another swine flu article

[meeks]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/oct-27-letters-to-the-editor/article1339282/
The swine flu fuss

Why all the media fuss about swine flu (Fewer Canadians Interested In Getting H1N1 Shot – front page, Oct. 26)? Somehow, a comparatively mild disease has attracted overwhelming media coverage. At the same time, a vaccine of questionable efficacy has been portrayed as our best hope for salvation.

The southern hemisphere has just gone through its flu season. In New Zealand, where 18,000 swine flu deaths had been predicted, the actual toll came to 17. Similar data have been reported from Australia and Argentina. The evidence is clear: Swine flu is a bust for doom-mongers. Perhaps this explains why so many Canadians are reluctant to be vaccinated.

Although the pandemic industry claims 90-per-cent effectiveness for the new swine flu vaccine, this does not mean the vaccine prevents flu in 90 per cent of cases. This figure refers to the percentage of people who develop antibodies in their blood after taking the vaccine. Will these people gain significant immunity as a result? There is no good scientific evidence showing this is the case.

Our public health establishment has enjoyed its day in the sun. Big Pharma has trucked fabulous profits to the bank. Perhaps it’s time for our media to turn their attention to more serious problems.

Arthur Schafer, Winnipeg

[Muad'dib]

I am personally disappointed. I would have preferred that it developed full blow lethality and took out 50-75% of the population.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

meanwhile, regular flu kills 40,000 americans a year.

curious how tey harp on about the little ones though.
go figure, i guess it's the fascination with the "new".

[Muad'dib]

No, it has more to do with the potential that any form of new influenza has. Flu mutates rapidly, and combines with other variants easily as well. In the event that this form mutated or mutates to a more dangerous variation, then the preparations are worthwhile.

[Michael]

The southern hemisphere has just gone through its flu season. In New Zealand, where 18,000 swine flu deaths had been predicted, the actual toll came to 17. Similar data have been reported from Australia and Argentina. The evidence is clear: Swine flu is a bust for doom-mongers. Perhaps this explains why so many Canadians are reluctant to be vaccinated.

I assume the southern hemisphere didn't have the vaccine during its winter since the vaccine wasn't ready until very late September or the first week of October, and then in small quantities in the US. If true, then there were very few deaths without vaccines, which would be in agreement with Nov. 2009 article in The Atlantic, Does the Vaccine Matter, which gave previous examples of years with no vaccine in America, or years when the vaccine was totally wrong and useless, but the death rate did not change at all.

[Chris Fleming]

Aw shite guys, you mean the Swine Flu isn't the massive lethal pandemic the media and government have been saying it is???

Called home the other day to talk to my parents like normal. Said to my mom "hey, did you get your flu shot?", as I hadn't talked about this issue with her and she's a RN (don't want to mislead, she doesn't work in a hospital but in the mental health field, but due to what she does she still has to maintain the RN status and knowledge) and I wanted to get her take on it. She said, "hell no! You know all the shit they put in those vaccines?!". LOL. Awesome.

This probably has been mentioned earlier, nurses suing to fight mandatory vaccination (don't you hate it when the gov tells you you have to be injected with poison for your own good?):

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/nurses-will ... cinations/

“I have had more staff that have become ill after the flu vaccines this year than coworkers that have actually come down with the illness," Lorna Patterson, a nurse at Albany Medical Center's emergency room".

That corresponds to my general feeling and observations I've seen from the people around me year after year. They get the flu shot....and they get the flu anyway.

[canard]

any potentially zoonotic disease gets more attention.

[Chris Fleming]

Just some information. Personally I like to sift through various sources and see what shakes out.

[Chris Fleming]

More things that make you go hmm...

[qiphlow]

hmmm...
...i'm looking out my window right now, and the sky is right where it has been for the last 40 years. should i be worried?

[Chris Fleming]

You probably should be worried about yourself if you are looking at the sky for news about what's going on underneath it.

[Michael]

For anyone like me with limited youtube access, the video talks about Ukraine shutting its schools, ending rail travel, and quarantining 9 of its regions for the next three weeks:

Don't Panic! Ukraine 'shuts down' schools over 'Swine Flu'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-MbfB9dyKQ

Ukraine shuts schools amid H1N1 fears:
http://www.euronews.net/2009/10/30/ukra ... 1n1-fears/

Ukraine is restricting rail traffic:
http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=103330

Nine Ukrainian regions placed in quarantine as H1N1 flu hits country:
http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=103335

In Belarus, Nobody dies from Swine Flu:
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... _320418%2F

[shawnsegler]

In state of Ukraine...pigs give you flu!!!



Maybe...nah...you're right.

[Michael]

Without vaccine, Australia shrugs off swine flu

With no vaccine available for H1N1 flu, Australia recently ended its 2009 "Flu Season" (their Winter in our Summer), with 186 flu-associated fatalities of 36,991 Aussies confirmed having H1N1.

The Australia 2009 stats for regular 'seasonal flu' are not final yet, but their Health Dept literature cites annual flu-associated mortality historically has been between 2,500 and 3,000 in spite of universal vaccination programs for regular flu long being established. A logical review of these results strongly suggests next year Australia should initiate a "flu vaccination holiday," promote vitamin D supplements, long known to be effective for preventing Wintertime flu disease, and then compare the outcomes.

[emre]

More things that make you go hmm...

What exactly is this guy's point, droning on and on? Whether it's actually swine-flu or not, there IS an epidemic in Ukraine. My friend told me last week, that she had to cancel her plans to go to a town in West Ukraine, because a lot of people in the town had died of some kind of epidemic. This is not bullshit. Few days later the government announced these measures, because with the election coming up, there's pressure on them to be seen doing something about it.