jhbsnoopy
The Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO) has decided last June 11 to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 5 to phaze 6 but still they are saying that it is moderate. But, luckily Novartis discovered the vaccine for this eventhough they need to test it. How's Dubai in terms of this virus? Do u know any case of swine flu here?
Chocoholic
A couple of people came through with it. One from New York and a couple of others, but it was picked up at the airport apparently. Haven't heard anything else.
sage & onion
- Chocoholic wrote:
A couple of people came through with it. One from New York and a couple of others, but it was picked up at the airport apparently. Haven't heard anything else.
How did they pick it up?
DDS
The great danger here is that they always tries to hide any bad news, who knows how many are infected now...
Chocoholic
They have the temperature detectors at the airport.
On most flights coming from countries where infections are high, medical staff board the plane and go round all the passengers checking them.
Got a great photo from a cabin crew mate of mine where the aircraft is full of white coats, taking temperatures and what not.
uaekid
I traveled twice those passing months, travelers don't seem to care about it a bit including me LOL, I mean you can't lock your self in a box after all, beside whats the big deal about it. if you get the symptoms go to the hospital for 5 days and you are as good as new .hell I see driving in Dubai is more life threatening than the flu LOOOOOOL
Speedhump
LOL. I agree, what's to be scared of? The most panicky people in the world are Americans about things like that.
Remember when the world tourism industry took a nosedive because after the Lockerbie plane bomb Americans simply stopped flying... :D
Chocoholic
Can't live your life being scared of stuff, just get on with it. If it's your time to go, then there's not much you can do about it.
jhbsnoopy
i just really hope that the vaccine that they discover will be help us as soon as possible.
Speedhump
The vaccine is already known, but it will take a lot of months for it to be widely produced and available.
Also the drug companies have to decide whether to make more of that, or more of the regular flu drugs that save a lot of lives every year anyway....
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Chocoholic
The yearly flu vaccines are actually hit and miss, as they never quite know which strain will come about every year.
Speedhump
Yes they have to make educated guesses as to what strains they think will be worst each year. But the point is that their resources are finite, so if they go all out on this pandemic vaccine they won't even be able to cover the other regular strains to best effect.
Chocoholic
erm and you think drug companies aren't sitting on stock piles of the stuff? Don't forget the medicines, vaccines and drugs industries are huge profit makers - it won't come for free!
Speedhump
No they're not sitting on vast stockpiles of flu vaccines, I thought that was common knowledge. Look at the following. If the US can't even inoculate it's own population, what chance for other countries, even developed ones?
Health experts have been concerned for years that the United States lacks enough domestic flu vaccine manufacturing capacity to inoculate the U.S. population. Officials worry countries could reserve the vaccine for their own population in the face of a flu pandemic.
Global health officials are debating whether the threat from the H1N1 virus is serious enough to ask manufacturers to mass-produce a vaccine for it.
It is not clear how many doses of H1N1 vaccine the Sanofi plant could produce with the additional capacity, Goodman said. Experts do not know how quickly the new virus will grow during production or how big a dose will be needed for a vaccine to be effective, he said.
Even with the new facility, Goodman said there is still room for further production increases in the United States.
"We all recognize that there are still unmet needs with seasonal influenza," he added.
Chocoholic
That's what they want you to think.
Speedhump
I'm glad you have the inside information that no-one else does :roll:
RobbyG
- Chocoholic wrote:
That's what they want you to think.
You sound just like Onion boy now.
'They' are the free press. Unbiased reporters that keep us updated about facts.
Now, the virus is currently being ordered around the globe, so production is expanding. You can't expect drug producers to make huge amounts of drugs and keep it stored without anyone wanting to buy their stocks.
So, it goes on backorder. This is not a communist state with inefficiencies!! This is capitalism. You order, you pay and get your product. A drug producer wants to make money too, instead of losing money in stockpiles, perhaps never to be used...
Now that the threat is high, the demand for influenza drugs are increasing. As soon as the threat became clear, our Dutch Minister of Health ordered that specific (hard to get) drugs at the manufacturer before many other countries did the ordering. The Minister ordered the drugs for more than 16 million people (2 shots per person for proper vaccination) in case needed.
That is reality. ;)
Chocoholic
Well here's one for you! Just got a message saying that a MacDonalds in Bur Dubai has just been shut down as one of the staff tested positive for Swine FLu!
RobbyG
- Chocoholic wrote:
Well here's one for you! Just got a message saying that a MacDonalds in Bur Dubai has just been shut down as one of the staff tested positive for Swine FLu!
Whats new hon? Its a pandemic. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands around the world will die because of it. Its a fact.
Lets just hope that the UAE government ordered a few million of vaccins in advance. Otherwise chances for survival might be slimmer for those infected.
Speedhump
- RobbyG wrote:
- Chocoholic wrote:
Well here's one for you! Just got a message saying that a MacDonalds in Bur Dubai has just been shut down as one of the staff tested positive for Swine FLu!
Whats new hon? Its a pandemic. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands around the world will die because of it. Its a fact.
Lets just hope that the UAE government ordered a few million of vaccins in advance. Otherwise chances for survival might be slimmer for those infected.
Whoah, calm those shattered nerves. Don't we hear that most people who catch this flu aren't at serious risk, and don't even need medical treatment?
I need to look deep into all the news and science reports again....
RobbyG
- Speedhump wrote:
- RobbyG wrote:
- Chocoholic wrote:
Well here's one for you! Just got a message saying that a MacDonalds in Bur Dubai has just been shut down as one of the staff tested positive for Swine FLu!
Whats new hon? Its a pandemic. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands around the world will die because of it. Its a fact.
Lets just hope that the UAE government ordered a few million of vaccins in advance. Otherwise chances for survival might be slimmer for those infected.
Whoah, calm those shattered nerves. Don't we hear that most people who catch this flu aren't at serious risk, and don't even need medical treatment?
I need to look deep into all the news and science reports again....
If one of us is calm, its me :D
Like I said, in Holland we expect some thousand(s) of people to die from it, even with vaccins. The 'luck' we all have is that the influency mutation is mildly agressive.
Worldwide however, you can't deny the fact that vaccins are limited in some countries and tens of thousands will probably die because of that. To be clear, this is just the beginning. The full force of the H1N1 pandemic will come to mind when several people around you get infected.
Now its merely spreading its grip with several cases, mostly from travellers. Experts expect that the virus might expand for years till it reaches peak infections. Lets hope it doesn't mutate to a more aggressive variant.
kanelli
So far people who are in good health seem to recover well from swine flu, just like they would from the usual trains of flu that circulate around the globe. Avian flu is much more dangerous, had a higher mortality rate. Luckily the transmission is limited.
Speedhump
That's right, as far as I have read too. As Robby said, the main danger comes if it mutates into a more aggressive form.
kanelli
But we could all have that worry about other common viruses out there besides swine flu.
Speedhump
Surely something that has reached pandemic proportions so quickly is much more a threat to mutate though, as it is multiplying far more often.
Guardasil
you have a higher chance of getting hepatitis from some punk making your hamburger and touching it in a restaurant kitchen than from dying from swine flu.
most people who are infected with swine flu dont even know and will recover just like regular flu.
as for the airport, take some paracetamol and bingo, no fever, and no refusal of entry.
oh and if you are going to wear a mask, be sure and cut a hole in it to talk with.
sage & onion
HIV / AIDS is far worse and a certain killer, yet people still carry on unprotected.
Misery Called Life
- Chocoholic wrote:
erm and you think drug companies aren't sitting on stock piles of the stuff? Don't forget the medicines, vaccines and drugs industries are huge profit makers - it won't come for free!
So Chocoholic you were right after all, companies are sitting on huge stock piles.
Say choco how was ur holiday?
jhbsnoopy
One of my housemate, who is a nurse in one of the hospital here said that we should be avail the vaccine for flu, do u think this will be enough to avoid having H1N1?
Guardasil
No.
Vaccine is not enough.
Why?
Because the virus will mutate. It already is.
Better drink chicken soup....
OINK OINK