NEWS: El Flu Is Going To Murder You

POLITICS: El Flu Is Going To Murder You

Mexico is sending a present. It’s kind of a shitty present because it can kill you. Totally not cool, Mexico. It’s almost like you don’t care about all the money we spend on your drugs or the way we let your people pick our vegetables for almost nothing, then scorn them for trying to live. Whatever. Mexico has decided to send the swine flu our way and I am totally not interested.

Mexico has been hit hard by the swine flu and it’s a bit disturbing. The virus is apparently a new one that we haven’t seen before, but it is also a descendant of the 1918 flu virus that killed 50 million peeps. All H1N1 viruses are descendants of the 1918 virus, but they pick up a little something special along the way to make themselves stand out a bit. This flu has the pig part, with a little bird and human virus genes thrown in, which makes it “very unusual.” Me no likey very unusual flu. And it’s a mover.

Super. Basically, the CDC and WHO are freaking out because they don’t know exactly what is going on. They know a flu is spreading, but they don’t know how deadly it is. At the time I wrote this article, 149 people were confirmed dead in Mexico and there were 40 confirmed cases in the US, a few in Canada, Scotland, New Zealand and some suspected cases elsewhere. It’s already all over the place and it’s just getting going.

The cases in the US and Canada are very mild, which has confused scientists even more. On one hand, it could have co-infected with other microbes in Mexico to create a super death flu or it could be the same virus that has mutated into a less lethal form. Or it could be the treatment methods in Mexico. And nobody knows how many Mexicans have come down with a mild case of the flu. Sounds awesome, right?

The Mexican president is saying the problem is under control, while the death toll increases. On Sunday, when the president made his claim, 86 people were dead. Now we're up to 149 and people on the ground are saying it is much worse.

Ruh roh.

Nada bueno, amigos. And it gets worse. The 1918 flu killed so many because young adults were the most likely to die. This flu appears to be the same deal. It causes the body’s own defenses to work against the body -- those that succumb drown from an extreme build-up of fluid in the lungs which is brought on by the body's immune response. So, the people least likely to die from this flu are those under 3 and over 60. Those most likely to kick it are between 20 and 40. This is one of the key signs of a pandemic flu. The 1918 flu killed 2.5% of those infected, while this Mexico version is killing 7% of reported cases. Hence the freak out.

The government is now saying it’s not if we have outbreaks, it's when.

The question is how bad will it get? Economically, given our current situation, a full-blown pandemic would be fucking devastating. Pandemic waves commonly last 12 weeks. Did you know some government agencies recommend you stockpile enough goodies to get by for 12 weeks? Are you ready? I can hold on for 6 days, then I’m going to need milk and some kind of cheese cracker situation. Grocery stores don’t keep more than a week’s worth of food, if that. Now imagine a run on grocery stores if a pandemic breaks out? How’s that look? What if the flu sweeps through your local power or water plant? How’s that going for you? What about your garbage men? Now that they’re all infected, trash is piling up and the rats are out. Also, enjoying all those imported cheap foods? They aren’t happening because the border is closed. How do you feel now that half of the doctors and nurses have quit? Not so good?

Our society is actually quite fragile. Aside from the deaths, fear is the next big bad during a pandemic. It leads to people doing all sorts of crazy things. The economy would nose dive because of all those employees staying home because they are sick, staying home because they are afraid of becoming sick and staying home because they are quarantined with a family member who is ill.

So, this one could be the big bad or it could be nothing. I suggest you keep an eye on it and maybe do a little prep.


FearTheReaper is a writer, actor and stand up comedian. Check back each Tuesday and Friday for more from FearTheReaper

This is definitely worse than the bird flu scare, but I still don't see the point in panicky language.

We'll have more cases and we will probably end up having fatalities within the US (which we did not with the avian flu five years ago) but it's still not worth feeding into the media atmosphere of pants-shitting.

I'd like to thank Senators Collins and Schumer for deciding we didn't need any stimulus money for pandemic preparedness. Because nothing is more economically stimulating than having half your workforce die!

Not that I'm panicking or anything.

-TTm

gah. Great job on the scariness factor. Congrats.

Remember SARS and West Nile Virus and Bird Flu?


Yeah, I don't know anybody that had any of them, either.

So far influenza is still killing more people a day then the Swine Flu. In an average year, the flu causes 36,000 deaths (some say as much as 67,000). That's 98 people a day. So far world wide only 152 deaths from the swine flu since the start of it being reported. The flu at this point is still deadlier.
It may be real but right now I'm betting that ...."hey the election is over, people are sick of the economy now what?"...."How about we scare the shit out of them!!".."Perfect! we haven't done that in awhile"

"The swine flu case of 1976 forever reduced confidence in public health pronouncements from the government and helped foster cynicism about federal policy makers that continues to this day"

Don't forget the past people, our history repeats itself:
The above quote was taken from this article, http://www.capitalcentury.com/1976.html

It's all just another way to ruin our day and make the idiots around us run scared.
Like the economy crisis, it's just a domino effect of the public reacting to the news. I say turn of you T.V.'s and worry about the world around you, not some epedemic that supposedly exists. Don't we learn nothing?

This is bullshit! Just another way to put people in fear!

+1000
even though the new was nice =)

Hehe, I just came here to advertise playing a game of Pandemic 2
I just killed about 90% of the world and no, that Madagascar survived once again.

I am sure they have shut down their ports.

Major disinformation is going on about this flu. Both Canadian and New Zealand health officials say this is a "MILD" flu. The only deaths so far are in Mexico, where the state of health care has not been factored into media reports.

This H1N1 infection has been confined to people who have visited Mexico. In other words, it's not spontaneously showing up in other countries. Using the word "pandemic" suggests that things are out of control and everyone is at risk.

The only thing that is at risk is the trustworthiness of media outlets, as they strive to capture locked-in audiences. I wish there was this much attention given to the cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe.

I kind of like the way that MSNBC reported on it.

Something to consider - yet nothing to go into panic over.

I've read The Stand too many times to not get a racy heartbeat after reading this crap, regardless how illogical it is.

Exactly. Big yawn.

My dad took a trip to Toronto during the SARS thing as well. Apparently if you were Asian, a bit sniffly and not wearing a mask people freaked the fuck out.

Yeah, I think it's still too soon to call this a pandemic. Over 200 people have died in Mexico (and what are the conditions in the places people are dying?) and no one in more developed countries has, right? How many people exist in the world? Several billions?

This is getting blown out of proportion. Like, big time. If we just chill the fuck out and deal with this calmly and don't send waves of panic through our world (because people taking time off work now to prepare for a pandemic is almost as bad as people taking off sick to deal with one), we'll be fine. 1918 was a much different time with much different conditions and much less technology. This is 2009.

I have had this really bad cough for about two months now thanks to a combo of things one being allergies. I think it's time to have fun with those who scare easy.

I hate the media, they like to blow everything out of proportion.