Deadly "super-flu" emerges in Hong Kong - Page 2

faded glory · March 16, 2003, 00:20

ahh ok MSNBC jumped its gun! (Im schocked!) anyway, no UR I was just mentioning what I heard on the news

Agathon · March 16, 2003, 00:21

Quote:

Originally posted by ThePantaloonDog
The thing about Ebola is that it kills its victims so quickly that the carrier really doesn't have a chance to infect other people. This is the problem with AIDS, you carry it around for a decade before you feel any affects.

This virus on the other hand does sound a bit scary even if 1.6% die think of the number of people that would just in the US. 2 million deaths could easily cause a panic. Hopefully this will be contained.

That's true. But this one doesn't seem to spread that quickly anyway. The influenza epidemic killed a load of people - hopefully we learned from that.

Lancer · March 16, 2003, 01:55

I wonder if this means I should put off my root canal...

Saved by the plague.

I got a phnumonia shot though, so maybe I'm safe. I wonder id Dolores and dad got one with their INS immunizations...I guess I better find out.

Agathon · March 16, 2003, 02:00

Shots won't help with this one, Lancer. I wouldn't worry too much about it. The press are just scaremongering.

Oerdin · March 16, 2003, 06:30

Quote:

Originally posted by faded glory Anyway, its not the mortality rate there worried about agathon. Its the fact that it doesnt respond to anti-biotics and apparently, the symptoms are, from what I understand from MSNBC, Permanent. Yes, Permanent.....

We have no one to blame but ourselves about the anti-biotic resistant bugs. When I was in Asia it seemed like you could buy ANYTHING in a pharmasy any time you want. That leads to yahoos who have a sniffle going into the pharmasy and buying anti-biotics which not only won't help them but will help create drug resistant stains of the influenza.

VJ · March 16, 2003, 08:11

Quote:

We have no one to blame but ourselves about the anti-biotic resistant bugs. When I was in Asia it seemed like you could buy ANYTHING in a pharmasy any time you want. That leads to yahoos who have a sniffle going into the pharmasy and buying anti-biotics which not only won't help them but will help create drug resistant stains of the influenza.

This is frequent in Russian prisons, too.
Doctors don't have enough drugs to cure the disease completely.

Starchild · March 16, 2003, 08:22

Quote:

Originally posted by Oerdin

We have no one to blame but ourselves about the anti-biotic resistant bugs. When I was in Asia it seemed like you could buy ANYTHING in a pharmasy any time you want. That leads to yahoos who have a sniffle going into the pharmasy and buying anti-biotics which not only won't help them but will help create drug resistant stains of the influenza.

Or at least it would if antibiotics had anything to do with influenza. The danger in freely available antibiotics is that people take it for stuff like flu, which being a virus isn't affected by the drugs, and they end up putting bacteria through a hostile environment that encourages the evolution of drug resistant strains. After all, if you're popping antibiotic pills every day, the only bacteria you'll have are the ones that can resist those drugs.

Influenza's might comes from its ability to rapidly mutate. Everytime you catch flu, you're dealing with a new strain of it that has a new trick or scam to get past the defenses setup by your body from the last flu infection you had.

GePap · March 16, 2003, 14:53

As far as things go, WHO issued a world-wide alert for this. Also, a doctor who had been to a conference in NYC and was returning home to Singapore through Europe has been quarantined in germany when he complained about having symptoms similar to those is this disease. People who were with him in the plane have benn given phone numbers to stay in touch if they develop anything.