Posted on 06/23/2009 9:06:08 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe
Ping...(Thanks DvdMom!)
Thank you. I've said the same.
Wait until the fall and winter when it mutates, people all over the world will be dropping like flys and stacked like cordwood. 1918 influenza redux.
"That's the story that I think people haven't really registered," says Gardam. "We're clinging to these 'Oh, they had underlying illness, therefore it's OK."'
I hope you are wrong, but that is a possibility, if for no other reason than that there are multitudes with "underlying medical conditions" of some sort.
I don’t want to be stacked like cord wood...just throw me around kinda helter-skelter...that’ll be fine, thanks.
One such potential new risk factor is obesity. An early study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control suggested it may be contributing to poor outcomes in people who contract the new H1N1. The WHO is concerned about that possibility. "Obesity is now a huge global problem," says Dr. Nikki Shindo, an expert with the WHO's global influenza program. "And if obesity is a risk factor, then I would be very much worried about some of the populations that are living with obese conditions."
I would guess WHO is concerned about those with Gross Obesity.
The Article confirms that doctors believe that H1N1 strikes those hardest with underlying conditions.
I checked out my library's entire stack of books about the 1918 flu, and asked my dad the genealogy buff about family history at that time. Many people on both sides of my family caught it, but no one at all died. I think I've got the genes to survive a comeback.
Buffalo, NY:
Mother Speaks about Swine Flu Death
Posted By: Rachel Kingston Posted By: Claudine Ewing 1 min ago
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=67886&catid=13
When Matthew Davis was feeling ill at home just days before died, he asked his mom, ‘what is wrong with me, am I going to die,” recalled Lucretia Belton.
Belton is the mother of Davis. The 15-year old boy was scheduled to graduate from eighth grade at Harvey Austin School #97 in Buffalo on Wednesday. Instead the family will be attending his wake at Amigone Funeral Home in Buffalo.
Davis, according to his mother was healthy. “There was nothing wrong with my baby, no cold, not even a sniff,” said Belton.
In an interview with 2 On Your Side’s Claudine Ewing, the grieving mother explained how fast her son became ill. It was one week from the day Matthew started feeling that he died.
Students, teachers and community members are mourning the teen’s death.
Flags there are at half staff and a sign in front of the school says — “Our hearts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of Matthew Davis.”
Over the weekend, a spokesman for the Erie County Health Department confirmed a death associated with swine flu.
Buffalo Teachers’ Federation President Phil Rumore said it’s his understanding that the 15-year-old’s health was further compromised by an underlying MRSA infection.
Belton says doctors told her as a result of the swine flu her son contracted MRSA and pneumonia.
“I’m not coping. I want my baby. can they give me my baby back. I’m a mess,” said Belton about the death of her son.
She wishes the school was closed when the teacher was diagnosed with swine flu. It is not known how Matthew Davis was infected. She has an older son who attends Riverside High School, but he was never ill, although district officials closed that school to deal with the swine flu in the building.
Buffalo Schools Superintendent Dr. James Williams says grief counselors are on hand today.
Only a small number of students are required to report to school to take final exams.
A second Buffalo student - who attends the Charles R. Drew Science Magnet School #59 Museum Campus, remains hospitalized with Swine Flu. The child, a female, is listed in critical condition in the Pediatric Intensive Care unit at Women and Children’s Hospital.
Now we get into the question of what constitutes a significant underlying condition. People all over the world, not just the older crowd, have underlying conditions which they live every day with and do not necessarily consider debilitating to the point where they are not functional. Are those conditions significant in this context?
Note, too that the normal profile of flu victims includes those 50 and older, (the very young and the elderly, and those with respiratory and or immune disorders, including transplant patients who have to suppress immune responses to avoid organ rejection).
It is the unusual age profile which tripped a flag with many who are watching this disease, along with the 'off season' appearance of the disease, both of which are similar to the other pandemic flu outbreaks in the last 100 years.
Whether this particular strain and its recombinants prove as deadly remains to be seen.
It may be statistically insignificant, or far worse.
Keep in mind that remiaining healthy is an important part of the picture if this does produce a high mortality pandemic, the rest is dealing with the breakdown in 'on time' inventory systems and critical infrastructure which might occur in the event of widespread serious illness. In the absence of being able to predict the future, being prepared for mild disruptions in supply and services might be prudent.
Please! Please!
LOL...you forgot the /sarcasm tag....unless you meant for it to start in DC of course ;)
I just got a pneumonia vaccine about 3 weeks ago. I normally don’t like taking things like that but my Dr said that since there is no vaccine for this that most people are dying from bacterial pneumonia from it and she thought it would be an extra little bit of protection from that.
HMMMM?? Everything else I’ve read about H1N1 said that being younger and healthier they thought had something to do with the deaths and the way the immune system will attack the body of the victim. That underlying health isues had nothing to do with who was dying? Primarily the deaths have been in the 12-40yo age group. I wish they would get together and get the story reported as one!
State’s only swine flu death still a mystery (Massachusetts)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/23/masss_only_swine_flu_death_still_a_mystery/
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:30 am Post subject:
Gentle giant in search for hospital bed (Australia)
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25681459-661,00.html
VICTORIA’S first swine-flu fatality remained critically ill at a country hospital for several hours because no intensive-care beds were available anywhere in the state, his family claim.
Anthony Splatt, 35, died on Saturday, two days after collapsing at his Colac home, becoming the second Australian to die from the flu strain.
My parents were both born in 1910 and I know that neither set of parents died from the 1918 flu. Neither did any of their siblings, 4 on my father’s side and 8 on my mother’s side. Any farther into the family I can’t say.
MA:
Assawompset Elementary School closes early for the year due to flu
By Frank Mulligan
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jun 23, 2009 @ 11:38 AM
http://www.tauntongazette.com/education/x1662363802/Assawompset-Elementary-School-closes-early-for-the-year-due-to-flu
LAKEVILLE — Assawompset Elementary School has closed for the school year due to a flu outbreak.
School officials received a state waiver on school-hour requirements after making the decision Monday to close the school in the face of widespread absences believed due to H1N1 flu.
Principal Laurie Hunter said 400 of the school’s 600 students were absent Monday, prompting the decision.
She said many of the absences were precautionary on the part of parents, but that 100 students had reported flu-like symptoms since last Thursday.
She said the state wasn’t confirming the H1N1 flu at this point, but that it was clear there was widespread illness and that closing was the best option.
School would have normally concluded on Wednesday, June 24.
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