Tag Archives: pandemic

H5N1: The Airborne Experiment Cannot Be Kept Secret

More bad news on the H5N1 airborne experiment front (from the Los Angeles Times yesterday): [Dutch virologist Ron] Fouchier [whose lab created airborne H5N1] said he was cooperating [with the US government], but he thought the [experiment sharing] strategy was impractical. When he … Continue reading

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H5N1: A Threat to Human Civilization in 2012?

It’s hard to imagine a nervier end-of-the-year story. H5N1 is a highly virulent strain of bird flu. If it ever went aerosol, transmitting itself between humans through coughing or sneezing, it would probably kill a billion people before a vaccine got … Continue reading

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For God’s Sake, Get Your Swine Flu Shot

This today from MSNBC: Flu illnesses are as widespread now as they are at the winter peak of normal flu seasons, Thomas Frieden, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters. “To be basically in the peak … Continue reading

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Read Albert Camus’s “The Plague” Ahead of Swine Flu (H1N1) Season?

Documentary filmmaker, John Pilger, recommends Albert Camus’s The Plague as a good read ahead of our upcoming pandemic swine flu (H1N1) season: A novel which tells the tale of the devastating plague visited on the Algerian town of Oran, it … Continue reading

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To Reduce Your Risk of Death from Swine Flu This Fall, Should You Get a Pneumonia Vaccine?

The Los Angeles Times today reports that a widely available pneumonia vaccine might substantially reduce your risk from dying of the swine flu virus (H1N1) this fall. My family is planning to request the vaccine from our physician. Money quote from … Continue reading

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H1N1: The Flu is Coming

Better get ready for it now. This today in the NY Times: The Obama administration warned Americans on Thursday to be ready for an aggressive return of the swine flu virus in the fall, announcing plans to begin vaccinations in … Continue reading

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Are You Preparing Now for Swine Flu in the Fall?

No time for complacency. According to the Daily News, if the H1N1 (“swine flu”) strain that struck Mexico especially hard earlier this year comes roaring back seriously in the Fall, America could be in for a lot of suffering: A … Continue reading

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Bad H1N1 (Swine Flu) News: Summer Heat May Not Stop It, and It’s Starting to Behave Like the 1918 Flu Pandemic

One billion people worldwide. According to New Scientist, that’s how many people could be infected by H1N1 between now and July. Despite a week of relative calm in the news regarding H1N1 (swine flu), New Scientist reports that there is new evidence suggesting that … Continue reading

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How Dangerous is This New Strain of Swine Flu? Researchers Should Have a Clearer Idea by May 10, 2009

Today is May 1, 2009, and here’s what the AP is saying about H1N1 (the new strain of swine flu): Researchers will get a better idea of how dangerous this virus is over the next week to 10 days, said … Continue reading

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Swine Flu Quote of the Day

Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization emphasizes the dangers of virulent swine flu mutations and the need for ongoing vigilance: “For the first time in history we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real time. … Continue reading

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“H1N1”: A Poem by Santi Tafarella

I guess evolution’s true. It started as a pig virus, but then the swine flew. Bit pig, bit bird, bit us. Hybrid, efficient, new. Call it “pigavian flu,” sent from me to you. Obama can’t save us; no telling it, “sod … Continue reading

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Mexican Flu, Swine Flu, or H1N1? A Pandemic Gets Rebranded

Whether or not the source for H1N1 was a Mexican pig farm (and this is by no means certain), the implication that this virus is somehow a “Mexican flu” and should be called Mexican flu borders on the racist, and carries … Continue reading

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Face Masks v. Frequent Hand Washing: Which Is More Effective in Reducing Swine Flu Transmission?

According to the Los Angeles Times today, both face masks and frequent hand washing provide equal levels of protection: [N]o single action . . . will provide complete protection in areas with confirmed swine flu cases, health officials said. It … Continue reading

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Tissues and Sanitizing Hand Wipes: Two Inexpensive Things That You Need to Buy and Use Now to Protect Yourself, and Your Family, from Swine Flu

According to the New York Times today, Britain has started a new ad campaign to slow the spread of Swine Flu: In Britain on Thursday, authorities launched an advertising campaign urging people to sneeze into tissues and to wash their … Continue reading

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A Reminder That Doorknobs, School Desktops, Shopping Cart Handlebars, and Buttons Are Vectors for the Spread of Swine Flu

This today in the New York Times: In Hong Kong, where health checks are being conducted on passengers arriving at the city’s airport, janitors put up fresh sheets of plastic film over elevator buttons so that any sick people pressing … Continue reading

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How to Protect Yourself, And Your Family, from Getting or Spreading Swine Flu: Dr. Joe Bresee of the CDC’s Influenza Division

Accurate health information on Swine Flu from Dr. Joe Bresee (of the CDC’s Influenza Division):

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How Fast Can a Swine Flu Vaccine Be Made and Distributed?

According to Time magazine, four to six months: [E]ven if the CDC‘s seed stock of virus were to be released to vaccine makers today, it would take the companies anywhere from four to six months before the first inoculation could … Continue reading

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Swine Flu and Albert Camus: What You Should Do to Protect Not Just Yourself, But Others

Obsidian Wings recently invited a guest blog post on swine flu, co-written by an immunologist and bioethicist. The advice that they offered on swine flu amounted to a list of Albert Camus-like existential responsibilities that we have to one another in … Continue reading

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Swine Flu Quote of the Day

John Donne’s “Meditation 17″ in 1624:  “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, … Continue reading

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