The swine flu panic didn't happen, so now......

Swine flu has not gone away.

Bruce

But the needless panic has.

Tony

Was there panic?

I didn't see any.

I do like the idea of a heatwave though.


Nigel

If you're getting E-mails from your local NHS advising not to eat tinned pork meat in case of Swine Flu ignore them. They're just Spam.

The government and media were causing plenty of people to panic. My sister in-law's father in-law (!) stocked up with 4 month's worth of food, as did lots of his friends.
The government sent out a numpty guide to every household.... it's flu for Pete's sake! Flu kills a few people every year.

Tony

quote:

If you're getting E-mails from your local NHS advising not to eat tinned pork meat in case of Swine Flu ignore them. They're just Spam.

quote:

Originally posted by tonym:
If you're getting E-mails from your local NHS advising not to eat tinned pork meat in case of Swine Flu ignore them. They're just Spam.

I like it

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Lockhart:
it's flu for Pete's sake! Flu kills a few people every year.

Pandemic flu is not the same thing as seasonal flu at all. Because of the genetic reassortment, it is attacking a population with immune systems not geared to dealing with it in an orderly way. It tends to be the enthusistic immune response of the young that kills them preferentially - in stark contrast to the age-distribution of deaths from seasonal flu.

The 1919 pandemic killed 50-100M people, cf the WW1 tally of about 15M - quite a 'few', no?

By the nature of pandemic flu, we do not how this one will behave. Even past pandemics are no guide to future form. We may have been lucky thus far because of the season in which the pandemic is getting underway.

Like the old advice on courting a girl, let's see it through 4 seasons before reaching a verdict on it.

Fraser