Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild

The Los Angeles Times ^ | April 30, 2009 | By Karen Kaplan and Alan Zarembo

[LomanBill]

>>Swine flu: How Serious A Threat?

Didn’t kill me in 1976 and probably ain’t gonna kill me now either.

I think the “H1N1” name change is to draw attention away from the FACT that we’ve been here, did this, before.

And H1N1 sounds oooooh so super scary. The stress from worrying about it will probably make folks sicker than the virus does.

Must. Have. O-Crisis.

[lupie]

We have thought it was the regular flu all along. I still do. I have had enough of them in my life to know it is the flu. It is just kind of late in the season to get it and not knowing of many people who had it. It doesn’t matter what type it was to me anyway. I was just a little curious. Interestingly, since I have been sick, I have heard of several others that got sick - and not really in the time frame of the H1N1 flu. Thanks for your post.

[Polarik]

You’re right. Thanks for the correction. Here’s a follow-up:

For forty years, from 1932 to 1972, 399 African-American males were denied treatment for syphilis and deceived by officials of the United States Public Health Service. As part of a study conducted in Macon County, Alabama, poor sharecroppers were told they were being treated for bad blood.

In fact, the physicians in charge of the study ensured that these men went untreated. In the 25 years since its details first were revealed, the Tuskegee Syphilis study has become a powerful symbol of racism in medicine, ethical misconduct in human research, and goverment abuse of the vulnerable.

[Polarik]

We live in an age when the unthinkable scenarios that are the stuff of “24,” “Outbreak,” “Andromeda Strain,” and countless other films as TV shows can and have actually occurred.

Welcome to the world of manufactured crises and unlimited payoffs, where there is zero oversight in place to protect the public. No tin-foil hats needed to see how a community organizer with only 143 days as a Senator leapfrogs into the Presidency. Same thing goes for the sub-prime mortgage debacle.

I have every reason to suspect that this virus was manmade, even though, on a strictly timeline basis, it fits into the cyclical nature of influenza pandemics.

A new, unknown flu strain provides a very convenient “plausible deniability” cover story — one that an antrax attack wouldn’t.

I just find it a bit providential that a company like Baxter International announced that it had a vaccine for the H1N1 within days after the potential for pandemic was disclosed.

Xenova is another company working on a vaccine, and one that lost its shirt when it merged with Cantab — a company whose drug trials demonstrated no noticeable differences from the placebo group.

I’m hoping that this is not what’s happenened here, but when the Vice President announces that within six months or less, there will be an international crisis that will test the mettle of Obama, I’d say that this H1N1 pandemic fits Biden’s timeline.

[Polarik]

Yes, I remember that. My cousin contracted polio.

[zimfam007]

Let me start by saying that most experts will agree that all influenza genes consistently suggest a common avian ancestor for both human and swine H1N1 virus lineages. The natural reservoir for influenza virus is thought to be wild waterfowl. Periodically, genetic material from avian strains emerges in strains infectious to humans. Because pigs can be infected with both avian and human strains, they are thought to be an intermediary in this process. Influenza strains with recently acquired genetic material are responsible for pandemic influenza outbreaks. Basically, what this means is that once a large enough antigenic drift has occurred in the virus’ genetic makeup, the likelihood that people would have been infected with a similar strain drops dramatically thus increasing the chances for mass infections b/c the body’s immune defense system will not recognize the invader until (basically) it is too late. Although A LOT is known about this virus, there are still many scientists trying to connect the dots when it comes to the intermixing of this virus in its many different reservoirs. Hence one of the reasons why the flu vaccine is NEVER 100% effective ANY year it has been generated.

Just b/c the scientific community has never seen this strain’s genetic combination before DOES NOT mean it hasn’t been out there infecting people. Currently, in the USA, all influenza activity reporting by states and health-care providers is voluntary. Plus, when you factor in the human-element, meaning many people NEVER go to the doctor or hospital when they are ill, and/or do not have access to care, it is quite possible that this strain, or a form very similar to it has been out there circulating. I’ll point to the Pandemic of 1918-1919….most deaths occurred among young adults, a group that usually has a very low death rate from influenza. Influenza and pneumonia death rates for 15- to 34-year-olds were more than 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years…why would this have been the case??? Many experts believe, after pouring over historical data, that a similar strain to the H1N1 (A) of 1918-1919 actually showed up (in a less virulent state) in the late 1880’s early 1890’s (if memory serves me correct); therefore many older adults would have had an antigenic determinant (stamp) which allowed there autoimmune system to respond to the H1N1 strain BEFORE it spiraled out of control in the host….but this is just an educated guess made by the scientific community. The first human influenza viruses were not isolated until the early 1930s and the characterization of the 1918 strain has had to rely on indirect evidence.

I am not saying in any way, shape or form that this little bugger won’t rear its ugly little head again in a more virulent form…. but what I am saying is that there is a great amount of misinformation out there and there is still A LOT that we do not know about this virus. Influenza is a deadly disease and it seems as if MANY people have overlooked the fact that just last year over 65,000 Americans lost their lives to Influenza/Influenza-related illnesses (55 of them defined as pediatric deaths)… and that is the “age-adjusted” number… without using the age-adjusted determinants the number shoots well past the 100,000 mark. While I believe that we should always be vigilant, the mass hysteria that the media (along with this current Administration) are inciting is sickening…it is the Chicken Little syndrome. When it really does matter, when we really do need to be aware, will people be too desensitized b/c of this current state of crisis we seem to be in on a daily basis?????

[east1234]

It was a 24 hr thing caught from a little kid. Knocked down her entire office, but not H1N1.

[BagCamAddict]

Good to hear it wasn’t H1N1. I’m sure it wasn’t fun either way, but at least it was only a 24-hr thing.

Have you seen that CDC’s numbers went from 200-something 3 days ago, to nearly 900 yesterday, to over 1600 today.

Probably mostly due to shipping test kits out to all states, so more tests are being run in the last couple days. But it will be interesting to see if the numbers keep growing or if they peak as the weather warms up.