oldslabsides wrote: 

      It depends.   Are you buying a ticket or hijacking?

 Beanie wrote: 
I'll trust your opinion on this, Miss Bean: should I wear a mask in the airport and on the plane tomorrow?

 exotraxx wrote: 
I think you're absolutely right.  This looks like panic for no good reason.

Except for one nasty little detail that no one is talking about.

The vast majority of the Mexicans who have died of this flu are young, healthy adults.  Now, if you think about it, this doesn't make sense.  Why should those in the population with the strongest immune systems doe of the flu?  Flu is supposed to kill sickly babies and people with AIDS and little old ladies with emphysema.  So why would healthy young people die of the flu?

Because they *aren't* dying of the flu.  They're dying of a hyper-immune response to the flu.  Something called a cytokine storm.  It basically makes the body turn on itself, causing (among other things) severe high fevers and pneumonia. 

We've seen this once before:  the pandemic of 1918.  That flu (the "Spanish Flu") killed almost 100 million people.

Is this flu going to be like that?  Probably not.  But because of the disease etiology, they're keeping a super-close eye on it.

 Welly wrote: 
I thought about this book yesterday when I told M to watch out  for bears and Canadians.

 I should have added "And don't shake anyones hand who has been to Mexico recently and if you do for God's sake don't spread the plague to Alaska. "
 

 hippiechick wrote: 

  

Funny, but true!  A friend just got sent home from work at a plasma center.  He's fine but his temperature is 100 degrees.

  I wonder if he will get paid sick time - he just started working there two weeks ago...

 Welly wrote: 
My favorite Stephen King.

......reminds me of a book I read in the 80s.....

 exotraxx wrote: 
Because fear sells pharmaceuticals.

Shocks over such issues are created with the intention of being able to push through unpopular reforms in the wake of the crisis.

"should we give up individual's rights for the good of the state?"

 exotraxx wrote: 
We're a nervous bunch.

 betterdaze wrote: 

No vaccine, but it seems to be susceptible to two antiviral drugs,oseltamivir and zanamivir. Thorough handwashing will be the best prevention. Pay attention to areas often missed- between fingers, entire nail areas, and the palm pad opposite the thumb side. Also, stay more than the normally recommended 3 feet from people with flu symptoms.

 glassbuteo wrote: 
Drs. are recommending frequent usage of hand sanitizer.

 evenso wrote: 
According to the CDC: "The H1N1 swine flu viruses are antigenically very different from human H1N1 viruses and, therefore, vaccines for human seasonal flu would not provide protection from H1N1 swine flu viruses."

and

"The seasonal influenza vaccine will likely help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses."

 cc_rider wrote: 
 I've had the same P38 on my key ring since 1977.

 oldviolin wrote: 
I was gonna try and find a P51 demo, but you beat me to it. Dig.

Like they weren't having a bad enough week already???
A strong earthquake struck central Mexico on Monday, swaying tall buildings in the capital and sending office workers into the streets.

The 6.0-magnitude quake was centered near Chilpancingo, about 130 miles southwest of Mexico City or 50 miles from the resort of Acapulco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

TheTelevisa television network quoted Mexico City officials as saying there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake rattled nerves in a city already nervous about a swine flu outbreak suspected of killing as many as 149 people nationwide.

"I'm scared," said Sarai Luna Pajas, a 22-year-old social services worker standing outside her office building moments after it hit. "We Mexicans are not used to living with so much fear, but all that is happening - the economic crisis, the illnesses and now this - it feels like the Apocalypse."

Coworker Harold Gutierrez, 21, said the country was taking comfort from its religious faith, but he too was gripped by the sensation that the world might be coming to an end.

"If it is, it is God's plan," Gutierrez said, speaking over a green mask he wore to ward off swine flu.

 USGS earthquake analyst Don Blakeman said the quake was felt strongly in Mexico City because the epicenter was relatively shallow and the ground under the capital - which is built on a former lake bed - tends to intensify shock waves.

Televisa television network quoted Mexico City officials as saying there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

 dionysius wrote: 

Geesh, if only I'd had a couple more minutes to be serious.

Wasn't it pneumonia that was Warhol's undoing?

So let me see if I can round it up for us.

It is treatable if not ignored.

It is possibly preventable with existing and special vaccines. (It has been proposed that the reason elderly and younger people are less effected is that they are more likely to have gotten the general flue vaccine.) But the jury is out on that one.

It responds well to antivirals if treated in a timely manner.

It does not come from pigs or pork although it does have swine DNA along with bird and human DNA, indicating that it has already successfully jumped more than once species.

But the jump is done. It spreads between humans quickly and with facility, even late in the season.

It is following patterns and speeds that are reminiscent of infamous flue epidemics of generations past.

It is the sort of thing we have been concerned about coming out of Asia for some years now.

Resultantly, the CDC is somewhat prepared.

The CDC has been activated.

Mexico is taking good measures but maybe to late.

WHO is still catching up with the extent of what is happening. So we don't fully know the extent of the situation or the danger.

It is the kind of thing that will drive TV news into a frenzy.

It would be foolish, in the U.S. to either fear or be unprepared for this.

Corrections, additions?