H1N1 - Swine Flu

[Weeds]

I was wondering earlier; what do you guys think about the swine flu? Is it really as dangerous as media gives the impression that it is? Could it be even worse? Have you had any encounterings with the above named disease?

I've had a pretty bad encountering myself; I have it! D: It's proven to be quite variable, as yesterday I was pretty sure I was going to die, and today I haven't even had fever. O.o

 

[Stark]

I've had it, didn't feel emotions for a weekend and had about 6 hours with a 39.6 temp. Massive media hype. Move on.

Thats it in a nutshell.

 

[Brendan Savem]

It's not really a deadly disease as of the moment, it's almost the same as regular flu. What makes it special is that it's extremely easy to catch and spread. The media just stretched it a little and called it an epidemic, what's new there?

That fear however does have an origin though. What most governments are worried about is what would happen if it mixed with a more deadlier form of flu, say bird flu. Some governments are quite convinced that such a combination will create a super mutant virus that will really tear up the track.

As for encounters, I have had none as of the moment, though there was an occasion when I thought I had it, it was a false alarm though. There doesn't seem to be any cases near me at the time, and I know because I'm still in school.

 

[Teapot]

Been there, done that, brought the t-shirt. As usual, blame the media.

Also it's less deadly than the normal flu this time of year. The Sun forgot to mention that one.

 

[Shocari]

T-Shirt? Down here, in Arkansas, we have one for the Razorbacks: on the front it says "I don't have SWINE FLU", and the back reads "I have HOG FEVER". Needless to say, Razorbacks suck, so I don't have one

I haven't caught it yet, nor do I plan to, although everyone around me seem to be following the crowd and coming down with it.

 

[Linkachu]

Oh... gods... Now it's here, too! ;-;

Everyone going gaga about H1N1 at my work centre/in the media has driven me nutty. Now it's my favourite running gag IRL yet still has me rolling my eyes on a regular basis. The reactions of some people... One guy even wrote into our local news paper suggesting we "shut down Canada for 7 days until it passes."

Yes. SHUT DOWN CANADA.

Oh, but he said truckers could still run. And the grocery stores would stay open because people gotta eat. :O

... The way the letter was written, I think he was dead serious, too.

(Headdesks. Repeatedly)

 

[KoL]

Guess everyone and everything is getting swine flu.

Someone suspected I had caught it about a week ago, although it turns out (unsurprisingly) that I'd just caught a bad cold. Nevertheless, plenty of swine-flu related jokes were thrown around which ultimately concluded with my inevitable fate being that I'd turn into Dark Beast Ganon by the end of the week. Well, it's been a week, and I'm still a regular human....I'm a bit disappointed.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

I'm not afraid of Swine Flu. Swine Flu is afraid of me. And until the massive global outbreak of Siberian Grasshopper Flu, I think I'm relatively safe.

Incidentally, for those who were wondering why is it called H1N1 - The H#/N# numbers are referring to forms of enzymes within the Virus - Hemaglutinin and Neuraminidase.

Neuraminidase enzymes do their work on neuraminic acid - which is actually a sugar with a nine carbon atom chain - which, by the naming standards of saccharides, would make it a nonose.

And that is why when you get the flu and sneeze your brains out you often wish you had nonose.

 

[Doctor Oak]

turns out ... that I'd just caught a bad cold.

Really, Swine Flu is barely anything more than that. People have died from it, yes - but no more people than those who die from seasonal flu every year - and it's always because of underlying health conditions factoring in.

The media (sadly) is pretty much hugely responsible for the over-reaction - but it's hard to blame anyone for it, I guess. After Bird Flu a couple of years ago and Mad Cow/Foot & Mouth disease over the past decade, it's natural to think another pandemic of such serious proportions has descended upon us again. It's really not the case, though - and really, it's not worth worrying about. If you suspect you may have it, and you have a pre-existing health condition, it's worth talking to your Doctor. Otherwise, just call in sick for a couple of days and sleep it off.

 

[Sem]

It indeed has been massively over-hyped, and I've treated it like joke really XD

On average, 30,000+ peope die of the flu each year in America alone, which is something you probably don't hear the media tell you along with the fear-mongering-ness.

And yeah, it's not at all a death sentence. I know several people who have had it and it didn't sound like anything worse than a cold. =/

 

[Chadwyck]

And that is why when you get the flu and sneeze your brains out you often wish you had nonose.

Stel... I hope you didn't STRAIN yourself to come up with that pun... (feel free to kill me now)

Anyway, I honestly don't see what the big deal is with Swine Flu. It's sort of become a joke between me and almost everyone I know. Particularly in the early months when all the hype was beginning, anytime someone sneezed or coughed everyone would just shout "Swine Flu" and proceed to shun that person for a few seconds. We all knew even then the media was just hyping it up.

H1N1 is no different than any other flu other than the fact that it's easily spread, if you catch it, just rest. That's what you should do when you catch any type of sickness anyway.

I've known a few people who've had it, and they're all fine. Sure, they had to miss work and school for a few days and eat some soup, but they're alive. Don't let the media scare you, they'll report on anything that the population finds frightening, and then make it seem ten times worse than it is.

 

[Magpie]

You can always relay on Stel for an awesome science lesson ^^

I don't think I know anyone in my area who's had it, not personality anyway. I have a couple of friends who claim a couple of their friends have had it, but I really don't know either way if they're just joking, since if anyone so much as sneezes they 'MUST have it and are going to infect us all!'

The Tesco I work in has gone on germ overload though. There are those little bottles of antibacterial gel EVERYWHERE throughtout and if there is any free wall space it quickly gets set upon by 'catch it, bin it, kill it' posters. Of course, this is just all for customer benefit. Did they put any antibacterial stuff in our canteen? Nope.

Personally, I'm not that worried. I under no circumstances want to catch it, just like I don't want to catch regular flu either, but I'm not running around with a mask either.

 

[Tatile]

Hehe, Magpie it's the reverse where I work: we're not allowed to mention Swine Flu within earshot of our customers, should we cause any undue panic and there's antibacterial stuff everywhere in the staff area (at the hand scanner, in the toilets, canteen etc.). Needless to say we've had our share of people either getting Swine Flu or a severe case of the sniffles and taking a few days off - I myself, though having a case of the sniffles, have not taken any sick days nor am I using the antibacterial gels (don't see much of the point, influenza still being a virus last time I checked).

Have been vaccinated for H1N1 though, my arm still hurts and it was done on Saturday morning

I'm also clearly reminded of The Sun's (that old soft-core "newspaper") headline when Swine Flu was first announced: THREAT TO ALL OF HUMANTIY! Something to that effect anyway, capslock and all. I've yet to see the porky apocalypse though, so I think we're good.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Lawl, the Aporkalypse is upon us indeed.

I seriously wonder what would be the next 'global epidemic that will slaughter humanity'. It's like a new one pops up every other week... And it's nearly always blown out of proportion by the media. But then, we're talking about the media here. It's their job to cause panic and disarray among the weak-minded fools that are humanity, all in the name of ratings.

You know, makes me wonder who the Media is working for. Probably Cthulhu.

 

[Weeds]

I've had it, didn't feel emotions for a weekend and had about 6 hours with a 39.6 temp. Massive media hype. Move on.

Thats it in a nutshell.

That's about what it is yeah. When I thought I was going to die I had 39.8 degrees Celsius. (which is pretty high) I guess I really wasn't that afraid of dying, it was just media and my uber-pessimistic mother who made me feel bad. (She was going on like "If you get through this we'll... And so forth. And now she seems to have caught it. )

All my relatives and friends keep going on how sorry they are for me, but truth is, I feel just fine. But that suits me fine, I get to stay home one week from school, training my ground type team in FireRed. At first I was kind of nervous towards this, but it isn't a big deal, and I don't worry anymore. I'll just get to chewing my Tamiflu, and hope I get better before our maths test. :-\

 

[ToadDude]

I have it right now! Headache and a cough, nothing more. Teh Media be lying!

 

[Secad MS]

Mmmm, I agree with everyone else with it being media hype. However I'm in an area that is required to get the shot, so I did. To me, it's just another variation of the regular flu.

Sadly, I saw multiple little children who had to be held down, because they got the FluMist (nasal vaccine) earlier, and were afraid of the shot. They couldn't get the FluMist version of the H1N1 one because it was said that the two live viruses in the nose could mutate or something. I had the FluMist for the seasonal flu earlier, so I had to get the shot. It was nothing special, other than standing in a line for FIVE HOURS.

 

[The Argonauts]

Every time I happen to go by a place giving flu shots, I point and laugh at the people in line loud enough for them to hear me. All hype and no proof.

 

[Hunting Rifle]

I just got the vaccination.

I'm not afraid of getting it, even though I'm in a risk group. My disease resistance is OK- although I tend to get sick on every day something cool happens. Not funny.

International media grabs every chance to announce the end of times. In Holland, a new virus is found every day and all of them are 'dangerous' for us, according to 'research'. My country takes it lightly- no mouthcaps or 'stuff. In school, we are told to wash hands every few hours, though. Just in case.

There's something ironical about the whole hype. Every lands buys thousands of Tamiflu vaccinations, while normal flu takes more souls jearly then the H1N1 will ever do. Why panick about H1N1? Spend the money on something more important, I say. Only vaccinate risk groups and people who really, really, really want a vaccination, and leave the rest for what it is. Humanity has overcome far more dangerous viruses.

Funny is how every old person talks about the Spanish flu now. It's the main subject in old people's home's, according to my brother-in-law.

 

[Lucario454]

I've never gotten the flu shots before. I eat a bunch of oranges and keep my hands washed, and I'm fine. What got annoying was when Obama made Swine Flu a national emergency, because that just gave the media even more to annoy all of the Americans. Including me.

 

[Secad MS]

I rarely get sick, unlike most of my family who are in a perpetual state of mild sickness. When I get sick, I am out. The last time I got sick, I couldn't stand up, got dizzy with little movement, and wasn't hungry or thirsty at all, even though I was vomiting buckets. I spent that half-week watching Star Trek and other nerdy movies, sipping Powerade. Thankfully this was four months ago.

Even with all the hype beforehand, Devari, I agree that Obama sort of made it worse.

 

[Rex]

I'm not sanitary, and yet I am still alive. H1N1 is nothing to worry about. The Media blew it up. For all I know I've had and recovered from it. If i did it wasn't much worse then the regular Flu.

 

[Weeds]

I've heard that the injected version of the vaccine has bad side effects (infection, nausea, etc.)

When we got the vaccine in school we had probably half of the ninth grade sick the next day. I myself took the vaccine (just in case) and the result was an aching arm and a funny fever-ish feeling the next morning.