Influenza A H1N1 Outbreak

[Rors]

Ok today we had our first confirmed case of swine flu at my company, and on my floor. There's another one (also in my team) that is suspected, got tested today and we'll have the results by tomorrow.
There was a bit of panic as the news spread in the company, and now we're wearing masks (the suit and tie were not enough in this heat, we had to bring in the masks ). It's kinda funny looking at everyone with masks that make us look like ducks (no, i wont post any pictures ). And many are bringing now sanitizers, alcohol and stuff for the hands, the desks...to decontaminate. I got my own "sbirto" bottle that i use whenever i touch anything around (from doorknobs to AC to desks...). Some people from the company have been also avoiding us hehe (us being the people from the infected floor ).

So this thing is finally being spread on a local transmission basis, not only imported cases. Few colleagues that went to get tested (they didn't show any symptoms, but got paranoid, said that the hall in the hospital was full with patients waiting to get tested, all wearing face masks, around 20 people)

I believe there's only the BGUH (Beirut Governmental University Hospital aka Rafic Hariri Hospital Jnah) where we can get diagnosed. We knew that our colleague most probably got the virus from Sacre-Coeur Hospital, apparently there's something going on there so if you have something to do there, be cautious.

I asked a couple of hospitals what's the procedure if people suspected of swine flu presented themselves to the ER, they said they should be isolated (as if i didnt know that) but they dont take them in charge and had no clue what to do whatsoever and they weren't able to give me an answer as to where these people should go! That was appalling!

The disease is moderate so no need to panic! It is now more probable that we encounter people with the virus and it is essential to know what are the symptoms and what should be done in case we, or someone we know believe to have contracted the H1N1 virus.

Children and teenagers showing the H1N1 symptoms should immediately get tested as they are the group of the population most at risk of getting the more severe form of the disease. Same goes for pregnant women (bas mesh kel ma wahad wej3o dorso yrou7 ya3mol fa7es swine flu ).

[dyyyy]

i still don't get what's the difference between swine flu and the normal flu ?

[Raficoo]

according to this http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/files/pdf/H...30_1700hrs.pdf

Lebanon has it's first death of Swine Flu.

[Danny Z]

Originally Posted by dyyyy

i still don't get what's the difference between swine flu and the normal flu ?

It is all in the abilities to mutate. You see the swine flu is a derivative of the bird flu, or another flu that was once called the spanish flu, when it spread it became an epidemic that wiped populations. Although the swine flu is mild, it doesn't have a cure and imagine that it mutates into something as strong a SARS and without any cure, anybody who gets it will die. No antibiotic, no aspirin nothing will cure it. That's why the world is more concerned about containing the virus from spreading than anything else.

[Rors]

Originally Posted by Danny Z

It is all in the abilities to mutate. You see the swine flu is a derivative of the bird flu, or another flu that was once called the spanish flu, when it spread it became an epidemic that wiped populations. Although the swine flu is mild, it doesn't have a cure and imagine that it mutates into something as strong a SARS and without any cure, anybody who gets it will die. No antibiotic, no aspirin nothing will cure it. That's why the world is more concerned about containing the virus from spreading than anything else.

The 2009 H1N1 virus is a mixture of bird, human and swine flu. It is very unstable and more prone to exchange genetic material with other flu viruses, which leads to the fear of it acquiring more virulent genes come winter, where the probability of an encounter of the H1N1 virus with the regular endemic flu virus is much higher. In contrast, endemic human flu viruses are much more stable. The H1N1 is the fastest to have spread worldwide in recorded hisotry, it took it less than 6 weeks to spread over the globe while it took over 6 months for other pandemic viruses to do so. Couple that with its instability, you get where the fears are coming from.
One other thing that is scaring scientists is that the 1918 spanish flu was also of the H1N1 sub-type, and just as the 2009 swine flu, the first wave of infections that started March 1918 was mild and moderate, then came the devastating second wave that left millions dead.
We are not there yet, and no country is yet to report any case of mutation of the H1N1 thus far. So if it continues like that, the expected second wave might just be as moderate as the first. Ya3neh it's better to catch it now when we know the disease is mild, and build an immunity just in case the second wave would be harder hehe (in Germany, USA and few other countries, they're organising "flu parties" for people to get infected on purpose and build an immunity, maybe we should think of something like that in Lebanon, i know i'd go )

Bottom line, the disease is mild, most cases dont need hospitalisations nor medication (Tamiflu or Relenza). The only people at risk are those who have underlying diseases (Heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, cancer, immunodepressed...), pregnant women and some reports are saying obesity is a risk factor. It seems also that children are getting a little more affected by this flu (more severe symptoms).
The death rate of the 2009 H1N1 lies around 0.4% (just to compare, bird flu death rate ranges between 50 and 70%, and SARS death rate is around 15%)

In Lebanon, local transmission has begun but is still very limited. And as of August 3, 2009, we have 210 laboratory confirmed cases and 1 death (----> underlying disease: lymphoma)

[dyyyy]

now that nobody talks about it anymore,
i want to get your opinion on swine flu and the reality of its danger
considering that :
-when all the propaganda started about 165 people dead in Mexico from the swine flu you could do a little research and find that a normal flu kills thousands a year

FROM WIKIPEDIA According to the World Health Organization: "Every winter, tens of millions of people get the flu. Most are only ill and out of work for a week, yet the elderly are at a higher risk of death from the illness. We know the worldwide death toll exceeds a few hundred thousand people a years."

-the swine flu from its start had a cure and a vaccine.
-the man who died in lebanon, and all the news reported the first lebanese dead from swine flu, had cancer along the flu.

so what's your opinion about it?
if you think that swine flu was a real danger, tell me what's the difference between it and a regular flu.
if not, do you think that bird flu and cow madness were also hoaxes ?

[Boris]

you should ask the Tamiflu company who made billions of dollars from the worldwide flu propaganda i'm sure they know the answer...

in my opinion, as there is worldwide organizations behind the scenes of everything happening in the world (except natural disasters...), from which they make billions maybe trillions of dollars out of every event,

swine flu was just another one.

never believe the things you hear and see :)

[beirutiye]

I have never believed that whole story from the beginning. If we review all the death cases reported, we see that they all have serious health complications other than the flu. The Lebanese health authorities emphasized that he died of swine flu although he had cancer and was in the late stages and they weren't sure what the killing cause. Inaddition to that. Regular flu kills thousand every year and nobody made a fuss about it.
The issue in my opinion is large medice and vaccine companies needed a boost after the worldwide recession and the government needed to shift the attention away from the economic crisis and make people think more about their saftey and protection.

[Rors]

19:11 وزير الصحة: 600 اصابة معتلمة في لبنان بانفلونزا الخنازير، و90% منها ليست بحاجة الى علاج

tayyar.org

[Ataraxia]

Originally Posted by beirutiye

I have never believed that whole story from the beginning. If we review all the death cases reported, we see that they all have serious health complications other than the flu. The Lebanese health authorities emphasized that he died of swine flu although he had cancer and was in the late stages and they weren't sure what the killing cause. Inaddition to that. Regular flu kills thousand every year and nobody made a fuss about it.
The issue in my opinion is large medice and vaccine companies needed a boost after the worldwide recession and the government needed to shift the attention away from the economic crisis and make people think more about their saftey and protection.

I am not dismissing the company's intentions but there is a big fuss about it not because it is dangerous but because of its spread. Now it is as common as every flu, but many specialists are fearing that if it mutates it could be like the 1918 flu. So yes a fuss early on now is way better than waiting for more than 100 million people to die.