posted on April 30, 2009 04:03:06 PM new
I'm still here. Just wearing too many hats right now. Besides my non-profit health care thing, I'm an admin asst to the district Avon Manager, I sell Avon, am still a TA for eBay and am now doing typesetting for the local firefighters union. You'd have thunk I'd be rolling in dough.
I hear they want to change the name to Mexican flu. Ugh. It just keeps getting better.
posted on April 30, 2009 08:32:59 PM new"Awful quiet around here. I guess we all got the pig flu from them Messicans."
Just as Christians blamed the Plague or "Black Death" on Jews the Swine flu is now being blamed by a few right wing xenophobes on Mexicans.
And on the other topic...
It appears that the Vendio Round Table is being phased out. First, it became only visible to Vendio members who logged in and now that Vendio's Ebay Outlook is loosing some activity, the RT user pool is shrinking as well.
It's interesting that the popularity that this board enjoyed once contributed to the success of Ebay Outlook. Do you notice that as this board is diminished, Ebay Outlook is losing some popularity also?
posted on April 30, 2009 10:25:09 PM new
Yep, Helen, I've been thinking the same things. I miss *some* of the Round Table discussions--the ones that were fairly civil.
_____________________
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who ***dared to dissent*** from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, ***may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."*** --Eisenhower
posted on May 1, 2009 07:07:40 AM new
Roadsmith wrote, " I miss *some* of the Round Table discussions--the ones that were fairly civil."
"Some" discussions should not be "fairly civil" and I miss those too. The interesting aspect of those discussions not considered civil is that they attract readers.
To me, "uncivil" defines those who do not believe in equality; racists, bigots, homophobes, xenophobes, war mongers, religious zealots, and those who believe in torture, for example. Such people with a goal to oppress and exploit human beings are not worthy of courteous consideration in conversation.
posted on May 1, 2009 10:00:54 AM new
Xenophobes all withstanding, the PC encyclopedia still can't change the fact that Mexico is an epicenter of swine flu.
posted on May 1, 2009 12:13:45 PM new
The spread is behaving more like the regular flu that comes around every year. The Mexicans in the highlands/mountains have clusters of this flu (because it's colder and people stay inside more), and the coastal areas aren't really affected. That can be true here in U.S. and the rest of the world, too.
_____________________
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who ***dared to dissent*** from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, ***may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."*** --Eisenhower
posted on May 1, 2009 12:38:38 PM new
The Mexicans also have a very advanced monitoring system for influenza. Now, some wouldn't expect that to be the case, but it happens to be true.
Mexican physicians noticed a surprising number of otherwise healthy young adults had died of what appeared to be a flu, and followed up. Good for them, except in the eyes of those who won't give credit where due.
posted on May 1, 2009 12:40:45 PM new
PPS Someone remind me to wait 24 hours before responding to Squirrel. It's never worth it to pay attention to Squirrel.
posted on May 1, 2009 06:51:25 PM new
I can't believe the big hoopla - an airline passenger from Germany to Boston feels flu-ish and it makes national news. A family member gets flu (not diagnosed as swine flu) and a whole school district in Oregon is closed. I expect the CDC to be vigilant but the public reaction is grossly exaggerated.
Edited to add: We had a local reporter that was sent to Mexico to cover the story. Her translator felt flu-ish. She came back and also felt flu-ish. The physician's first response was that she was faking it for the cameras. She tested negative for swine flu.
[ edited by pixiamom on May 1, 2009 07:00 PM ]
posted on May 2, 2009 06:17:13 AM new
Back in the 1990s,I read an article I believe it is from National Geographic,it is about Flu Du Jour!
To find what is the flu of the year,medical researchers will go to Southern China early in April or March.
In southern China,people raise pigs and ducks and geese in close vincinity and they hire a farmhand to keep an eye on these animals,this farmhand lives in a small shed nearby.
The domestic fowls spent much time in the ponds and attracted the wild ducks and geese and the wild ones occasionally mingle with them in the water and pass on the virus .
Now fowl virus cannot be transmitted to human so what is the big deal?
The big deal is that the virus jumped onto the pigs and mutate into a pig virus.
Pig virus can be transmitted to human and so the farmhand caught the virus.
All it takes is for him to go into town on his day off and spread this mutated virus.
This is how they determine what will be the new flu virus of the year come winter!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on May 2, 2009 06:18:28 AM new
Back in the 1990s,I read an article I believe it is from National Geographic,it is about Flu Du Jour!
To find what is the flu of the year,medical researchers will go to Southern China early in April or March.
In southern China,people raise pigs and ducks and geese in close vincinity and they hire a farmhand to keep an eye on these animals,this farmhand lives in a small shed nearby.
The domestic fowls spent much time in the ponds and attracted the wild ducks and geese and the wild ones occasionally mingle with them in the water and pass on the virus .
Now fowl virus cannot be transmitted to human so what is the big deal?
The big deal is that the virus jumped onto the pigs and mutate into a pig virus.
Pig virus can be transmitted to human and so the farmhand caught the virus.
All it takes is for him to go into town on his day off and spread this mutated virus.
This is how they determine what will be the new flu virus of the year come winter!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on May 2, 2009 06:44:42 AM new
The flu really shouldn't be all that bad for people with healthy immune systems. It's those with suppressed immune systems that have to worry. How many of the dead in Mexico were HIV+? How many had other immune suppressing conditions, such as cancer? These are questions whose answers I'd like to know. That would give a better picture on how deadly this flu is. So far, I've not heard anything other than a number.
I don't get the flu shot. I haven't had the flu in years! In fact, I haven't even had a cold more than once in the three years since I quit smoking. I've been exposed to colds and flues (I go out to crowded bars every weekend), but just haven't gotten them.
pixia - The power of suggestion is something, isn't it? I'll lay odds that that translator talked herself into feeling fluish.
Re "The flu really shouldn't be all that bad for people with healthy immune systems. It's those with suppressed immune systems that have to worry."
That's generally the case. What happened in 1918, and is feared to be happening now, is that the flu has no relatives known to the immune system, which then over-reacts (something called a cytokine storm) and kills healthy individuals. So, strangely enough, the stronger your immune system, the more dangerous it is. Think of it as something along the lines of an auto-immune disease; it's not the lack of immune response, but rather an overdone immune response that attacks the lungs primarily.
I don't know if you rmemeber a year or two ago, some healthy volunteers in the UK received a trial vaccine for something or other. They had cytokine storms and I think a couple died; the others had severe organ damage. If I, withmy dimished immune system, had gotten one of those shots, I would probably have just been moderately ill and gotten over it.
posted on May 2, 2009 11:53:44 AM new
Lol, Niel...
"Potbellied pigs are intelligent, obedient, talented, affectionate, comical, inquisitive, communicative and one-tenth the size of a normal pig. They are easily litter box trained, have no fleas, do not bark, are not destructive, and don’t seem to cause allergies. They require no more veterinarian attention or feed (maybe even less) than a cat or dog. Indeed, "the pig person’s perfect pet."
posted on May 2, 2009 12:33:00 PM new
Helen - That's too funny! Poor Piglet.
Cash - 90% of the people I work with are HIV+ and I worry a great deal about them during things like this. They're all very dear to me. I do, however, hate the fact that I've attended a funeral or two every year for the past 10 years.
With all the progress that's been made medically, it's still a rough road for those that are HIV+.
My main point was that having a healthy immune system is not necessarily a plus with H1N1, but might actually be a risk factor. If nothing else, there's not much time to treat a cytokine storm; the patient can be dead a few hours after being completely healthy. To be dead from the flu proper (i.e., not from an immune response) generally takes much longer, which allows a chance for medical intervention.
posted on May 2, 2009 06:31:26 PM new
The Chinese and the German at one time adopted a tactic which the Chinese referred to as 'using poison to attack poison'.
What it boils down to is upping the dosage of whatever ails you to encourage your immune system to work harder.
It was in Forbes magazine not long ago where they reported some cancer patients recovered,cancer gone and what it sounds like is that their immune system kill the cancer cells.
Pigs are considered filthy in some cultures,ever wonder why the Muslims dont eat pork,some folks cannot digest pork as it is rather fatty!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on May 2, 2009 09:33:11 PM new
Pigs in Canada Contract Flu Virus Article
Interactive Graphics
Maps
Comments
more in World »Email Printer
Friendly Share: Yahoo Buzz ↓ More
facebook
MySpace
LinkedIn
Digg
del.icio.us
NewsVine
StumbleUpon
Mixx
Save This ↓ More
Text
By LAUREN ETTER
The U.S. Agriculture Department said late Saturday that swine in Canada have tested positive for the currently circulating strain of H1N1 influenza that is circulating around the world and has already caused more than 100 deaths..
This is the first detection of the virus in hogs that up until now was considered to be circulating only from human to human.
View Full Image
Associated Press
Senior research scientist Dr. Karuna Karunakaran works in the vaccine research lab at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control during a demonstration for media following a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday.
According to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, a Canadian carpenter who had been to Mexico came down with flu syptoms upon his return home. He then did work on a hog farm in Alberta and subsequently his family and the swine fell ill, exhibiting influenza symptoms.
If the virus is indeed jumping from humans to animals and vice versa, as the Canadian case suggests, the seriousness of the disease will likely be heightened.
The development could cause new problems for the pork industry, which has so far gone to great lengths to distance itself from the current outbreak as it has hammered trade and consumer sentiment.
On Friday, the National Pork Producers Council, said "the flu virus...never has been found in pigs anywhere in the world.". As a result, the pork council "urged U.S. pork producers and others involved in the pork industry to address influenza outbreak misinformation, which already has exacerbated an economic crisis in the pork industry."
Last week, the pork lobby successfully persuaded the USDA and other international health agencies to stop referring to the virus as "swine flu".
As soon as Saturday morning Mr. Vilsack of the USDA and his counterparts in Mexico and Canada issued a joint statement urging its trading partners that there was no need to disrupt trade because "Canadian, American and Mexican authorities have emphasized that they have not found a case of influenza in swine herds."
Flu: Complete Coverage
View Map
Photos | Video | Map | Q&A: A Flu Primer WHO's updates | CDC's updates WSJ.com/Flu: News, video, Q&A, more Discuss
Vote: How worried are you? Join the discussion. Timeline
View Interactive
In its announcement Saturday evening, the USDA said "this detection does not change the situation here in the United States" since there "have been no reports that the novel H1N1 strain currently causing illness in humans is in U.S. swine."
However the agency said that as a precaution people with "flu-like symptoms should not interact with swine, and swine showing influenza symptoms should be kept away from the public."
The USDA also said that no sick swine connected to the Alberta situation have left the farm and that the animals have been quarantined.
The Canadian government is awaiting final confirmatory test results and the USDA said it won't make any decisions on restricting trade with Canada until the test results come back.
Meantime the USDA said it is "actively working to develop an H1N1 vaccine for swine, just as the CDC is doing for humans."
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit
www.djreprints.com
More In World Email Printer Friendly Order Reprints Share: Yahoo! Buzz
facebook
MySpace
LinkedIn
Digg
del.icio.us
NewsVine
StumbleUpon
Mixx
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on May 2, 2009 09:36:07 PM new
The Egytians killed 400,000 pigs,do they know something we dont know?
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on May 2, 2009 09:39:28 PM new
"which then over-reacts (something called a cytokine storm)" Thanks Cash--I was trying all day to remember the name cytokine storm. Guess I don't have to worry about my immune system over-reacting.
When modern scientific researchers tried to figure out why so many young adults died in the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, that is what they found. Young adults had the strongest immune system (stronger than older adults and small children.) They did not die from the flu, but rather this over-reaction of their immune system, which ravaged the organs. I understand (though not sure of the facts) that many of the Mexicans who died were young adults.
