Posted on 01/02/2010 6:44:32 PM PST by delacoert
Some of you may find this to be a big surprise, but a Harvard study shows that the great swine flu pandemic was oversold. Shocking I know, as one doctor points out, “The H1N1 pandemic was a pandemic that never materialized.” Then I guess you could call the swine flu pandemic oversold, wouldn’t you think?
The Harvard study uses the deaths from H1N1 back in the spring and projecting what they would have been in the fall suggests that the swine flu pandemic was indeed oversold by a government willing to allow its citizens to be in a constant state of fear. Some had suggested all along that the government was using the news of a possible swine flu pandemic as a means of fear mongering. Hard to believe, huh? A fear mongering government, who would have thought?
This is in no way intended to make light of those who did die from the disease, but let’s think back to all of the reports telling us that small children, older people, and pregnant women were dying by the thousands and the pandemic had reached biblical proportions. Perhaps swine flu was oversold. But why?
The CDC had previously estimated that nearly 100,000 people would die from the swine flu. We haven’t yet reached 10,000 and most flu activity has leveled off. The CDC now reports that just 11 states have widespread flu activity. The government was at one time in full throated vaccination mode. Joe Biden himself said he wouldn’t ride the subway. Once again, why?
At one time, it was feared the swine flu pandemic would cause there to be worldwide shortage of the much needed swine flu vaccine. Now, just a few months later, with swine flu oversold to the degree it has been, a surplus of vaccinations looks to be the order. Nice call governments of the world.
Is there likely to be more flu cases before springtime? Most definitely, but I’m no doctor. The fact is the swine flu pandemic was oversold to a public that sometimes seems to feed on doom and gloom. A perfect situation for a fear mongering government. Is it possible the pandemic was touted to take the public’s mind off of more serious subjects like the war, economy, terrorism, the government takeover of well, everything? I’m not generally into conspiracy theories but the swine flu oversell makes you wonder.
Thanks - I missed that thread.
However - while that might explain the deaths through secondary infection, it ignores the extreme virulence of the virus itself. Many victims died within a few hours of seeing the first symptoms.
Ping...
Got you two mixed up on post #40. Sorry.
YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Betcha
Baxter and pals made a ton of money and so did the Marxist in chief and his thugs.
India?
Indonesia?
Brazil?
Pakistan?
Bangladesh?
Face it, the flu was mild.
Well, the fortunes spent remediating computer systems and software apparently paid off for Y2K, as little went wrong. That did not mean that complacency and a complete lack of preparation would have had the same outcome.
I think heightened awareness of pathogen transfer in a culture where I have seen fast food workers absent-mindedly picking zits with those food-handling plastic gloves on (clueless!!) might be a good thing, anyway.
If you look at the river in late summer and decide not to build next to it bacause it might flood come spring, does that make you an alarmist? Nope.
As for preparation, having a full pantry and the means to survive come what may just might be prudent at any time.
I got laid off last June, and though money got tight, we were never without food.
No problem.
I don’t have personal experience in those countries.
Do you know what precautions they took, can you provide a link?
Or a link stating that they took no precautions at all.
Amen, sister... er... mom.
It was payback to the vaccine makers (ie drug companies) that the government would hype it up in order to get public demand for the vaccine up. Fascism (aka The Third Way, via Bill Clinton and others) at work.
I remember a pic of some politician, Edwards? coughing into his hand then going back to shaking hands in a meet-n-greet line. Yukk.
And as for gloves you are absolutely correct, people think they are safe and careful just because they have them on. I was on a team doing work with dirty stuff. One of us picked up contamination on his glove and spread it to his hair, face, and around the pocket of his suit. But I was wearing GLOVES! he said. Oh and some paperwork, from which I picked some up, but luckily did not spread it.
Poverty = lack of health care and health precautions.
Airports and 1st world accommodations in third world counties does not provide a clue on what the third world health care look’s like.
As of December 27 the WHO reported 12,220 confirmed deaths worldwide.
This was a weak flu.
thanks, bfl
Sure there is. There flu season occurs six months before ours does. Read the literature
And for the record the 1918 pandemic started in Europe at the end of WWI.
Actually, for the record, the term “Spanish Flu” was a misnomer; the 1918 pandemic is thought to have originated in the Spring of 1918, in Kansas, at a military cantonment called Camp Funston. WWI did not end until November 11th, when Armistice was signed with Germany.
Some scholars have theorized that the flu probably originated in the Far East.[13] Dr. C. Hannoun, leading expert of the 1918 flu for the Institut Pasteur, theorized that the former virus was likely to have come from China, mutated in the United States near Boston, and spread to Brest, France, Europe’s battlefields, Europe, and the world using Allied soldiers and sailors as main spreaders.[14] Hannoun considered several other theories of origin, such as Spain, Kansas, and Brest, as being possible but not likely.
Historian Alfred W. Crosby observed that the flu seems to have originated in Kansas.[15] Political scientist Andrew Price-Smith published data from the Austrian archives suggesting that the influenza had earlier origins, beginning in Austria in the spring of 1917.[16] Popular writer John Barry echoed Crosby in describing Haskell County, Kansas as the likely point of origin.[17] In the United States the disease was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas, on March 4, 1918,[18] and Queens, New York, on March 11, 1918. In August 1918, a more virulent strain appeared simultaneously in Brest, France, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and in the U.S. at Boston, Massachusetts. The Allies of World War I came to call it the Spanish flu, primarily because the pandemic received greater press attention after it moved from France to Spain in November 1918. Spain was not involved in the war and had not imposed wartime censorship.[19]
Investigative work by a British team, led by virologist John Oxford[20] of St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Royal London Hospital, has suggested that a principal British troop staging camp in Étaples, France was at the center of the 1918 flu pandemic, or was the location of a significant precursor virus.[21]
[edit] Mortality
From the onset, I was less than impressed with the actual Swine Flu threat. But the response to Swine Flu I believe was as a “dress rehearsal” for the governments of the world, for the *real* threat, that was, and remains, H5N1 Avian Flu.
Behind the scenes, there have been massive preparations for the Avian Flu, and the disease itself continues to slowly adapt for its lethal purposes. And when it does so, it has the strong potential to be the deadliest plague in world history.
It is very atypical from other influenza for a host of reasons. It has, and has mysteriously retained, a 60% mortality rate for those it has infected. This is extremely high. The Spanish Flu, which traumatized America in 1918, had only a 10-20% mortality.
So, while we may give humble and hearty thanks that Swine Flu wasn’t deadlier, the real threat still remains.
“extreme virulence of the virus itself.”
I’m no expert on this subject but I think the only way people die is from secondary symptoms, not the virus itself. The extreme virulence is what leads to pneumonia, for example. Taking aspirin only makes it more likely to get pneumonia.
Also, aspirin reduces fever, which is not good. Fever is what keeps the virus from replicating.
“Many victims died within a few hours of seeing the first symptoms.”
I’ve seen some anecdotal stories of this but not a lot of real data. I suspect that people were treating the symptoms with aspirin, not realizing that was allowing the virus to get much worse. When the symptoms showed up then it was probably too late.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.