Swine Flu and a Ramble

[Dale Hoshizaki]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

No, you guys aren't wrong. There is a tiny chance that a young healthy person might get seriously ill. We have had one in BC, a young mother. The rest of the people who have died in BC had pretty severe underlying medical conditions.

H1N1 is a type of influenza A virus, similar to the seasonal flu outbreaks we get from influenza A every year. Even the mortality rate is about the same - the only difference is that it appears H1N1 will occasionally cause a death in a young healthy person. That is rarer with the seasonal flu. It seems that a similar flu virus was around in the 70s, so that people in their forties and above seem to have a little more immunity than some of the 20 and 30 year olds...Also, it seems H1N1 is quite infectious, easy to pass from person to person.... Early indications being that it is more infectious than the seasonal flu.

There's no way of knowing, of course, whether you will be one of the unlucky ones, but I imagine the odds are similar (or better) to getting into a fatal car accident. Pretty rare really..I think everyone should probably be vaccinated, although by the time we get enough at this rate, everyone will have had it anyway!

[Ed Seedhouse]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

unless the virus mutates into a more virulent form, no worries for the average person, i would say....

Well, from what I have read your assessment is correct, I would say, but the problem is how do you know in advance that you are this "average" person. It appears that the majority of really ill folks are also fairly young and often quite healthy and robust.

Were I young and healthy I would get the shot just because I know there is virtually no chance of it making you ill, but there is a slight but real chance of the h1n1 flu making you very ill indeed.

As I am not young and not so healthy I would get it for sure except I'm 65 so they won't give it to me for awhile. I hope they are right about folks of my age having immunity from influenzas fought off in the 1940's.

On the other hand this isn't panicking me and I don't lie awake nights worrying about it. No need for anyone to freak out.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

Both my daughter and I recently recovered from swine flu. I would not have known I had it, but there is a ton of it around (in the lower Mainland of BC anyway), and I see 5-10 cases every shift in the ER. So being an ERP, I got the respiratory tech to come down and do a nasopharyngeal swab just to see. Lo and behold it was positive for H1N1!

I was sick for about three days, basically a cough, and felt feverish/achy. Taking Motrin twice a day basically took care of the fever/achy part, so it felt like cold/bronchitits. Did not miss any work, played hockey as usual...Not severe at all, and almost all cases of swine flu are that way. I have not seen a single case requiring hospitalization yet, and unless the virus mutates into a more virulent form, no worries for the average person, i would say....

I'm happy to hear you got over it well.

Would this story from the CBC be inaccurate?

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/...s.html?ref=rss

Here's it doesn't seem to be going so well.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...rticle1341072/

[Dale Hoshizaki]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

Both my daughter and I recently recovered from swine flu. I would not have known I had it, but there is a ton of it around (in the lower Mainland of BC anyway), and I see 5-10 cases every shift in the ER. So being an ERP, I got the respiratory tech to come down and do a nasopharyngeal swab just to see. Lo and behold it was positive for H1N1!

I was sick for about three days, basically a cough, and felt feverish/achy. Taking Motrin twice a day basically took care of the fever/achy part, so it felt like cold/bronchitits. Did not miss any work, played hockey as usual...Not severe at all, and almost all cases of swine flu are that way. I have not seen a single case requiring hospitalization yet, and unless the virus mutates into a more virulent form, no worries for the average person, i would say....

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

A couple of things:

1) how does the Vitamin D tax work if you're out in the sun? Do you have to wear a sunshine meter? Will they embed it in your forehead at some future time?

2) related to "what they aren't saying": has anyone gotten sick with swine flu AFTER the getting the shot plus the 7 to 10 days, I think it is, that it takes for the shot to "work"? I hear about lots of schoolchildren getting sick, but no word as to whether they shouldn't have gotten sick because they were supposed to be protected.

Lawrence makes a good point regrarding Vitamin D.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene..._of_colds,_flu

It's quite possible the incident of swine flu in those over 65 is related to many of them taking vitamin D supplements for bone and other problems.

Are you writing from Canada? The shots here only started 6 days ago. There are shortages and I heard on TV last night they are now saying everyone should have a shot by Christmas. Although, they didn't say which year. The officals had expected a response like they normally get for the seaonal flu. What I am seeing is a response like I saw when the vaccination first came out for polio so many decades ago.

Considering what happened to the federal Conservatives after they introduced the GST, I'm surprised McGuinty would embrace a harmonized tax. It seems every time he wins a majority government, up go the taxes. Unless something drastic happens, I'm expecting a Conservative Majority here in Ontario after the next provincial election.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

Both the federal and provincial governments have provided me with a list of protections against the flu.
In a full page newspaper advertisement today Ontario advises 5 precautions: take the shot; wash your hands; sneeze/cough in your sleeve; handy keep hand sanitizer; disinfect surfaces.
The Canada advice, which came in a 3-colour shiny-cardboard folded square origami brochure from the postman, included those 5 tips
plus: If you get sick, stay home!
& not touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

I have a sneaking suspicion that there is something bogus about this,
not for what it says but for what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say that your basic front-line defence against flu
(and many other illnesses)
is to maintain sufficient supply of vitamin D.
Then your immune system has the ammunition to defeat alien viruses that want to live in your body. Sunshine mashes them.
This was once common knowledge in Canada: like all kids I took that yucky cod liver oil in the dark months.
How has Vitamin D become a censored topic?

Is it related to Canada's absolute stupidest tax, the sales tax on vitamin D,
which, by threatened federal-provincial harmonization, now menaces Ontario?

A couple of things:

1) how does the Vitamin D tax work if you're out in the sun? Do you have to wear a sunshine meter? Will they embed it in your forehead at some future time?

2) related to "what they aren't saying": has anyone gotten sick with swine flu AFTER the getting the shot plus the 7 to 10 days, I think it is, that it takes for the shot to "work"? I hear about lots of schoolchildren getting sick, but no word as to whether they shouldn't have gotten sick because they were supposed to be protected.

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

Both the federal and provincial governments have provided me with a list of protections against the flu.
In a full page newspaper advertisement today Ontario advises 5 precautions: take the shot; wash your hands; sneeze/cough in your sleeve; handy keep hand sanitizer; disinfect surfaces.
The Canada advice, which came in a 3-colour shiny-cardboard folded square origami brochure from the postman, included those 5 tips
plus: If you get sick, stay home!
& not touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

I have a sneaking suspicion that there is something bogus about this,
not for what it says but for what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say that your basic front-line defence against flu
(and many other illnesses)
is to maintain sufficient supply of vitamin D.
Then your immune system has the ammunition to defeat alien viruses that want to live in your body. Sunshine mashes them.
This was once common knowledge in Canada: like all kids I took that yucky cod liver oil in the dark months.
How has Vitamin D become a censored topic?

Is it related to Canada's absolute stupidest tax, the sales tax on vitamin D,
which, by threatened federal-provincial harmonization, now menaces Ontario?

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

conquer it? I pretty sure you would just get a draw :D

I noticed that too. :D After a nice endgame, of course.

[Jason Lohner]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

When he asked Beware's name I told him Mardi Gras, which is the registered name. He asked what I called her so I told him Mardi Gras. He chucked as he wrote it on the receipt. I wish breeders would give dogs more macho names before they register them.

I had a dog named 'Trouble'. Nice friendly golden lab. Great family pet. I thought it was a great name until my friends, as a parting comment, would say 'stay outta trouble!'... ouch

[Jason Lohner]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

I do not fear swine flue AT ALL. If I did get it, I'd conquer it easily. Almost definitely won't, though. I've decided not to get sick anymore. Works out pretty well.

conquer it? I pretty sure you would just get a draw :D

[Lucas Davies]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

I'm sure whatever you do will work well for you. They tell me when you get something which spreads easily, you get fed Pizza. That's the only thing which will easily slide under the door. :)

Sounds more like a scenario in which you're a prison snitch... I mean, you're living the high life for a while; eating pizza and playing your X-Box, but sooner or later it'll catch up to you. It's not worth it. -_-;

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

I made a humourous post whose effect Steve Bolduc kindly attributed to an hallucinogène rather than my execrable command of the language.

I spoke too soon. Steve has added that my French is incompréhensible. I'd like to say that it is totally my fault. My grade 8-9 French teacher M. Bryant (not to be confused with George Bryant, who was CFC Secretary at about the same time), who taught English in Paris in his youth, is not to blame. He was such a kindly man, and so patient with us. And now I've let him down.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

The Christian Scientists have a similar idea to Lucas. The mention of Pizza made me remember a phone call from about three decades ago. I was talking to an organizer and the subject of illness came up. What do you do for the flu / common cold? Yes, Pizza. The organizer said that in his family, if you came down with that sort of seasonal complaint, they sent you to bed with a Pizza and a bottle of Hungarian red wine. And it worked. So I blurted out that they also sent you to bed with ... "a big-breasted Hungarian woman", which in the instant I had thought amusing, but the organizer didn't really. Later I met said organizer in person, with his wife, who was pretty but not endowed in that way. Shucks, I meant well. Honest. Let that be a lesson to me. And it does work. (Anecdotal evidence, not confirmed by peer review).

I didn't know that about Pizza. That was actually a bad joke from the SARS outbreak. I do know the time I was on a respirator some years ago is enough to make me want to avoid that happening again. With this flu young people seem to be getting it and dying so quickly. It seems to be spreading like wildfire. I can tell you from experience, there is nothing worse than having to bury a child.

Anyhow, after the respirator the doctor asked me where I'd sooner be. In his intensive care or at the Royal York Hotel. I told him the intensive care. His reply was: "Of course you would. This costs more."

One time when I was in hospital, the day before I was to leave I was joking with a nurse. She asked me if I was anxious to leave because of bad treatment. I told her I missed my wife. The nurse told me if that's all it was to move over. I laughed it off, but from time to time over the years have wondered if she was serious. I always like to joke with the nurses because I think it gets more room visits. Makes the time go faster.

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

I'm sure whatever you do will work well for you. They tell me when you get something which spreads easily, you get fed Pizza. That's the only thing which will easily slide under the door. :)

The Christian Scientists have a similar idea to Lucas. The mention of Pizza made me remember a phone call from about three decades ago. I was talking to an organizer and the subject of illness came up. What do you do for the flu / common cold? Yes, Pizza. The organizer said that in his family, if you came down with that sort of seasonal complaint, they sent you to bed with a Pizza and a bottle of Hungarian red wine. And it worked. So I blurted out that they also sent you to bed with ... "a big-breasted Hungarian woman", which in the instant I had thought amusing, but the organizer didn't really. Later I met said organizer in person, with his wife, who was pretty but not endowed in that way. Shucks, I meant well. Honest. Let that be a lesson to me. And it does work. (Anecdotal evidence, not confirmed by peer review).

Actually, I haven't learned the lesson. There is a thread on the French chesstalk about H1N1 and cancelling tournaments. Early on, I made a humourous post whose effect Steve Bolduc kindly attributed to an hallucinogène rather than my execrable command of the language. So I spent some time preparing another humourous reply, but it does take a while to put one's best foot forward, accents and making sure the genders are correct. Even then, it's likely to be at least mildly offensive because of my lack of skill in the language. Oh well. But in the day or so while I was offline that forum, another twenty or so increasingly serious posts were made to that thread. So my involved joke is likely to hit a raw nerve. A politician was depicted dancing merrily through the flowers ripping the wings off butterflies (and later won a defamation suit); maybe that's the status I will have earned.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Swine Flu and a Ramble

I've never had cats. They really bother my allergies. The birds were fun. Cockatiels live about a dozen or more years. The ones I raised are all gone by now. When I gave away most of them, I kept a couple of birds I raised. Now I'm down to 2 males I bought.

I also had a pair of flying can openers. They are actually called "Lovebirds" but that's a misnomer. They were vicious. Anyhow, the had one bunch of young ones and looked after most of them real well. There was one they didn't look after. For some reason it couldn't get out of the eggs shell. The fluid dried and the chick was stuck. So I pulled it out of the nest and extracted if from the shell. After putting it back I noticed the adults shuffled it to the side and weren't feeding it. So I raised that Lovebird and a Cockatiel the parents were ignoring in a fish tank. The fish tank had a heating pad under it so I could regulate the temperature. They just lay there on the towelling I put for them. Anyhow, you can buy stuff to feed them. You mix it and warm it and feed it in a small syringe they sell at the drug store for giving medicine to kids. I hated the 5 AM feeding. The Lovebirds legs were splayed (I think it's called). So I taped them until the bird could sit properly. That worked out really well.

Anyhow, after the bird was about a year old it became a flying can opener. It would sit on my shoulder and take a chunk out of my ear or neck. If you went near the cage it would try to get a bite. My wife finally got real tired of that.

Around here they even make people who have cats buy a license.