Pandemic (Swine) Flu - Page 40

Jimmy-J · 18-06-2009, 13:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by foreverwar

From the NHS website

"If you have flu-like symptoms and are concerned because you think you have been in contact with someone who may have swine flu:

Stay at home.

Oops!
A good job I didn't have it. The Doctor is baffled by my symptoms. I still have the pain but not as bad. I think I may know now what it could be.

I use a cheap blender that I bought from Argos to mix the two shakes I have everyday, and I noticed just over a week ago that it wasn't mixing very well and was noisier than normal. This morning after getting back from the Doctors, I switched the mixer on and checked that the blades were working properly, they seemed to be rotating ok, but to my horror! I noticed that there was an oily black fluid leaking from above the blades. I turned it off and put some of this oily substance on my finger, it smelt of grinded metal, so I must have been contaminating my shakes for over a week!

nffc · 18-06-2009, 14:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Product 13

Oops!
A good job I didn't have it. The Doctor is baffled by my symptoms. I still have the pain but not as bad. I think I may know now what it could be.

I use a cheap blender that I bought from Argos to mix the two shakes I have everyday, and I noticed just over a week ago that it wasn't mixing very well and was noisier than normal. This morning after getting back from the Doctors, I switched the mixer on and checked that the blades were working properly, they seemed to be rotating ok, but to my horror! I noticed that there was an oily black fluid leaking from above the blades. I turned it off and put some of this oily substance on my finger, it smelt of grinded metal, so I must have been contaminating my shakes for over a week!

Ewwww. Surprised you didn't taste it.

Jimmy-J · 18-06-2009, 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by nffc

Ewwww. Surprised you didn't taste it.

I always added coffee to the shake to make it taste nicer, so it must have masked the taste of the metal?

Osem · 18-06-2009, 14:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Product 13

Oops!
A good job I didn't have it. The Doctor is baffled by my symptoms.

Is his name Doc Morrissey by any chance?

http://www.leonardrossiter.com/regin...rin/regdoc.wmv

Oh, and the original series of The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin is much better than the new one IMHO.

Osem · 26-06-2009, 20:23

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8121292.stm

Confirmed cases in England up 20% in a single day

God knows how bad it'll be come autumn/winter...

Quote:

.......tens of thousands of cases of swine flu could be emerging each week by the autumn.

**Chris** · 26-06-2009, 20:26

We should have sufficient vaccine for the entire population before then. For the time being it's a relatively mild strain of the flu so it's probably as well to let it have its way with the population.

I have a GP friend who suggested that for most people the side effects you can get from a course of Tamiflu may be worse than simply enduring the virus itself. And unless you get the vaccine afterwards, killing the infection with Tamiflu denies your body the opportunity to develop its own immunity.

Osem · 26-06-2009, 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

We should have sufficient vaccine for the entire population before then. For the time being it's a relatively mild strain of the flu so it's probably as well to let it have its way with the population.

I have a GP friend who suggested that for most people the side effects you can get from a course of Tamiflu may be worse than simply enduring the virus itself. And unless you get the vaccine afterwards, killing the infection with Tamiflu denies your body the opportunity to develop its own immunity.

The direct effects are one thing and of course as more elderly and vulnerable people get the virus the outcomes will no doubt worsen. There's also, however, the indirect effects of so many people having to stay off work and isolate themselves?

26-06-2009, 20:31

can not this vaccine be rendered useless simply by the virus mutating over the summer?

A friend was talking to me normally the other saying alittle over a week before he was in bed with a head ache aches and pains sore throat and a temp and he didnt even report it he stood there like derr you think it might have been swine flu. I would have gone mental at him had he not been well for at least a week.

**Chris** · 26-06-2009, 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

The direct effects are one thing and of course as more elderly and vulnerable people get the virus the outcomes will no doubt worsen. There's also, however, the indirect effects of so many people having to stay off work and isolate themselves?

Good infection control measures can mitigate that by slowing the process of infection, but the fact is, we're at the beginning of a pandemic and a level of disruption is inevitable.

The work the health authorities have done so far will have been useful in slowing down the number of people who will have been infected by the time the vaccine becomes available, thereby minimising disruption to society. But once the infection gets beyond the stage of being controllable, there's not a lot of point worrying about it. It will do what viruses do, and just spread.

That's why in a number of areas around the UK they are now moving away from containment policies and concentrating on simply looking after sufferers.

Osem · 26-06-2009, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

Good infection control measures can mitigate that by slowing the process of infection, but the fact is, we're at the beginning of a pandemic and a level of disruption is inevitable.

The work the health authorities have done so far will have been useful in slowing down the number of people who will have been infected by the time the vaccine becomes available, thereby minimising disruption to society. But once the infection gets beyond the stage of being controllable, there's not a lot of point worrying about it. It will do what viruses do, and just spread.

That's why in a number of areas around the UK they are now moving away from containment policies and concentrating on simply looking after sufferers.

I'm not worried at all - I have Avast!

Derek · 27-06-2009, 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

We should have sufficient vaccine for the entire population before then.

Hmmmm,

Quote:

The viruses in the flu shot are killed (inactivated), so you cannot get the flu from a flu shot. The risk of a flu shot causing serious harm, or death, is extremely small. However, a vaccine, like any medicine, may rarely cause serious problems, such as severe allergic reactions. Almost all people who get influenza vaccine have no serious problems from it.

As in one death, of someone with numerous underlying health issues, out of 5000 or so small?

I think unless people start dropping like flies I might just take my chances with the virus in the wild.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8024240.stm

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBC News

Safety is - unsurprisingly - paramount, as vaccines can often be worse than the disease they are trying to combat.

An outbreak of swine flu in 1976 infected 200 people in the US. Only one of them died, but a vaccine administered to 40m people killed 25 and led to 500 others developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can be fatal.

27-06-2009, 13:22

this virus will be different in the autumn I think we have to be lucky for it it not to mutate. 1 death now could still mean thousands later early days yet

joglynne · 27-06-2009, 14:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

this virus will be different in the autumn I think we have to be lucky for it it not to mutate. 1 death now could still mean thousands later early days yet

With my immune system being shot I certainly hope it doesn't mutate to a more aggressive form.

27-06-2009, 14:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by joglynne

With my immune system being shot I certainly hope it doesn't mutate to a more aggressive form.

Its been 90 years since there was a high chance of death from a flu pandemic. 40 years ago there was a pandemic that killed 1 million thats a very small number when you are speaking global population in the billions

Global pupulation in 1950. 2,521 million so that 2,521/1 odds

this pandemic would have to kill 3 times that number to match the odds

ginge51 · 27-06-2009, 18:22

One Million People Have Swine Flu In US

Quote:

The number of people thought to have contracted swine flu in the US has topped one million, with infections continuing to rise.
Health officials in America say the H1N1 virus that has triggered a global pandemic is infecting people in the United States well beyond the normal period for influenza season.

Dr Anne Schuchat of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said: "We are estimating about a million people in the US or more have gotten this virus at a time of year when people really aren't continuing to get the seasonal influenza viruses.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...nfluenza_Virus

I've had a flu bug for 4 days now, constantly sneezing and have a runny nose all the time, I've gave it to 4 people, my mum, dad, freind and another freind.
Hope it ain't swine flu, but it is easing now which is very good.
1st flu i had had in about 4-5 years.