Posts by Russell Brown
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it seemed highly unlikely to have been someone who had been following the thread with genuine interest.
Indeed. I'm calling bob a spammer, but seeing as we're talking about it, I'll leave the post where it is.
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Tom, I think Bob's saying he's found this sight and it might add something to this thread. He's contributing something.
I'm not so sure. That site looks a lot like something somebody cooked up to game Google ad revenue.
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No, don't be daft! Lets just verbatim quote the UTTERLY UNINFORMED OPINION OF SOME RANDOM MOUTH WHO HAPPENED TO BE ON THE PLANE! WHAT A FUCKING GREAT IDEA! HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!
Where's Luke? I'd like to apologise.
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Doctor (and very Daily Show-esque "chief medical contributor") answers inevitable Fox News host question about whether or not to immediately close the border with Mexico.
And he's not half bad.
They should have doctors on Fox News more often.
NB: Clip also contains perversely gratifying mention of New Zealand.
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It is therefore normal for people to get flu and die every year in NZ and every other country in the world, and for them to travel and infect others with that flu. Again, this is not to belittle the threat of a global epidemic but to criticise the media who jump in the second there is half a story and start spraying around made up figures that are big and scary.
Nope. Sorry.
The CDC has declared a "public health emergency" in the US -- whilst carefully explaining that that is a precautionary move. That seems wise.
The new H1N1 has characteristics in common with the 1918 flu that make it a cause for concern.
Yes, people who get ordinary flu occasionally die -- about 0.1% of them. In 1918, the figure worldwide was about 20%. For Maori in Auckland it was 74%.
We do have treatments for this one, but until such time as the experts know better, it is actually potentially very serious.
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I agree. You absolutely can't blame the media for picking up this ball and running with it. The fact that we've got a bunch of kids (possibly) infected with a virulent strain of flu is a legitimate public interest. (I liked that they actually talked to one of them as well.)
I agree. It's absolutely a story and I don't see anyone particularly panicking.
I note that it's WHO warning about "pandemics" - the media's just the messenger.
Quite. I watched the CDC briefing online this morning. The apparent characteristics of this virus make any outbreak potentially very serious. Hopefully there's not much to worry about, but it's certainly not a non-event.
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Justin Du Fresne (yes I know, silly me) made some point about Rangitoto College being the lead item on SKY Aus news bulleti
It was pretty high up in the Fox News coverage too ...
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But Obama's okay ...
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Don't panic, but the Guardian report is slightly alarming:
Another problem fuelling speculation is that so little has been revealed about who might be at risk for being close to outbreak centres. All authorities have been willing to say so far is that a disproportionate number of young adults are among the victims, rather that the usual concentration in the very young and very old.
This counter-intuitive fact has got the experts particularly worried because it is typical of pandemic strains. The other thing causing particular concern is that it is highly unusual for flu epidemics in the northern hemisphere to occur in spring.
"The last time that happened was in 1918," says medical historian Mark Honigsbaum, author of a book on that pandemic, which killed 50 million people worldwide, about 225,000 in the UK. "There was a first wave in the spring that affected the vulnerable and then it seemed to go away. Six months later it came back and this time young adults got sick with very high mortality. The question is whether we are seeing the first or the second wave."
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The Spanish Flu was spread by returning troops - on ships - these days things (and people) move so much faster
There's some doubt over that -- in part because the strain carried on the troop ship the Niagra was a mild one.
There is speculation that the earlier, mild form may have mutated into the more virulent form that killed so many New Zealanders.
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