Mon
Apr 27
Apr 27
I haven’t been following the story too closely, but my mom had asked if there were any reports of swine flu in Las Vegas. A quick and dirty investigation led me to this map which shows where the reported cases have been located.
note – I would embed the map into my blog if I could figure out how, but I’m not going to spend too much time trying to work it out.
April 28th, 2009
I have a week-long vacation in Mexico in the middle of June…awesome.
April 28th, 2009
I have not been following this story much at all, but based on that map it seems like there is a ton of over reaction. More than 30,000 people die in the US from the basic flu every year. And even though there have been 300+ reported cases of swine flu, it seems that the only country where people actually die from it is Mexico – Mexico City in particular (one of the most densely crowded, poor, generally unhealthy cities on Earth). At face value it would seem that swine flu is not much worse than your everyday typical flu.
April 28th, 2009
I can understand why you wouldn’t worry about the “typical” flu…. like this one, for instance…
An estimated one third of the world’s population (or ?500 million persons) were infected and had clinically apparent illnesses during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic. The disease was exceptionally severe. Case-fatality rates were >2.5%, compared to <0.1% in other influenza pandemics. Total deaths were estimated at ?50 million and were arguably as high as 100 million.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/05-0979.htm
April 28th, 2009
… and then in 1928 Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin…
Gee, I sure hope I don’t get the Bubonic Plague. It has already* killed off half the population of Europe!!
C’mon, pops, you know better than that… btw, how’s Florida?
* 650 years ago
April 29th, 2009
aaaaaand…. BOOM!!
April 29th, 2009
This is a classic case of the media blowing things out of proportion by not providing context for numbers. Swine flu is a sniffle in the sea of sneezes right now. That said, if it mutates one more time while in humans… it could easily start killing more humans, even those not in Mexico (where the mutations in the virus have already likely taken place).
April 29th, 2009
can any 1 tell me what the fuck is the difference between a epidemic and a pandemic, sounds like your fucked either way ////// thanks gerry for the offer. you impress me more every day DUNKIRK IN THE DERBY, when quality road runs again , he’s the best uncle daryl
April 30th, 2009
epidemic – outbreak in a region or country
pandemic – outbreak that can travel/spread worldwide
April 30th, 2009
epi = local (think earthquake epicenter)
pan = everywhere (think panacea)
(word roots to help you remember)
April 30th, 2009
http://www.DoIHavePigFlu.com
April 30th, 2009
nice… i also like this one:
http://randomfunnypicture.com/archives/fixed/?id=1314
… on a more serious note, apparently the pork industry took something like an $18 million hit cuz people are stupid and have stopped eating pork products. Pork futures (didn’t know they existed) plummeted.