Swine flu epidemic breaks out in North America

Blame it on the kids.

I have actually had a bad cold for the last week or two. I flew up to Seattle and back yesterday and saw multiple face-masked passengers on the plane. I did my favorite thing of coughing and spluttering into my hand, getting my neighbour all nervous and then touching them on the arm, saying "excuse me". It is great as they always leave immediately to the bathroom and completely disinfect themselves.

I wash my hands regularly and am not getting all hysterical and carrying stupid hand sanitizer with me wherever I go.

THe only positive thing to come out of this is that my Father-in-law may not come and visit with my Mother-in-Law as he is worried he may get it and infect the kids. I just told him to stay at home regardless. You never can be too careful..

No. I thought your post was foolish and responded in kind.

Protect yourself by wearing a mask...

Was so nice today to see a Proffessor of viral medicine on the TV saying that this brand of flu is no worse than other strains and actually less viral ( ie less catchable ).

Let's stop the bollocks now and not let the US drive us into their normal paranoic state ffs.

But it's a killer. A KILLER I tell you! And it's coming this way!

It may not be as virulent or even as deadly but once in contact with it, chances are you'll catch it since it's a new virus and your body doesn't recognise it unlike seasonal flu viruses which your body has probably been exposed to at some time or another and so can fight off. That's the problem with it. Even if we don't all die, the majority of the world being sick with flu at the same time, or even trying to prevent this by closing things down, is not good news for the economy which is ailing anyway.

Thirty-three years ago there was this...

Blame it all on the US.

"But Dotty had a heart condition and she died. But before she died..." My goodness, what a skank Dotty was!

It's nice to see that the media is just as sensationalist as it was back in the day. I think I'd rather take my chances with swine flu than get a vaccine that has been rush-produced and hasn't really been tested, thanks.

Yeah goddammit I wish I bought stock in whoever it is makes tamiflu the first day this story broke

Just because its looking like this is less serious than first thought does not mean it was all bollocks and paranoia. These things happen you have to err on the side of caution. Forget swine flu bluedave - have you ever had just plain old ordinary flu? Cos i have - 2 years ago when I was in Seattle. I mean I thought i had had flu before but i realise in retrospect i've only that one time had proper flu. SCARY as fuck. I went from feeling fine to being bedridden in about an hour and was stuck there for two days. Even sitting up made the world spin. Weak as a kitten too. The speed with which it affected me was shocking. If thats normal flu, and you add in a little extra mortality, that fact that its a new virus, and spreading quickly - thats plenty of reason for the reaction they've made.

Haha - funny 70's video. Very guilt laden thou - must have been made by Catholics . I wonder did the chihauaua catch the flu?

I concur with meckle about having "real" flu. I was about 11, arguing with my dad, when I suddenly burst into tears which I could not stop, while feeling suddenly too weak to move. My dad thought I was faking to win the argument, but really, I'd gone from feeling deep anger, to instant weakness, in no time at all.

Swine Flu "On Decline in Mexico"

Looks like we are not all going to die just yet...

Come again? This flu virus was deemed to be milder than the "normal" flu (whatever that is) so I would say that the reaction was a touch extreme but, then, when you have 24 hours to fill with news and nothing is really happening then you need to sensationalise things a little...

Even the WHO made extra effort to explain things in a way not to cause panic, but the news channels then added their twist on the story to make it sound a little more interesting.

Got a link for that out of your ass statement?

Genetic analysis not even complete.

I can safely bet that Crawlie and several others posting on here about the hype have never had the real flu. I have been lucky enough to have had it four times now. The first time was the summer of '72 and I was too fucking sick to even pay attention to what was happening in Munich at that time. The second time, I was in High School and it fucked up my birthday. My parents went out that night and I was to call them if my fever went over 104°. The third time was in 1992 just after I returned from New Year's in Florida. During that horrible week, I think I watched Roots from start to finish three times. The last time I had it was here in Germany 11 years ago. The wife and I both had it and so taking the dog out for a walk was torture pure that we alternated between who was able to move and who not! We did the "Roots cure" one day as well.

Moral of the story: If you get the flu, watch Roots.