not-too-distant past:

I was living in Washington state in 1980. I remember well the months leading up to the May 18th eruption of Mount St. Helens, when all the little WilliB-types were complaining that the reaction by the government to an impending eruption (red zones and such) was way overblown. After May 18, the little WilliB-types were griping that the government didn't draw the red zone wide enough.

Lesson: When dealing with potential catastrophies, you can't be overly cautious. Best to ignore the sniping from people who don't know any better and will be the first to turn on you when things go south.

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WHO says swine flu pandemic is imminent

Let's panic!!!

"Merde!, Swine flu!" - Inspector Clouseau

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Vice President Joe "I Forget the Internet Number" Biden:

I would tell members of my family — and I have — I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now. It's not that it's going to Mexico. It's [that] you're in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That's me. … So, from my perspective, what it relates to is mitigation. If you're out in the middle of a field when someone sneezes, that's one thing. If you're in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it's a different thing.

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