To not really care about swine flu?

[Kayzr]

I am so bored of swine flu now. The news are making it out to be the end of the world. 168 people have died in Mexico but only 8 have been confirmed of having swine flu. So they might have died of something else, 1 person has died outside of Mexico and he had recently been to Mexico and apparently ill anyway.

Everyone apart from 1 person round the world that has swine flu has recently been to Mexico.

So IABU for really not caring?

According to the BBC news site 12 that's 12 TWELVE people in Mexico have been confirmed as having died of the swine flu and only suspected suspected in 160 deaths .

As I keep telling dd 160 out of a population of 25 million in Mexico city (or thereabouts) is nothing.
12 makes me think storm in a teacup??

In Mexico there's a strong suspicion reporting rates are low.

In the UK if people are alert, it could minimise a pandemic. Tamiflu will help but there's not a vaccine for this strain of flu yet (although hopefully there will be soon).

We're still learning about how easily this transmits. Several of the early cases were all from one tourist carrier flight back from Mexico - the question now is how easily it transmits back in the UK.

But people knowing about this strain will mean they're able to change their behaviour to minimise transmission, and GPs likewise are prepared. The UK's actually got a pretty good flu strategy. Even though its plans for a "flu line" phone service won't be ready until the autumn.

I'm not overly concerned about it yet, I must admit. But the WHO has it on phase 4 of 6 (sustained human to human transmission). So it's not a storm in a teacup.

is it not phase 5 ltj ?

Well A flu lime went live yesterday, accessed through NHS 24

so is lime a proven cure???????????

sorry that typo just made me giggle

The thing about it transmitting person to person in th UK strikes me as not very big a deal.

I mean, obviously it was transmitted from person to person in Mexico for the people over here to have it in the first place - unless they were honeymooning on a farm

I think the fact everyone here is alert to it is a good thing. We're acting prophylactically as it were, we're aware it's around and the first sign of it is being monitored and things closed and people given stuff to take - it's not taken us by surprise like it has the poor Mexicans.

Oh yeah it is now. Sorry.

They've got a line up of sorts, but the slightly more whizzy one (logistics planning, reporting systems etc) which they've been working on since the avian flu concerns isn't ready yet.

YANBU. Totally agree with most people here that the media are doom mongers. Personally, can't see why people are panicking so much - especially in the UK, where we have an excellent healthcare system (compared to other countries), a huge stockpile of medicine to combat it, and the people who have got it have reacted well to that medicine.
Maybe I'm being naive, but what's to worry about??