Here are a few things to ponder:
1) There have been, to date, no confirmed cases of the "Hiney Flu" (H1N1 or the swine flu), in Japan.
2) Mayu just informed me that there are three confirmed deaths in HAWAII from the swine flu.
3) HAWAII is THE #1 holiday destination for Japanese during Golden Week.
Keep your eyes on the news to see whether or not the "confirmed cases in Japan" changes.
And for all my friends in Japan... as they used to say on the oldy but goody TV show, Hill Street Blues, "Let's be careful out there".
Especially since June, the rainy season, where it is sooo easy to catch colds and flus, is just around the corner.
I love you!
Cam
The big concern is that the virus will incubate and mutate in the southern hemisphere in the next five months and then get passed to the north again, with more virulence and deadly consequence. As the so-called "Spanish Flu" did in 1918.
ReplyDeleteUnless there's some kind of wild mutation, i think the US is seeing the worst of it as a flu, not unlike others in recent past. Not serious, except those related directly to Mexicans and around the Mexican border.
ReplyDeleteAs for Hill St. Blues, i know the show and some of the actors, as my twin, Jim worked as a publicist on this and other Bochco (sp.?) shows back in his Hollywood days.
An UPDATE, from USA Today:
ReplyDelete"In April, the first details of the outbreak alarmed public health officials for several reasons. First, the disease belonged to the H1N1 family of flu (the H signifies the "hemagluttin" protein on the surface of the virus particle that latches on to people's cells; the N signifies the "neuraminidase" protein that newly hatched particles use to burrow out of those cells) that struck in the 1918 flu pandemic that killed as many as 100 million people worldwide.
In fact, the predominance of H1N1-type flu infections in pigs today dates back to the 1918 outbreak, says Ruben Donis, chief of the CDC's molecular virology and vaccines branch.
Another reason for concern was that a genuine pig virus means people would have little immunity built up from exposure to related influenza infections in the past. Finally, the initial mortality rates, about 30% in Mexican patients compared with about 0.1% for normal seasonal flu, sounded dangerously high.
"Right now, everyone is clamoring for empirical data on the natural history of the new strain," says epidemiologist Derek Cummings of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Scientists need to know how readily the disease transmits from person to person; the true mortality rate from the disease and the true number of cases; and how rapidly the disease changes as it moves worldwide."
TC - This is a good C&P, Thanks. Now what I really want to know is YOUR PERSONAL TAKE on it. That's when it begins to take value for me.
ReplyDeleteI am heartened by the researchers still on the trail. In the net conversation, recently there's been some criticizing the effort now and dismissing it as "alarmist." Others saying that you can't get it from pigs (in fact, a documented case of human-to-pig transmission was circulated yesterday. How ironic) BUT, the situation in Granjas Carroll was and is a concern. Fetid operations there were proximal to the numbers in La Gloria, that some are indic was the origin of the mutant strain.
ReplyDelete"Alarmist?" Certainly not, esp when the virus can change and become deadly, without cure.
You were up late, Mou!
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned, but not alarmed.
I wonder if the laws of attraction might be brought to bear on such a thing as this, in that if we're all expecting the worse ( worse or worst?), that's exactly what we'll get.
Then again, we should be prepared for the worst... no?
Hmm... tis a puzzlement....
Oh well... there's the sun! Out to the gardens go i.
Night, Cam.
Have a good sleep.
like anything panic makes it worse..hopefully it will be like other flu and be delt with....heck im more worried about being hit by a car x
ReplyDeletejust my take: this isn't the 'big' one.
ReplyDelete"The Big One" for us is the killer earthquake that is SUPPOSED to hit every 75 years in my area of the country. We are overdue... so every little tremor gets everyone all in a lather.
ReplyDeleteWash regularly, don't "disinfect" your body parts too much but use regular soap, don't go kissing hacking, snotty people, and if you do get the snuffles, and a fever, etc. take care, do what you usually do, but if it doesn't get better in the usual 3-4 days (unless you are already dead *wink*), go and see a doctor because it might be something more than just a regular flu. Well, regular flus kill elderly and the very young all the time. I love you.
You already know what I think of this swine flu epidemic.
ReplyDeleteHappy Golden Week, Cam.
Oh its silly here they closed the local neighborhood school because we had 3 cases in our neighborhood. But so far this flu is just mild here, and there is no need to panic. Media likes to freak us out! I understand the concerns since Pigs can convert flu and virus that normally can not effect us but they need to not cause widespread panic either. Now our kids have to go to school an extra week this summer... all because they panicked, and NOW what will happen when a true pandemic hits we look at the media like the boy who cried wolf.... and not heed warnings.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter had a flu over the winter that caused severe pneumonia, she was ill for a long time and is still not up and running 100% even months later. That flu made the rounds at her school, and they kept trying to get me to send her back to school. IT was NOT swine flu, but it was a VERY SERIOUS flu but did the media or schools care? HECK NO! ANYTIME anyone is ill they should stay home, not just when the media says so.....
LOL Just lay low, rest and wash your hands a lot and you should fare fine if you do somehow get it.
Hi Deb!
ReplyDelete*sneezes. wipes nose with hand. passes you another porkchop*
I love you!
Paula - I think you are deluded! Have you taken your temperature lately? The sole purpose of the media IS to freak us out, get us moving, buying, selling, PANICKING so that we take action in one direction or another. If we sit on our lard butts all the time and do nothing, are always "fencing it", then we don't move. And when we don't move, we don't "consumerize".
ReplyDeleteI love you, Sis! How's N. Scottsdale for "human ambiance" compared to previous Paula, AZ?
I'm completely amused by how many in the US are freaking out over folks wearing masks. I'm totally immune to it now. I keep thinking "What's the big deal? People wear masks all the time!"
ReplyDeleteheh.
June has apparently arrived early, btw. It's been raining for four days straight! Even this Pacific Northwest Loving girl is going crazy with the constant rain!
ReplyDeleteAin't it the truth! I blogged this topic and the general populations' fear of death...how it has again revealed itself with this latest pandemic.
ReplyDeletePeople everywhere and every nanosecond in this universe are worried they will die from something the media reports...but they're not cognitive that they will die anyway! They want to 'save' everyone. I just don't get that angle. I can only guess that the average person is simply freaked out each day of their lives thinking, 'oh no, what if_(fill in the blank)?!"
Typically, non-3rd-world people on this planet don't worry about change or Karma, but their own survival and the survival of their offspring. Perhaps it is the 'fight or flight' instinct at work, but I would disagree. I think it is that most people like to be told what to do, what to be afraid of, what is good and what is bad.
From religion to stocks, from what car is 'safest' to drive and the safest places to live; all of these (and limitless more) statistics, facts reported by the media, give people a warm, fuzzy sense of, 'hey, I'm going to be fine because I'm doing what I'm told to do.' They don't (or can't) think outside the box at the bigger picture and realize the outcome is the same, so why stress.
Those that possess a high intellect tend to worry less, not because they realize the inevitable outcome, but because they know what is really important: the here, and now. Just as limitless fear and paranoia exist, limitless potential exists equally (negative and positive).
Personally, I am expanding the positive in both my thoughts and actions. It's a choice I make each day. I am lucky to have others (like you) who share the same aura and intellect.
On that note, here's an article I know you'd like to read: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1842627,00.html
Meantime, I admire you living where the 'big one' is overdue. This screams you are not afraid to LIVE!!!
I LOVA YOU TOO!
Here in TX out kids don't have to make up the day they missed because of the Swine flu. We have been off school for three days. It was kind of nice to have everyone at home. Five people, one house, crash course on Reality. Life is good.
ReplyDeleteJen - It very well could be. The more people worry, the more negative energy arises and goes out to the Universe, and the more negativity that comes back.
ReplyDeleteI had a nap in the late evening so was up a wee bit later than usual. Decided to do some reading. Again, that is unusual, but figured I might as well, since I have a pile of books ordered recently from Amazon that I haven't read lately.
Hope you had some good time in the sun today. Here it's overcast and cool. I think I'll take my IC recorder and go up to Thinking Rock to do some riding, and then try to get an idea for this newsletter that I haven't written yet because B thought my idea of the swine flu talk was not really necessary as he feels it is being blown all out of proportion (by the media). And of course as I said to Paula, that is the purpose of the media: to get us all worked up.
Brian is right... again.
ReplyDelete*perk* amazon? What's on your reading list, Cam?
ReplyDeleteIGLU!
Jen - Yes. But I figured that rather than ignore it, it would be a fantastic lead in to explain to everyone how it is possible to dramatically build your immunity to all illnesses and stress by 1) cutting carbs, and 2) supplementing with PEOs. THAT is what I want to do. Kinda stuck with his reply like that, though.
ReplyDeleteJaime - Just some newage wackhead shit, a couple of business books, some porn... you know... ordinary stuff like that that everybody reads. *wink*
already had it
ReplyDeletethanx
i'm good
That sounds good, Mou.
ReplyDeleteSo.... are you sittin down and gettin 'er done?
or you ootanaboot yet again? (the gym, right?)
Sit cho skinny white azz down and get cho work done.. ya heah???
hee...
I love you!
That is on my reading list, on the end table, Right beside "How to keep you dog from digging" and "101 ways to stay sane with so many Children"
ReplyDeleteRachel - What is on your end table? Porn?
ReplyDeleteLOL its true, its all tied into commercialism, or dare I say a "one minded" society??? Someday we will have a political party called "COMMERCIALISM" LOL
ReplyDeleteI am OK, working a lot now that I am up here. I like the new store, and the people there. The customers are for the most part wonderful. But today I got my first dose of a "SNOTSDALE BI-OTCH" but, I put her in place and did NOT let her talk to me, and told her that I was being polite, and that she should try it sometime. Hey I might get written up for it, but I don't really care she is damn lucky I didn't put my knuckles right through her teeth.... ;-D I have come to realize some people are just not kind... and that they are out to make everyone else suffer and feel as bad as they do. All you can really do is feel sorry for them.... and shake off their badness as soon as you can... or perhaps I should wish the SWINE FLU on her?? NOPE... that's not bad enough, I need something harsher..... she should have to work a day in customer service so she can get a grip!
Thanks, Paula! I love you!!
ReplyDeleteMayu just updated me... she told me that a group of Japanese students and their teacher just came back from Canada. Some of them had contracted the swine flu and they are all in quarantine at Narita Airport. Captured... I wonder if we could call that Naritamo Bay? Maybe they'll get "riceboarded"... Of course, everything bad in Japan is always blamed on the foreigners: Aids, Drugs, Swine Flu, McDonalds....
Three confirmed cases quarantined at Narita International Airport (hospital nearby) on a flight that was coming back from Canada. A teacher, and two students. These are the first cases. They are trying to contact all of the people on that flight but cannot get in touch with them all. It will be interesting to see what kind of panic (not debauchery) and mayhem will be caused in the hystery of the general populace.
ReplyDeleteHere piggy piggy piggy!!!
LOL
ReplyDeleteRachel... don't laugh at him. You know better...
ReplyDeleteJust like with your "children" ... it only encourages him.... hehehe...
He's such a brat!
I love his living life on the edge. Calling the pigs. Just one more things to add to his list of things that he has done. "Almost Died from Swine Flue"
ReplyDeleteMe too, Rachel. Me too. And I love you.
ReplyDelete