Swine Flu. Are we in big trouble with this then?

[Meglet]

This sounds worse than the bird flu that thankfully never really happened.

news.bbc.co.uk/mobile/bbc_news/top_stories/801/80183/story8018356.shtml?

Sky news have a press conference on now about possible cases in new york. When do we start panic buying .

Not if they didn't want to start a big panic yet, Wannabe...they have to time the panic so they are prepared for that.

all this talk about buying anti bacterial wipes etc seems weird. Flu is a virus, not a bacteria (um?). Just use normal stuff when you wash your hands and wipe your phone, doorhandles, bannisters, lightswitches.....
Completely agree that by giving out meds willy nilly is just asking for trouble, and just because you can afford to buy the meds now and therefore compound what could happen by doing this does not mean you are well prepared, just an arse a bit silly.
Would you take antibiotics 'just in case?'

I think it pays to have the actual bare facts about this pig flu rather than showing every theory and possiblity about what may or may not happen. We all need to take a deep breath and calm down. We should take the media speculation with a large pinch of salt, as it is merely feeding into our worst fears.

So why are health authorities giving medication out before cases have been confirmed? It's maddening and completely buys into all this moral panic

I think the government should only allow British citizens in to the uk from these other countries affected with this swaine flue , then as the plains come in every passenger should be put into quarantine and tested for this virus and treated and only released when they have made a full recovery or test results are negative .
sounds daft now reading back but every precaution should be done to protect our little island i think ..
instead we are now exposed to the inevitable spread of this
virus which may well sweep over the uk .

Swaine flu sounds much more upmarket, does it only affect (infect) the twinset and pearls brigade?

Flightattendant staff that have direct contact with patients will be offered the vaccine when it arrives. I read our Trusts Pandemic Flu Plan a couple of days ago.
Expat, you may remember I kept DD away from a play group yesterday...
Anyway I go to get her up this morning to find DD, her cot and toys pebbledashed with yesterdays dinner.
Took her to the doctor's, she is running a 39.6C/103F temperature and has cold/flu like symptoms. Best laid plans and all that...

Iworryalot: Heathrow alone has about 1,000 flights taking off and landing every day. Where are all these people going to be held?

Elenor: your poor DD -- but the advice is not to go into the docs and thereby spread the virus (which is probably not swine flu) but to phone them or NHS Direct.

Hope her temp. is down a bit soon.

wine .. your prob right, my suggestion was slightly unrealistic but you get my point .... some kind of action ,and that does mean the general public also taking precautions arriving into the uk from infected countries even if they feel ok, at that time ..

Elenor ..hope your DD gets better soon .

Thanks Wine...
I am not worried that she has that flu but I am vigilant. The doctor did ask had we been too Mexico or been in contact with people who had recently been there. She did recommend I contacted DD's nursery to ask had other tots gone down with cold/flu like symptoms which the haven't, thank God. The nursery have said they will phone me if there are any similar cases.
Its just felt ironic that I tried to protect her but she got an infection anyway..

Didn't they install some kind of heat detecting machine that people walked through when SARS was spreading in Asia in some airports (Singapore, Hong Kong etc)? That detected anyone with a raised body temperature and they were then detained. Not quite the same throughput as Heathrow etc ...

wannabe - 9 people have been CONFIRMED as having died from swine flu. Doesn't mean more haven't died. It's taking ages to confirm it in this country and I know Mexico's medical infrastructure isn't as developed. Not surprising there is a delay really.

Thanks Elenor and bw to your little one x

wishing ... I agree there may be more confirmations on the back of slow moving test results but most of these will remain unconfirmed as funerals took place before swine flu was formally identified. Its just officials saying ooh swine flu.. thats maybe what that person died with last month.

The papers love the fact that these cased cant be proved because they cant be disproved either .. allowing them lurid headlines

www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/faq/en/index.html
hope this link works!

Stress weakens the immune system, leaving you more susceptible to disease.

You need to relax.

Every time you think about pig flu, try to replace that thought with two puppies under a blanket. No, not piglets! Puppies.

My dh has just told me not to kiss any chihuahuas ...

Quote on yahoo news:

Some experts have questioned the wisdom of depleting stocks of anti-viral drugs to battle H1N1, which outside Mexico has caused largely mild symptoms.

Masato Tashiro, head of the influenza virus research centre at Japan's National Institute of Infectious Disease and a member of the WHO emergency committee, said: "The virus is relatively weak and about the same as regular influenza viruses passed on via human-to-human contact. I don't believe it will become virulent.

"The threat to health from the avian influenza and its fatality rate is much greater than the new flu.

"I am very worried that we will use up the stockpile of anti-flu medicine and be unarmed before we need to fight against the avian influenza. The greatest threat to mankind remains the H5N1 avian influenza."

So not THAT big a worry at the moment after all, and back to the birdy flu

Maybe the Bird flu expert is a bit miffed as all his swine flu expert colleagues suddenly have the spotlight on them

Well those children have been given Tamiflu as a precaution to prevent the flu (if you read the tamiflu website there are different strategies and doses for actual infection and prevention).
Bizzarely it was only given to one year group despite all the school being in contact with each other.

IMHO I think they should keep everyone at the airport for 7 days until theyre declared fit and well. I dont care if its unfair, its unfair to be running round the country possibly spreading infection.

dh thinks Im totally hysterical, but yes I will be one of those people who goes mad over this I spent £30 today on tinned goods

oh and I am one of those people who have seriously ill family, not with flu, my father is currently in hospital with what we think is hypoxic brain damage. I told him yesterday that when (if) he wakes up he will be the only person left like in 28 days later, I hope he was smiling listening to me talking shite

Yes, likewise mosschops, I have an ill family member but I'm still allowed to worry about flu. If anything it makes you more worry (how much stress and grief can 1 person cope with).

Depleting tamiflu stocks for mild flu when avian flu is more virulent is a worry I agree.

Mosschops, hugs manly pat on back about your dad

I sort of agree about quarantine, thogh I imagine more suitable places could be found for those with kids etc- it would be just as sensible to commandere a hotel / boarding school / similar so that children etc have a bed and place to play.

But the basics of what you are saying make sense to me. We're not aprticularly at risk I guess, but have friends with diabetic kids whoa re no doubt panicking (as diabetes was a risk factor mentioned on the news earlier)

Yes am panicking as am pg and asthmatic, so not a great combination

Just read that now 8 confirmed cases in the UK, 2 in london and 1 in Newcastle.

Thanks for hug

costco is the place to go if you want to bulk buy

we spent £450 on food, water, vitamins and painkillers today

No one gives your trolley a second look as everyone is buying water and tins by the dozen in there