Just saying ...

Darryl Mason says:

01:06pm | 12/06/09

You don’t need a whole load of deaths for this to be had. The WHO and CDC have briefed governments, ours included, to deal with projections of 20% of the workforce being off work for a few weeks at a time. That’s 20% of the workforce off sick or looking after family members who are sick.

If that happens during any given month in the next one to two years that this pandemic will unfold, that’s some pretty major disruption.

This New Flu, and whatever it becomes if it swaps more genes with avian influenza and other human influenza viruses, doesn’t have to kill millions to seed a fair bit of chaos, and it will sicken workers across all businesses and industries, plus essential services like hospitals, police, fireys.

Who drives all the food trucks when 20% or more of all truck drivers are sick or looking after sick relatives? Same goes for those who maintain water, electricity, gas supplies to our homes.

Shifting ‘sniffles’ up to a pandemic would appear to be preparing to deal with a worse case scenario and hoping, praying for a near miss.

And it’s not just Sniffles. People who already have existing health problems get hammered by this new flu, on its own in healthy people it can get pretty nasty, though like all flu viruses, it sails through some with barely a ruffle in their lifestyles.

BTW, a WHO spokesman on ABC Midday news was asked if avoiding large gatherings and restricting contact with other people was necessary, he said that was “good advice.”

At least in quarantine at home, you get the chance to work through those unwatched DVD box sets. While the electricity is on, anyway.

Lucy says:

01:53pm | 12/06/09

The biggest issue with so-called pandemics is the hysteria from health departments around the world.

The basis for the need to be ‘prepared’ for a flu pandemic is a mathematical model suggesting, essentially, that we are ‘due’ for a pandemic - because we haven’t had one for quite a while - like 90+ years.

The problem with the mathematical model is that it fails to take account of medical advancements, better treatment, resistance, hygiene and sanitation.

All of the above are reasons why people don’t die as young as they once did and why people don’t get as sick as they once did. They are also reasons why we live much longer than we used to - we have added about 20+ years to our lives over the last 50 years.

If all these factors were considered appropriately, no-one would be in the least worried about swine-flu.

But, it does tend to make governments look good. When the swine-flu hysteria dies down, the government will undoubtedly take the credit and claim that the measures it implemented ‘limited the spread’ and the treatments it provided ‘prevented deaths’.

Sadly, this will all be a lie, but it does make for a good yarn.

Virologists' Son says:

04:00pm | 12/06/09

Isn’t the actual risk from the virus mutating?  It’s not that deadly now, but highly contagious.  If it mutates then it can become more harmful.  Go to wikipedia and search on Spanish Flu.  The initial outbreak wasn’t particularly deadly (March 1918).  The second was (August on).  It was deadly and affected the healthy, not the young and the old.  I’m not sure mathematical models or life expectancy increases are the key factors.  Mutation is.

Dallas Beaufort says:

12:11am | 14/06/09

Swine flue fills the media space made available by global warming’s unsustainable drive to feed the fear factories, Not to mention political leadership failures in chasing every imaginable shadow at even greater cost the the nation.

Tim K says:

12:43pm | 15/06/09

Well, the stats are going to start to look real good soon seeing as how Vic has stopped testing people and is just assuming anyone with flu has swine flu.

Louise O says:

07:26pm | 14/07/09

People with a compromise immune system are the most likely to die from swine flu, and scientists now know that consuming genetically modified food can reduce a person’s immune system, so this should be an interesting combination once swine flu becomes more deadly. 

I wonder how many countries will bother to vaccinate all of their populations once swine flu becomes more deadly.  China and India have the highest rates of Hep B in the world, Africa has the highest rates of AIDS in the world, these people obviously have compromised immune systems, however given the amount of people who do not even have electricity in these countries I can’t see their governments rushing out to get them a vaccination for swine flu. 

Doctors in New Zealand are no longer testing people for swine flu either.

mick says:

04:57pm | 15/07/09

Lucky it wasn’t bird flu because under the labor party at both state and commonwealth levels we would probably be dying by the thousands.

Edgar says:

01:44am | 21/07/09

Pfft. And Turnbull would do any better? You can’t talk your way out of a Pandemic.