[Peace-discuss] Wasn't even close [flu vs. public health]

[E. Wayne Johnson]

In which of the 91 years since 1918 was this scenario not equally plausible?

Except for one thing --  the continual year after year experience with 
the bug.

It's xenophobia and deja vu all over again.  The modern day equivalent 
of the Witch Craze.
If it ain't the Islamofascists, its the Swine Flu and the Chinese.


On 6/16/2009 10:52 PM, John Fettig wrote:
> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/maps/
>
> This is one very valid reason why we need a vaccine. 
> The 1918 virus was mild in the spring, but extremely deadly when the flu season hit.
>
> John
>
> On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 10:34 PM, Stuart Levy <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu 
> <mailto:slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>> wrote:
>
>     On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 07:57:52PM -0500, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>     > *<venom>*
>     >
>     > If one can set the war aside just for the moment----
>     >
>     > The  lies about the so-called A(H1N1) flu virus [aka Swine Flu]
>     ought to be
>     > enough by themselves to cause the huddled and befuddled masses
>     to rise up
>     > and take torch and manure fork in hand. But, it's only $25 or so
>     for each
>     > citizen, so its /very Reasonable/...
>     > You can't expect our debt-ridden masses to Rise Up for
>     twenty-five bucks.
>     >
>     > But seriously, folks, about 35,000 people in the US die every
>     year from
>     > P.O.F. (plain old flu) and its manifold complications, every
>     year, year
>     > after year after year.  So what so unusual about this A(H1N1)?
>      Nothing.
>     > At.  All.
>
>     It does seem to be clear now, but was that clear from the outset?
>
>     I'm not sure whether you're criticizing the residual hysteria,
>     which seems terrifically wasteful to me too, or the early alarm
>     in the first few weeks, which seemed reasonable.  Wasn't it?
>
>     As I understand it, the story has been that...
>
>       - This year's H1N1 is a new variant of a flu virus which has
>            crossed from pigs to humans in the past.
>
>       - Eventually it's expected that *some* animal flu virus,
>            to which humans haven't yet adapted and react badly,
>            will become transmissible enough among humans to propagate
>     fast,
>            and it'll be a big deal.  When that happens, stopping it fast
>            will be important.  People today are a lot more mobile than
>            in 1918.
>
>       - This year's H1N1 is transmissible between humans.
>            Early on it wasn't clear how transmissible.
>
>       - This H1N1 was lethal for at least a fair number of people.
>            Early on it wasn't clear how lethal.
>
>       - It was more lethal for young healthy adults than among
>            the elderly or children, which is unusual among flu viruses,
>            but was true of the very serious 1918 H1N1 variant.
>
>     Is any of that wrong?  Given that early picture, wasn't it
>     reasonable for public-health people to raise an alarm at the time?
>
>     It's since become clear that this one *isn't* very lethal nor
>     very transmissible.  It's just a run-of-the-mill flu virus as you say.
>
>     So we don't need to hear in today's national news that someone in
>     such-and-such city has died of this year's variant -- it's
>     unfortunate,
>     and it's worth tracking in public health circles, but it shouldn't be
>     news any more than the daily obituaries are.
>
>     And so it seems we should be mad if we're going to spend $1.5 billion
>     on fighting *this* H1N1 outbreak, which was the plan when it was
>     put into
>     the supplemental in late April (when, given what was known then,
>     it might have been a real emergency, right?).
>
>     If that is still the plan, sure enough, it'll be a ridiculous waste.
>     We could provide a lot of real public health service, for
>     tuberculosis or diabetes or drug treatment or whatever, for $1.5
>     billion.
>
>
>     > About 40% of the cases of P.O.F. are caused by A(H1N1) influenza
>     viruses.
>     > So that roughly about 35 to 40 deaths every day 24/7/365 are
>     caused by
>     > Plain Old "A(H1N1)".   While a few odd cases constitutes a Pandemic.
>     >
>     > As Costello said, "One of us is NUTS!!!"
>     >
>     > So, one might say this whole business of the flu is what is
>     generally
>     > referred to as a Fraud,  a Scam, an Artifice.
>     > It's about the m-o-n-e-y...but, it's only about a $100 for a
>     family of 4.
>     >
>     > Plus another $100 or so for the cronies and operatives at the
>     IMF... [ty!
>     > :-) ]
>     >
>     > &...Enjoy your stimulus...*SUCKERS!!!!*
>     >
>     > ****
>     >
>     > We now return you to the War, which is already in progress.
>     >
>     > *</venom>*
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