H1n1 influenza(swine flu) opinions?

[Summitric]

WHAT IS ALL YOUR OPINIONS ON THE H1N1 FLU?

I THINK THE MEDIA HAS BLOWN IT OUT OF PROPORTION, ESPECIALLY HERE IN CANADA. TALKING TO FOREIGNERS LATELY, AND THEY SAID THERE IS VERY LITTLE ABOUT THIS IN THE MEDIA IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

IS IT A PANDEMIC? SHOULD IT BE LEFT AS A NATURAL SELECTION PROCESS OF SICKNESS &/OR DEATH? SHOULD WE BE DOING MORE RESEARCH ON THE VIRUS, OR JUST BASIC RESEARCH? I PERSONALLY DON'T THINK THE VIRUS IS ANYTHING TOO MUCH OUT OF THE NORM? WAY BACK IN ANCIENT TIMES, COMMON SICKNESSES, SEEMED TO WEED OUT THE WEAKEST?

MANY SICKNESSES ARE COMMON MINOR SICKNESSES TODAY THAT ARE EASILY TREATABLE, EVEN WITH OVER THE COUNTER MEDICATIONS, BUT BACK THEN, NOT A LOT WAS DONE, EXCEPT NATURAL HEALING PROCESSES, OR EXTREME MEASURES, LIKE BLOOD LETTING.

JUST CURIOUS WHAT Y'ALL THINK, SINCE IT SEEMS TO MAKE THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS EVERY DAY!

 

[give_it_all_]

I think it has been blown out of proportion as well. I can't believe how many places want you to use hand sanitizer when you enter and leave a building. People need to chill out.

 

[Zar]

I am hoping to hear from Nursepwdr on this issue. Or any one else in the medical profession

 

[boots]

the h1n1 is just bull the common cold kills more people a year....

 

[RETODD]

I washed my hands after reading this post!

WHAT IS ALL YOUR OPINIONS ON THE H1N1 FLU?

I THINK THE MEDIA HAS BLOWN IT OUT OF PROPORTION, ESPECIALLY HERE IN CANADA. TALKING TO FOREIGNERS LATELY, AND THEY SAID THERE IS VERY LITTLE ABOUT THIS IN THE MEDIA IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

IS IT A PANDEMIC? SHOULD IT BE LEFT AS A NATURAL SELECTION PROCESS OF SICKNESS &/OR DEATH? SHOULD WE BE DOING MORE RESEARCH ON THE VIRUS, OR JUST BASIC RESEARCH? I PERSONALLY DON'T THINK THE VIRUS IS ANYTHING TOO MUCH OUT OF THE NORM? WAY BACK IN ANCIENT TIMES, COMMON SICKNESSES, SEEMED TO WEED OUT THE WEAKEST?

MANY SICKNESSES ARE COMMON MINOR SICKNESSES TODAY THAT ARE EASILY TREATABLE, EVEN WITH OVER THE COUNTER MEDICATIONS, BUT BACK THEN, NOT A LOT WAS DONE, EXCEPT NATURAL HEALING PROCESSES, OR EXTREME MEASURES, LIKE BLOOD LETTING.

JUST CURIOUS WHAT Y'ALL THINK, SINCE IT SEEMS TO MAKE THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS EVERY DAY!

 

[sledderdoc]

Blown out of proportion for sure. The new sterilization protocols are from the Vegreville fiasco etc.
Any flu can be traced back to animals. Specifically birds (chickens) and swine. Those viruses combine with viruses that infect humans and whamo a new flu bug is born.
This has happened with every flu. Its why the flu shot changes from year to year. H1N1 is merely a more potent viral combo but can be avoided like any other flu simply be following proper hygiene, washing your hands and not rubbing your eyes.

Have fun in Mexico Summ!!

 

[Ryano]

Blown out of proportion for sure. The new sterilization protocols are from the Vegreville fiasco etc.
Any flu can be traced back to animals. Specifically birds (chickens) and swine. Those viruses combine with viruses that infect humans and whamo a new flu bug is born.
This has happened with every flu. Its why the flu shot changes from year to year. H1N1 is merely a more potent viral combo but can be avoided like any other flu simply be following proper hygiene, washing your hands and not rubbing your eyes.

Have fun in Mexico Summ!!

Ya what he said

 

[bigdaddy35]

H1N1 seems more contageous and aggresive than the previous flus and it is affecting a population normally found to be resistant to previous flus.

Currently, the 20-45 yr olds seem to be most affected by this bug. Typically, the old and very young are most seriously affected by the flu. Out of all the reported deaths in Alberta from this, how many are outside this age range?

IMHO it may be blown out of proportion... but it's better to be safe. I'll use the hand sanitizer... not because I don't wash my hands, but because of those who don't.

 

[femme.fatale.]

Ric you should just catch the swine flu, I read an article that they are offering free holidays next year if you catch it?

WIN- WIN??

 

[-LadyDirt-]

I think it's been hyped up a bit too, is there still people out there that think this is transferred from pork? lol cause last I thought the "swine flu" is NOT foodborne illness... it's just a virus like a common cold...but worse....??

 

[ZRrrr]

Well Ric, you opened a BIG can of worms for me. This is my business. There is waaay too much I could say, but I will voice my basic opinions.

It is blown massively out of porpotion. Many of those who have died had other complications. You don't often hear of that. Seasonal flu kills many more people each year. Yes, they are worried about the younger groups it is hitting, but lets wait and see what really comes of this.

I would be VERY scared of any vaccine being offered. NO ONE in my family will receive it. Rushed into production, not tested properly, potential of added adjuvents which have caused serious neurological disorders in past.

Recently the US gov has given the H1N1 vaccine manufacturers legal immunity from any lawsuits arising from side effects of these vaccines. Our Canadian Gov is considering the same. What does that tell you!

I'm more afraid of this vaccine campaign than the flu itself.

They want to send it to Northern Canadian Native communities first and start with pregnant women and children. What a sneaky way to test the vaccine before going mainstream. Guess that's why our gov sent the body bags to these communities in the H1N1 kits.

I have lots of industry info. Too much to post...but yes, waay out of proportion.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[magnet]

yeh the more you hear about it kinda sounds like they are using them as guinea pigs so to speak. not really fair. no matter what are opinion of them is.

 

[Summiteer]

Hyped up by drug company lobbiests. You see the dollars gov'ts are spending on vaccines?

 

[sledneck_03]

I went to cancun in july and we had to stop in mexico city, and we had to fill out some bull ch!t forum that asked about 8 questions like do you have a runny nose do you have a head ache and such. they were in Spanish and some one filled one out with pen in English we had to look at so we could read the questions. it was mandatory and very mickey mouse.

i was more scared when we drop a couple hundred feet and everyone woke up screaming and my computer flew through the air.......

then we get home and the next day there was news about the same airline doing the same route that day dropped in almost the same place and dropped so bad people hit the roof and needed to do a emergency landing

 

[ZRrrr]

More mystery and unanswered questions.....


Canadian study linking flu shots and swine flu raising international concerns
at 14:26 on September 24, 2009, EDT.
Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO - An unpublished Canadian study that suggests seasonal flu shots raise a person's risk of catching swine flu is causing a lot of concern internationally, a senior official of the World Health Organization said Thursday.

Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, who heads the WHO's vaccine research initiative, said there's a keen interest, internationally, to go through the data in the study and see whether the research is correct or flawed.

"There's really intense international discussions on that," Kieny told The Canadian Press in an interview.

"Because now that it's out, everybody feels that we must go to the bottom of it and see what's real there."

She noted in a news conference that Canadian officials are trying to put together an expert panel to assess the data.

Drawn from a series of studies from British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario, the findings appear to suggest that people who got a seasonal flu shot last year are about twice as likely to catch swine flu as people who didn't.

A scientific paper has been submitted to a journal and the lead authors - Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and Dr. Gaston De Serres of Laval University - are constrained about what they can say about the work. Journals bar would-be authors from discussing their results before they are published.

Skowronski, who at first declined to speak after news of the findings hit the media Wednesday, said it's important that the work gets the expert scrutiny the journal peer-review system provides.

"Good scientists know that methods can influence results," she said from Vancouver.

"For me, it's very important that we respect the peer-review process as good scientists. Because the implications ... are important. And if there are methodologic flaws, we need to be assured that every stone was turned over to make sure what we're reporting is valid."

The findings are already having implications, with public health officials across the country grappling with whether to delay, reduce or scrap altogether seasonal flu shot programs this year.

Officials from Saskatchewan said Thursday they are leaning towards suspending seasonal flu shot efforts for this fall. But Dr. Joel Kettner, chief medical officer of health for Manitoba, said his province is moving ahead with planning for a rollout soon, though the planning makes room for the possibility they may need to stop the program "on a dime."

Earlier this week officials from Quebec raised publicly the possibility of dropping or delaying seasonal flu shot efforts, saying at the time they hoped for a pan-Canadian approach.

Kettner said he continues to hope all provinces and territories will go the same way on this. But he acknowledged that may not be possible.

While few people appear to have actually read the study, the troubling findings have been a poorly kept secret and many in the public health community in Canada have heard about them.

So have many influenza researchers abroad. Kieny said British, American and Australian researchers have looked for and haven't found similar findings in their data. On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control confirmed that via email.

"It is difficult to speak about a study that has yet to be published, however, as this is an important issue involving the subject of seasonal influenza and the fast moving global pandemic of 2009 H1N1 influenza it is important to note the scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not seen this effect in systems we have reviewed in the United States," spokesperson Joe Quimby said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada was informed of the findings some time ago and has been seeking help to try to figure out if the effect is real or the result of flaws in the research.

"An arms-length review of the various methods is currently underway to assess the validity of the studies relative to that observation," Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, said via email.

Kieny said it is important to study the data with an open mind.

"If there is something, it's better that it comes out," she said. "I think one needs to keep open eyes and a fresh mind and look in all fairness to the results."

Still, she, like others, struggled to come up with a reason for why getting a seasonal flu shot would elevate a person's risk of catching swine flu, noting there is no evidence to suggest that getting the flu shot one year raises a person's risk of catching flu the next.

"The plausibility seems sort of in question," she said.

"It may be a study bias. It may be that something is real," Kieny said during the news conference.

"But certainly the WHO as well as the regulators in all of these countries are looking forward to be able to see the data, to study the data and come with a better understanding of whether this has any chance of indeed putting people at risk, the fact that they have received a seasonal vaccination."

 

[sledderdoc]

I'm with you Zrrrr I have never gotten a flu shot and never will. Ya don't need them!! Just use common sense with hygiene!! I also have missed maybe 2 days in the last ten years from being sick!! :d

 

[Powertool29]

I think it all started with an innocent little kiss...

 

[ZRrrr]

Here is the legal immunity article......

H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine makers granted immunity from lawsuits

Just as millions of Americans are being told they should get the new H1N1 or “swine flu” vaccine when it becomes available this fall, the Department of Health and Human Services has granted vaccine makers and federal officials immunity from lawsuits that result from any new H1N1 vaccine.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius signed the document releasing vaccine and government officials from liability on July 17.

Paul Pennock, a New York plaintiff’s attorney on medical liability cases, doesn’t agree with granting immunity. He told AP: "If you're going to ask people to do this for the common good, then let's make sure for the common good that these people will be taken care of if something goes wrong."

Granting immunity to vaccine manufacturers adds to the uneasiness some Americans have about the new flu vaccines.

Fred Burks, a writer with U.S. Intelligence Examiner, went back to the archives for coverage of the last swine flu immunization program in 1976. Burks wrote, “This excellent 60 Minutes exposé reveals blatant U.S. government propaganda and fear-mongering in the swine flu outbreak and mass vaccination of 1976. The incisive report states that though only one person died as a result of the swine flu, "4,000 Americans are claiming damages from Uncle Sam amounting to three and a half billion dollars because of what happened when they took that [swine flu] shot."

 

[dirtygirl]

Well Ric, you opened a BIG can of worms for me. This is my business. There is waaay too much I could say, but I will voice my basic opinions.

It is blown massively out of porpotion. Many of those who have died had other complications. You don't often hear of that. Seasonal flu kills many more people each year. Yes, they are worried about the younger groups it is hitting, but lets wait and see what really comes of this.

I would be VERY scared of any vaccine being offered. NO ONE in my family will receive it. Rushed into production, not tested properly, potential of added adjuvents which have caused serious neurological disorders in past.

Recently the US gov has given the H1N1 vaccine manufacturers legal immunity from any lawsuits arising from side effects of these vaccines. Our Canadian Gov is considering the same. What does that tell you!

I'm more afraid of this vaccine campaign than the flu itself.

They want to send it to Northern Canadian Native communities first and start with pregnant women and children. What a sneaky way to test the vaccine before going mainstream. Guess that's why our gov sent the body bags to these communities in the H1N1 kits.

I have lots of industry info. Too much to post...but yes, waay out of proportion.

Just my humble opinion.

Okay, so... ZRrrrr has some facts. I had a friend die of H1N1 in June this year. 42 year old male Caucasian,Canadian citizen, Baptist Minister with a wife and family, no complications and it was less than three weeks and he was gone. I've had 1 family member tested 3 times because they were sure he had it. Nothing. I've had 3 family members go to the doctor for other issues, including 1 with acute leukemia, they were all found to have H1N1. All have recovered from that and other issues without issue.

So tell me where the continuity is?

We have a friend that has worked for health Canada and I am asking him for the details. Who knows what he knows. We will take the vaccination we have too many issues from asthma to ovarian cancer to chronic tonsillitis to heart conditions through our extended family and we don't want to chance anything.

Worst case scenario we head to the lake and live off the land for the winter. This is God's country after all, it is Alberta!

My opinion and experiences only no one else has responsibility for my big mouth.

 

[Summitric]

The medical research done by docs in bc, manitoba, ontario, and quebec has gone world wide now, and they said on the news last nite, that most countries including china now, are seriously starting vaccination programs. The world medical council is now reconsidering this, as research has now found that you are twice as like to get the virus with the vaccination.

And so it continues!