Swine flu map
- Thread starter Jeremy
- Start date
1976: Fear of a great plague!
On the cold afternoon of February 5, 1976, an Army recruit told his drill instructor at Fort Dix that he felt tired and weak but not sick enough to see military medics or skip a big training hike.
Within 24 hours, 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis of Ashley Falls, Mass., was dead, killed by an influenza not seen since the plague of 1918-19, which took 500,000 American lives and 20 million worldwide.
Two weeks after the recruit's death, health officials disclosed to America that something called "swine flu" had killed Lewis and hospitalized four of his fellow soldiers at the Army base in Burlington County.
The ominous name of the flu alone was enough to touch off civilian fear of an epidemic. And government doctors knew from tests hastily conducted at Dix after Lewis' death that 500 soldiers had caught swine flu without falling ill.
On the cold afternoon of February 5, 1976, an Army recruit told his drill instructor at Fort Dix that he felt tired and weak but not sick enough to see military medics or skip a big training hike.
Within 24 hours, 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis of Ashley Falls, Mass., was dead, killed by an influenza not seen since the plague of 1918-19, which took 500,000 American lives and 20 million worldwide.
Two weeks after the recruit's death, health officials disclosed to America that something called "swine flu" had killed Lewis and hospitalized four of his fellow soldiers at the Army base in Burlington County.
The ominous name of the flu alone was enough to touch off civilian fear of an epidemic. And government doctors knew from tests hastily conducted at Dix after Lewis' death that 500 soldiers had caught swine flu without falling ill.
Furry Sparks
Senior Member
All of the deaths have been in Mexico, which doesn't exactly have the best hygiene standards and health care. The only other death was from a toddler, which is possible from the regular flu..ricano4life said:
Yes Furry you are right. While doing research after school I found something that amazed me. At the age of 26 to 44 is the dates of patients with this disease.. And also for more news.Furry Sparks said:
The swine flu is likely a descendant of the Spanish flu that caused a devastating pandemic in humans in 1918
Swine influenza has become a greater problem in recent decades as the evolution of the virus has resulted in inconsistent responses to traditional vaccines. Standard commercial swine flu vaccines are effective in controlling the infection when the virus strains match enough to have significant cross-protection, and custom (autogenous) vaccines made from the specific viruses isolated are created and used in the more difficult cases.
Present vaccination strategies for SIV control and prevention in swine farms, typically include the use of one of several bivalent SIV vaccines commercially available in the United States. Of the 97 recent H3N2 isolates examined, only 41 isolates had strong serologic cross-reactions with antiserum to three commercial SIV vaccines. Since the protective ability of influenza vaccines depends primarily on the closeness of the match between the vaccine virus and the epidemic virus, the presence of nonreactive H3N2 SIV variants suggests that current commercial vaccines might not effectively protect pigs from infection with a majority of H3N2 viruses.
crystal_skull
Village Cowboy
idk about yall but im kinda scared cus i live in texas
TheSilverSkeeter
Senior Member
I have avian flu
kickin it old skool, yo
kickin it old skool, yo
linkvscross3rs
Senior Member
oh god, i live in saskatchewan!
its surronding me
its surronding me
crakgenius
Senior Member
I think everyone has lost perspective with this virus. It is, of course, scary that there is no vaccine to prevent catching the swine flu, but the virus is susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. It's also important to note that the "flu shot" everyone lines up to get each year is nothing more than a best guess... a vaccine against the particular strain of influenza that is most likely to spread that season.
The words 'epidemic' and 'pandemic' are being used to describe this outbreak. I suppose these terms are technically accurate, but the terms themselves have vague definitions. An epidemic is defined as an infectious disease that spreads in a given human population, at a rate which "substantially exceeds what is expected." A pandemic is an epidemic on a multi-national or even multi-continental scale. Since nobody expected the swine flu to mutate and become infectious to humans, then it could be argued that one case of swine flu being contracted by humans would be an epidemic.
Here, though, is the perspective I think we all need. Swine flu, though new and scary, is nothing more than an unexpected (albeit strong) influenza. According to the CDC: annually, in the United States, over 200,000 people on average will be hospitalized with the flu. On average, 36,000 Americans die each year from the complications of flu.
To date (as of the time I'm writing this), the CDC's statistics on swine flu show that currently 91 Americans have been diagnosed with confirmed cases of swine flu, of which 1 has died.
Calm down, take deep cleansing breaths. It's still early in this flu's existence. There is a good chance that a vaccine will be developed and distributed before this can truly become what I would consider an epidemic.
The words 'epidemic' and 'pandemic' are being used to describe this outbreak. I suppose these terms are technically accurate, but the terms themselves have vague definitions. An epidemic is defined as an infectious disease that spreads in a given human population, at a rate which "substantially exceeds what is expected." A pandemic is an epidemic on a multi-national or even multi-continental scale. Since nobody expected the swine flu to mutate and become infectious to humans, then it could be argued that one case of swine flu being contracted by humans would be an epidemic.
Here, though, is the perspective I think we all need. Swine flu, though new and scary, is nothing more than an unexpected (albeit strong) influenza. According to the CDC: annually, in the United States, over 200,000 people on average will be hospitalized with the flu. On average, 36,000 Americans die each year from the complications of flu.
To date (as of the time I'm writing this), the CDC's statistics on swine flu show that currently 91 Americans have been diagnosed with confirmed cases of swine flu, of which 1 has died.
Calm down, take deep cleansing breaths. It's still early in this flu's existence. There is a good chance that a vaccine will be developed and distributed before this can truly become what I would consider an epidemic.
bittermeat
Senior Member
I'm scared for my life.
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