Swine Flu in Decline

[Arbiter]

Apparently, swine flu is in decline in the Southern Hemisphere.

GENEVA - The World Health Organization said Friday that swine flu infections are declining in the Southern Hemisphere as its seasonal flu period comes to an end and the pandemic shifts back north.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32618751/ns/health-swine_flu/

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=15937

In the last week, 32.5 people per 100,000 were diagnosed with a flu-like illness, compared with 37 per 100,000 the week before. The Department stressed that the peak reported Influenza-like illness rate during last winter was approximately 120 per 100,000.

Further, the WHO actually doesn't think swine flu is that serious, despite their pandemic level.

The last WHO update, issued on July 6, showed 94,512 confirmed cases in 122 countries, with 429 deaths. Many epidemiologists have pointed out that, in reality, millions of people have had swine flu, usually in a mild form, so the numbers of laboratory-confirmed cases were actually meaningless.[5] Partly as a result, on July 16, WHO announced that it "will no longer issue the global tables showing the numbers of confirmed cases for all countries".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic

Millions of people have had swine flu, but only 429 dead? Even if its only 1 000 000 who have had it, that gives swine flu a mortality rate of 0.04%. Less than seasonal influenza, according to wiki.

And the whole world wants to wear a mask and risk getting horrible GWS from squalene shots?

The hype machine. Never fails to amaze.

 

[rebel998]

Glad to hear its declining none the less.

Summer is here, who wants t be sick?

 

[Milano]

The hype machine. Never fails to amaze.

Seems they became alarmed because it was nailing the young/healthy instead of the usual old/ill folk who normally get taken by influenza.

 

[HapticSimian]

I never understood the big hoopla surrounding swine flu. Apart from being an interesting study in the spread of a contagious disease, it was the biggest storm in a teacup I've seen recently.

 

[Arbiter]

I could think of a lot of folks that ought to be tried for inciting a mass panic. Lunatics the lot of them. But of course, money always finds its way into the equation.

Seasonal flu vaccinations are at a super high with just Novartis providing 30 million doses of seasonal influenza vaccine to the US alone. And that’s just the first installment.

http://www.novartis.com/newsroom/media-releases/en/2009/1332676.shtml

And at an average price of between $ 10 and $ 20 per shot, that’s a cool $ 300-$600 million.

I hope you guys have Pharma shares.

And just to clarify, GWS is Gulf War Syndrome, a medical condition characterized by a range of very nasty symptoms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_syndrome

Symptoms attributed to this syndrome have been wide-ranging, including chronic fatigue, loss of muscle control, headaches, dizziness and loss of balance, memory problems, muscle and joint pain, indigestion, skin problems, shortness of breath, and even insulin resistance. Brain cancer deaths, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and fibromyalgia are now recognized by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments as potentially connected to service during the Persian Gulf War.[3]

Since we're talking about mass panic, here's some more food for thought.

Squalene

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, GWS is attributed to the use of Squalene in the anthrax vaccines given to soldiers in the Gulf War.

One study found that deployed Persian Gulf War Syndrome patients are significantly more likely to have antibodies to the experimental vaccine adjuvant squalene (95 percent) than asymptomatic Gulf War veterans (0 percent; p<.001), [19] which raises the possibility that squalene was used experimentally (squalene is not approved for use as an adjuvant in the United States[20]) in the Anthrax vaccine given to soldiers prior to deployment in the Persian Gulf War to better induce immunity.

What is squalene? It is also known as shark liver oil, though it is simply a component of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squalene

Squalene is used in the swine flu vaccine, as well as some other vaccines.

Since 1997, an influenza vaccine (FLUAD, Chiron) which contains about 10 mg of squalene per dose, has been approved in health agencies in several European countries. However, the Food and Drug Administration has not authorized their use in the United States.[12] Squalene is added to improve the efficacy of several experimental vaccines including pandemic flu and malaria vaccines. It is present in the form of an emulsion and is added to make the vaccine more immunogenic.

I find it somewhat odd that a disease with a mortality rate of, allegedly, less than 0.04%, scared the world enough that they are willing to take a vaccine containing product that caused Gulf War Syndrome in 95% of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Anyone care to explain that bit of Darwin-award-worthy thinking?

 

[Creag]

Maybe it is in decline.

I think its probably more a case of fewer people going to test for Swine Flu. Doctors know the labs cannot cope with 100's of test cases sent in so they just prescribe Tamiflu and get the next patient into the room.

Many of us have been exposed to it without knowing it (like TB) and haven't contracted it.

 

[Praeses]

Good to know it's in decline!

And all the hype they made about swine flu is due to its probability of becoming highly virulent. Luckily it hasn't yet, but it still can since it's still everywhere. If you've already had it, you'll most likely be immunized against it for some time, luckily.

The swine flu hype doesn't exist because people want to make money, but people who want to make money can use swine flu to do so.

 

[Xcallibor]

Just like XDR-TB, the hype was built so high you'd swear it was the end of the world. But in the end it's just another episode we survive.

I only sympathize with the families of the victims of Swine Flu and other hypes. Their grief served as warning bells for a never to be fought war