Ser Scot A Ellison Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Per the AP report linked above the is no vaccine for this strain. It appears to be beand new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I can't speak for the vaccine, but it's possible there'd be some cross-coverage to cover it from current vaccines. We don't really know how different this one is yet... :\The 2008 trivalent vaccine does cover H1N1 (same generalized strain as what is being seen today in this latest outbreak), but I wonder at its efficacy overall. I guess if it keeps people from dying (even if it's not completely effective against infection), then cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Per the AP report linked above the is no vaccine for this strain. It appears to be beand new.The AP report is worded poorly, Scot. According to the CDC, this strain is an H1N1 variant. The 2008 trivalent vaccine does target H1N1. Therefore, not "brand new," but the strain is different enough to warrant some concern that a vaccine will not be very effective in combating infection.ETA: I see where the error came from. The CDC has a poorly worded sentence on their swine flu fact page. In their efforts to be concise, they oversimplified the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I'm not clear that it's *only* been fatal to people in the 25-45 year old range. Rather, it's simply unusual that they are being affected to that extent at all. "Normal" influenza doesn't do that.I didn't mean to say those were the only ones affected, but to say those were the ones who seemed to have the most trouble with it. It's all speculation on why that is right now, just one theory is the flu vaccine one.I am more than a bit worried. My son was diagnosed with Leukemia in January and they opted not to give him a flu shot (something we hadn't done this year for some dumb reason) because flu season was over.Now he and I are sitting without flu shots and he is extremely prone to trouble. Of course no indications of it being where I live, but still kind of scary.On the other hand all these false alarms in the last ten years have me somewhat skeptical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crannoggirl Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 There seems to be a link between the fatalities and not having flu shots. So it's too early to tell, but there is a belief that the flu shot might help fight off the fatal aspects. The fact it has been fatal to people in the 25-45 year old range makes sense because young people and old people tend to get their flu shots every year.The current flu shot has very little chance of providing a huge amount of protection against this, because the level of protection depends on the virus's similarity to last years major strains. Nothing that's part chicken and pig is going to be extremely similar to last year's all human strain. It may provide a some though given it's strain and it's probably not gonna hurt you so you might as well just get it.Whether this turns into something big or not is going to depend on how easily it's transmitted human to human. It's probably mostly 25-45 year olds because that's the age most workers are who are likely to be having large amounts of contact with chickens and pigs in the meat packing industry or or their backyards. It's too early to know much yet. We'll have to sit tight and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crannoggirl Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I am more than a bit worried. My son was diagnosed with Leukemia in January and they opted not to give him a flu shot (something we hadn't done this year for some dumb reason) because flu season was over.Now he and I are sitting without flu shots and he is extremely prone to trouble. Of course no indications of it being where I live, but still kind of scary.Wow, I'm really sorry about your son! The fact that the strain is H1N1 is very good though. If this actually turns into anything he can be given antivirals, and it makes it possible that the vaccination might give some protection. If this turns into a pandemic and depending on the type of leukemia he has, they might consider giving him the injected vaccine (he definitely shouldn't get the nasal one). Good luck with everything.I'm not part of the government or an epidemiologist so I don't know exactly what the jobs or living conditions were of the people who've died so far but I'd say it might be a tentatively hopeful sign that there haven't been at least the same number of very young and old people in the group. I think that means its much less likely that human to human spread is very easy. Any flu with easy human to human transmission is always going to kill the very old, very young, the immunocompromised, and those with compromised respiratory systems. A bad strain will kill healthy adults too, but it's not going to spare the young, old, and sick. It may be mostly adults because they're going to have more close contact with chickens and pigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 @BreakingNews on Twitter reports the following:BULLETIN -- BRITISH AIRLINES CREW MEMBER TAKEN TO HOSPITAL WITH FLU-LIKE ILLNESS.URGENT -- Up to 200 possibly infected with swine flu at Queens high school, spreading among family members: http://adjix.com/s729BNO News confirms that two swine flu cases have been confirmed in Kansas. Details to come.An earlier tweet from the same user indicates the Queens thing is no biggie. Who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I am more than a bit worried. My son was diagnosed with Leukemia in January and they opted not to give him a flu shot (something we hadn't done this year for some dumb reason) because flu season was over.Now he and I are sitting without flu shots and he is extremely prone to trouble. Of course no indications of it being where I live, but still kind of scary.*fingers crossed* for you and your son, Simon. At least this particular strain (H1N1) seems to be susceptible to a variety of antivirals. Still, scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbor Gold Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Ini, did you read that article you linked about the Queens thing? It is beyond ridiculous. Can we please try to avoid spreading hysteria? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Do we know whether there is enough Tamaflu and the other drug stockpiled to deal with a serious US outbreak.Angalin,You are in Winnapeg according to your account info. Any new information on the cases your lab is seeing?Is this serious enough to warrent curtailing my family and my movement for a few days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbor Gold Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Is this serious enough to warrent curtailing my family and my movement for a few days?Unless you were planning a trip to a hog farm in Mexico, I'd say probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EHK for Darwin Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 They say that the black plague was great for increasing the demand for labor and dramatically helped the economy after 1/3 of the population of Europe was killed off. Maybe this is the way out of the economic downturn?Great idea for anyone who didn't fall into the bad third or who didn't have friends or family who did. But I'm sure most everyone felt pretty fucked around by the Black Plague and saw few benefits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaerv Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 They say that the black plague was great for increasing the demand for labor and dramatically helped the economy after 1/3 of the population of Europe was killed off. Maybe this is the way out of the economic downturn?Don't forget that 1/3 of the consumers were also dead. To my knowledge, some parts of Europe needed decades to recover economically. There were extended wastelands and depopulated areas. Other areas fell back into anarchy and chaos...My advice: Stick with the bailouts! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 They say that the black plague was great for increasing the demand for labor and dramatically helped the economy after 1/3 of the population of Europe was killed off. Maybe this is the way out of the economic downturn?:lol: I know you don't mean it this way, but by gods that sounds like a far-right wingnut fantasy: "It'll be a win-win! We stimulate the economy AND it will kill a lot of illegal Mexican migrant farm workers!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aemon Stark Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Angalin,You are in Winnapeg according to your account info. Any new information on the cases your lab is seeing?No cases there - they're samples from Mexico. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Ini, did you read that article you linked about the Queens thing? It is beyond ridiculous. Can we please try to avoid spreading hysteria?I didn't until your post, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartTesla Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 Unless you were planning a trip to a hog farm in Mexico, I'd say probably not.There are only about a 1000 infected cases in Mexico, which is a nation of 100 odd million. So I would say even with a trip to Mexico statistically your chances of being safe are quite good, as long as you take reasonable precautions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aemon Stark Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Yeah. No need to run out and buy a mask. It's not necessary in the slightest - influenza is not airborne transmitted, but through respiratory droplets at fairly close contact. I can never figure out how to avoid getting my glasses fogged up while wearing a mask anyway. I have to adjust it continually. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I can't link because I'm on my blackberry, but, the lead story on Google news from the NYT is that 8 Queens high school students have the swine flu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Last update on that is that they're symptomatic but basically fine, I think I read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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