are you afraid of Swine Flu?

[Salome]

Originally Posted by King Rami

allow me to be your doctor for tonight:

go buy a Cedars smokes pack, smoke only 1 cigarette!!!!!!

visit zouk for 13 minutes then move to chekka for 6.4 minutes, don't forget to eat a man2ouche at wooden bakery (jbeil).

trust me, bterja3 jdid :p

maybe Jbeil sounds ok but the rest is a killer one so no thanks:D

[Anny]

No I am not, since the SARS didnt affect me either. And I think, I have more chances to die by walking on the street and be hit by car than catching the swin flu.

[General my General!]

Originally Posted by Anny

No I am not, since the SARS didnt affect me either. And I think, I have more chances to die by walking on the street and be hit by car than catching the swin flu.

That's a very good point to keep it in perspective, and surely more people are dying of heart diseases, road accidents, drugs, etc. than by the H1N1 flu. But what is different about this flu is that if it were to hit in a more infectious and deadly form, there is little we can do since none of us have immunity to it. It is the feeling of helplessness which will cause a lot of chaos in societies the world over.

Before one only occasionaly heard of such influenza outbreaks. Now, not only are we historically overdue for a deadly pandemic, but we also have an increasing rate of new mutation viruses, partly due to human development and increasing urban area and causing close contact among and with various animals. We've had in recent years Avian flu, SARS, and now this...its all warning signs for what is yet to come.

It won't be the end of the world, but it sure is scary to think of. In the meantime, all we can do is keep up personal hygiene.

Cheers!

[opium]

I am just afraid from the fact that all those viruses are like UFOs for Lebanese.We just hear about them but we will never know if any Lebanese was infected.Birds flu traveled through the globe and not one single case was discovered in Lebanon!That's what I am afraid of!

[General my General!]

Originally Posted by opium

I am just afraid from the fact that all those viruses are like UFOs for Lebanese.We just hear about them but we will never know if any Lebanese was infected.Birds flu traveled through the globe and not one single case was discovered in Lebanon!That's what I am afraid of!

On avian flu, I must say a friend of mine into infectious diseases had a case at a Beirut hospital that was initially diagnosed as that. I don't know if the diagnosis later changed. Although officially the MoH reports there were no cases, and I lost contact with the friend who travelled abroad.

Personaly, I think the technical people at the top of the MoH will not hide away such cases, and their work is a whole lot better than most people think it is. But then again you never know who might interfere. Also, I am not sure if Lebanese laboratories are capable to diagnose this particular virus, so it might need to be sent to Germany or France...and if it was positive, then nobody can hide it since it is directly traceable by WHO to the country that sent the sample. If any local lab can do the test, then I share your worries more.

Also, what is worrying is that there are many loopholes in the reporting system we have from labs/doctors to the MoH. In addition, if its a few non-deadly cases, people might not go to a doctor to report it either. Our preparedness is not bad given the limited resources the MoH has, but it is nothing compares to what many European countries have in terms of quick response and prevention.

Cheers!