Swine flu has been around for years.
Commy
Posts: 4,984
The swine flu, specifically H1N1, has been around since at least 1994, probably before that.
http://www.nih.go.jp/yoken/iasr/18/214/graph/f2142.gif
why is it breaking news and considered an "outbreak", now?.
The point of all of this isn't clear yet.
But one thing is.
Reality hasn't changed. Our perception of it has.
http://www.nih.go.jp/yoken/iasr/18/214/graph/f2142.gif
why is it breaking news and considered an "outbreak", now?.
The point of all of this isn't clear yet.
But one thing is.
Reality hasn't changed. Our perception of it has.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASibLqwVbsk
According to the 'flu facts,' this is a different strain of the virus that's never been found anywhere in the world. The reason why it's an outbreak now is because people have no immunity to it and currently there's no vaccine.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090 ... hy/3222848
Q. What makes this swine flu virus special?
A. It's a novel combination of bird, pig and human viral genes never before found in the U.S. or elsewhere, so people have no immunity to it. It's a descendant of the H1N1 virus that killed tens of millions of people worldwide in the pandemic of 1918-1919, mixed in with recent strains of swine and bird flu viruses. The 1918 virus originated in birds and then jumped to humans. This year's virus apparently jumped from a pig to a 5-year-old boy in Veracruz, Mexico, who passed it on to other humans.
Q. How does this H1N1 virus differ from the H1N1 that caused the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918-1919?
A. That virus developed various changes over the years, so it's similar but not identical to its ancestor — like a grandson who resembles but also differs from his grandfather. So far, H1N1 is not as virulent as the previous strain, but that could change. The earlier pandemic began mildly in 1918, but returned in a devastating second wave six months later. Experts fear that could happen again. Hence they are rushing to develop a vaccine by this fall.
thanks for clearing that up.
the mutated H1N1, aka swine flu, is still called "H1N1", which got me wondering.
I take it back.
After I clicked on the Q&A link, it never cited the source for the questions or answers.
Which has me wondering.
If its called H1R1 and it mutates, why is it still called H1R1?
who is this no-name answering these questions?
cite your link please. who gave the interview, who answered the questions, what group is behind the interview etc.
my theory is that its all fear mongering to get us into spending, to buy more flu vaccines and more flu medicine. others suggest it is more nefarious than that, a ruse to implement martial law. (for what i do not know)
whatever.
so far the only "evidence" i've seen to dismiss any of thosee theories is a link to a random Q&A session that actually encourages us to buy more flu medicine, which at first glance appears a little suspect.
"they want us to buy" says me.
"no you're wrong. go buy flu medicine" says them.
wtf?
regular flu deaths in the US (annunally) =20,000
but lets freak out about hte first one :roll:
I have a lot of respect for the flu. Any flu.
Exactly, its not about the number of people who die, it is about the number of people who live. Sure 20,000 people might die from the regular flu, but millions get it and live. Especially when you consider that most of those 20,000 are people with weakend immune systems. A flu that attacks people with healthy ammune systems is a much bigger deal.
You may be on to something. Check out this article from a skeptic (I included some info about Dr. Mercola at the end of this post).
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... e-Flu.aspx
Your Fear Will Make Some People VERY Rich in Today's Crumbling Economy
Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) is approved for treatment of uncomplicated influenza A and B in children 1 year of age or older. It is also approved for prevention of influenza in people 13 years or older. It’s part of a group of anti-influenza drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors, which work by blocking a viral enzyme that helps the influenza virus to invade cells in your respiratory tract.
According to the Associated Press at least one financial analyst estimates up to $388 million worth of Tamiflu sales in the near future -- and that's without a pandemic outbreak.
More than half a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including Gilead Sciences Inc., Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other companies with a stake in flu treatments and detection, have seen a rise in their shares in a matter of days, and will likely see revenue boosts if the swine flu outbreak continues to spread.
Swine flue is extremely convenient for governments that would have very soon have to dispose of billions of dollars of Tamiflu stock, which they bought to counter avian flu, or H5N1. The US government ordered 20 million doses, costing $2 billion, in October, 2005, and around that time the UK government ordered 14.6 million doses. Tamiflu’s manufacturer, Roche, has confirmed that the shelf life of its anti-viral is three years.
about Dr. Mercola
Joseph Mercola, D.O. (born 1954), is an osteopathic physician, health activist, and entrepreneur practicing in Hoffman Estates, IL[1] (near Chicago). He is the author of two New York Times best-sellers, The No-Grain Diet (with Alison Rose Levy), and The Great Bird Flu Hoax, together with several other books. He is best known as founder and editor of the website Mercola.com. On his website, he advocates dietary and lifestyle approaches to health. He criticizes many of the practices of mainstream medicine and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), particularly vaccination and the frequent use of prescription drugs and surgery to treat diseases.
Yeah, I've read that and some of his other stuff. He as a very intersting perspective on some of these things, to say the least.
fucking hypocrites.
You mean like this guy?
CNN Money (2005)-- Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu: Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing.
NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.
Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.
The forms don't reveal the exact number of shares Rumsfeld owns, but in the past six months fears of a pandemic and the ensuing scramble for Tamiflu have sent Gilead's stock from $35 to $47. That's made the Pentagon chief, already one of the wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1 million richer.
Rumsfeld isn't the only political heavyweight benefiting from demand for Tamiflu, which is manufactured and marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche. (Gilead receives a royalty from Roche equaling about 10% of sales.) Former Secretary of State George Shultz, who is on Gilead's board, has sold more than $7 million worth of Gilead since the beginning of 2005.
Another board member is the wife of former California Gov. Pete Wilson.
"I don't know of any biotech company that's so politically well-connected," says analyst Andrew McDonald of Think Equity Partners in San Francisco.
What's more, the federal government is emerging as one of the world's biggest customers for Tamiflu. In July, the Pentagon ordered $58 million worth of the treatment for U.S. troops around the world, and Congress is considering a multi-billion dollar purchase. Roche expects 2005 sales for Tamiflu to be about $1 billion, compared with $258 million in 2004.
Rumsfeld recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead when he left Gilead and became Secretary of Defense in early 2001. And late last month, notes a senior Pentagon official, Rumsfeld went even further and had the Pentagon's general counsel issue additional instructions outlining what he could and could not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to respond.
As the flu issue heated up early this year, according to the Pentagon official, Rumsfeld considered unloading his entire Gilead stake and sought the advice of the Department of Justice, the SEC and the federal Office of Government Ethics.
Those agencies didn't offer an opinion so Rumsfeld consulted a private securities lawyer, who advised him that it was safer to hold on to the stock and be quite public about his recusal rather than sell and run the risk of being accused of trading on insider information, something Rumsfeld doesn't believe he possesses. So he's keeping his shares for the time being.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
of course he did.
gotta be prepared for when the media creates these pandemics. (anyone still think the media doesn't have an agenda?)
Cheney and his no bid haliburton contracts, and now this.
we need laws preventing this conflict of interest. if your a corporate douche, you can't be a gov't official, and vise versa. or maybe have a ten year window or somehting similar.
i don't want my tax dollars paying for Rumsfelds vacation and Cheneys....eh whatever Cheney does, pay for his death star or whatever. these fuckers need some checks on their power....corporate whores at it again.
Damn, that bird is cukoooo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiYYBWFNxKw
Also, at the 0:11 second clip it appears the US has toppled Canada....