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Frankly, after hearing and reading about the water infrastructures of many major cities, NYC included, I strongly suspect such a system as this would be more readily useful in verifying that tap water is actually safe from pollutants caused by run-of-the-mill industry and poor water treatment / storage / transportation facilities. Good chunks of the NYC aqueduct system are 100+ years old, with some sections of pipe coming in from the Adirondacks still made of wood, fer cryin' out lout.

Sure, pesticides intentionally dumped in a reservoir are definitely a Very Bad Thing (TM), but polychlorinated biphenyl or polycyclic hydrocarbon aromatics are also *not* Part Of This Nutritious Breakfast (TM). There are plenty of nasties we've put into our *own* water supply, either out of cluelessness or laziness or greed, and new and easy ways of detecting these can only be good.

Cheers,

No you don't want to ban guns you just want to regulate them to the point that they are effectively banned.

You don't say why it will help. Why do you think it will help?

All numbers taken from the CDC via http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html for the year 2006.

Stronger regulation can't help.

There were 30,896 fire arm deaths in the USA. 642 of those were unintentional. For comparison there were 43,664 unintentional deaths caused by automobiles. Water unintentionally killed almost five times as many people, 3,579!

The flu, plain old every day flu, kills more people than guns.

Regulating guns is a waste of resources. Potentially 62 times as many deaths can be prevented if those same resources are spent on vehicle safety. Any argument made about firearms that is not also made about motor vehicles or water means that you don't care about saving people. Your only agenda is restricting access to guns.

Yes I use unintentionally a lot. Why? It's not to generate a really low fire arm death number. It's because that's the only way to determine preventable deaths through regulation. Over half of the total fire arm deaths are suicide, 16,883. You can't prevent those through gun regulation. You can only move them to a different cause of death. The 12,791 homicides? Again you're just moving them to a different column. Also how is more regulation going to help? If people are willing to break the law against murder why are they going to obey laws about secondary sales? Criminals don't obey laws. That's what makes them criminals.

I leave you one final question. If you're alone in a room with a car, a gun, and a bucket of water what is the only thing in the room that can kill you?

The kid died from respiratory obstruction due to a malformed lower jaw and pneumonia. The article you're linking to mentions that the NO2 did aggravate those factors, but it was hardly the cause. Also, the article is from 1926 and the death occurred in 1923... pneumonia was the 2nd leading cause of death in 1923 as well.

I think you're missing the point. If they required every passenger to arrive at the airport naked, cavity searched them before allowing them to board, and allowed no luggage of any kind, we wouldn't need to spend billions outfitting our airports with these high-tech scanners. Where do you draw the line where human dignity, process efficiency, and common sense outweigh a totally unproven security measure?

Meanwhile, twelve times as many people die of the flu each year -- that's the plain, old, ordinary, non-swine flu -- than died on all the planes and buildings on 9/11 combined. Twelve 9/11s, every single year. I don't see anyone clamoring for us to outfit buildings and airports with anti-microbial spray booths, do you?

These scanners are hand-waving, nothing more. There's nothing to prove that they're doing anything to improve security in the skies ... nothing to prove that me emptying my pockets completely makes you any safer than me merely removing a perfectly ordinary, functioning wristwatch. It's all a load of government contractors getting rich by selling gizmos to the government. We, the people, get inconvenienced; we get degraded as human beings; and we get to pick up the tab for it. It's total bullshit.

There is lots of research linking cost of cigarettes to reduction of smoking. Since you're too lazy to look it up (you could try Google) or allergic to facts, here are some references: (sorry about the sloppy formatting but I'm too lazy to format for trolls.)

1 Philip Morris document, "General Comments on Smoking and Health," Appendix I in The Perspective of PM International on Smoking and Health Initiatives, March 29, 1985, Bates No. 2023268329-8348. 2 Ellen Merlo, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Philip Morris, 1994 draft speech to the Philip Morris USA Trade Council, http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oyf35e00. 3 R.J. Reynolds Executive D. S. Burrows, âoeEstimated Change In Industry Trend Following Federal Excise Tax Increase,â RJR Document No. 501988846 -8849, September 20, 1982. 4 Philip Morris Research Executive Myron Johnston, âoeTeenage Smoking and the Federal Excise Tax on Cigarettes,â PM Document No. 2001255224, September 17, 1981. 5 Philip Morris Executive Jon Zoler, âoeHandling An Excise Tax Increase,â PM Document No. 2022216179, September 3, 1987. 6 Philip Morris Executive Claude Schwab, âoeCigarette Attributes and Quitting,â PM Doc. 2045447810, March 4, 1993. 7 Chaloupka, F, et al., âoeTax, Price and Cigarette Smoking: Evidence from the Tobacco Documents and implications for tobacco company marketing strategies,â Tobacco Control 11: 62-72, March 2002. 8 See, e.g., Chaloupka, F, âoeMacro-Social Influences: The Effects of Prices and Tobacco Control Policies on the Demand for Tobacco Products,â Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 1999; other studies at http://tigger.uic.edu/~fjc/; Tauras, J, âoePublic Policy and Smoking Cessation Among Young adults in the United States,â Health Policy 6*:321-32, 2004; Tauras, J, et al., âoeEffects of Price and Access Laws on Teenage Smoking Initiation: A National Longitudinal Analysis,â Bridging the Gap Research, ImpacTeen, April 24, 2001, and others at http://www.impacteen.org/researchproducts.htm. Chaloupka, F & Pacula, R, An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 6541, April 1998, http://tigger.uic.edu/~fjc; Emery, S, et al., âoeDoes Cigarette Price Influence Adolescent Experimentation?,â Journal of Health Economics 20:261-270, 2001; Evans, W & Huang, L, Cigarette Taxes and Teen Smoking: New Evidence from Panels of Repeated Cross-Sections, working paper, April 15, 1998, www.bsos.umd.edu/econ/evans/wrkpap.htm; Harris, J & Chan, S, âoeThe Continuum-of-Addiction: Cigarette Smoking in Relation to Price Among Americans Aged 15-29,â Health Economics Letters 2(2):3-12, February 1998, www.mit.edu/people/jeffrey. 9 See, e.g., U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), âoeResponses to Cigarette Prices By Race/Ethnicity, Income, and Age Groups â" United States 1976-1993,â Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 47(29):605-609, July 31, 1998, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00054047.htm; Chaloupka, F & Pacula, R, An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 6541, April 1998. 10 Ringel, J & Evans, W, âoeCigarette Taxes and Smoking During Pregnancy,â American Journal of Public Health, 2001 See also, TFK Factsheet, Harm Caused by Pregnant Women Smoking or Being Exposed to Secondhand Smoke, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0007.

The government pays us to write the software. They are happy to pay cash money for development of Free software, because they need the functionality (which is not available elsewhere), and they believe the open source model will save them money in the long run.

Ah, the CDC, okay. I'd imagine some functionality would be unusual. Then again maybe not, others in health industries and science could use it as well.

most businesses are concerned about basically the same things: Will this software provide the functionality we need, and will it do so cost effectively? Free Software scores well on both those points, even if its a little challenging to shoehorn the olde-timey model for a software company into the new open source paradigm.

Ah but "free" and open source software isn't new. People have been writing free and open source software since the 1960s. Of course there weren't many uses back then for it. And it wasn't called open source but it was. Members of the Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT would write programs to run on mainframes then post the listings on the walls. People could take what one person programmed and try to reduce it's footprint, make it run faster, and or add things to it. They were among the true hackers.

Falcon

Your business or employer sales service and or support then and it's that what pays the bills.

Nope. The government pays us to write the software. They are happy to pay cash money for development of Free software, because they need the functionality (which is not available elsewhere), and they believe the open source model will save them money in the long run.

I can already hear an anchorite shouting, "Holy fucktards, Batman, it's the Federal Gub'ment -- that doesn't apply to rock-ribbed capitalists like us!" But consider, most businesses are concerned about basically the same things: Will this software provide the functionality we need, and will it do so cost effectively? Free Software scores well on both those points, even if its a little challenging to shoehorn the olde-timey model for a software company into the new open source paradigm.

If you look at the CDC Research, the major cause of death wasn't actually cytokine storms, but secondary bacterial infections, such as pneumonia, which could be extra-fatal because the immune system was busy dealing with the flu. These days, we have antibiotics which can actually treat those bacterial infections, and there are also vaccines for pneumonia which may be helpful.

Also, another major reason that so many young healthy people died was because the propagation vector was US soldiers returning from World War I, crammed together in crowded barracks and getting shipped around the world and around the US, so they were the major people significantly exposed (along with people who interacted with them.) The current epidemic has different social patterns - travel is much more broadly available than it was then, though the specific crowding and degree of exposure is probably less.

And by that FMJ concentrates on a non-interesting part of warfare? As for cop shows... NYPD Blue is far more realistic than CSI:NY. And in that same vein - FMJ is more realistic than Apocalypse Now and FAR more realistic than The Green Berets. Just as Saving Private Ryan or Letters from Iwo Jima is more realistic than Battle of the Bulge, Dirty Dozen and again FAR more realistic than Pearl Harbor.

NYPD Blue and Saving Private Ryan are realistic, but not accurate. They are disproportionally focused on conflict since their primary purpose is to entertain - just like a video game.
If you become a soldier in the US military you will more likely turn a wrench or file paperwork than actually firing a bullet at the enemy. An accurate movie/show/video game would involve hours of standing, walking down the hall to get a printout, or looking through boxes for the right screw. The average military experience plays out more like a point-and-click adventure, than a first person shooter.

The inaccuracy of games/shows/movies is not that they depict gung-ho patriotism, or somber lament of death. The real propaganda is that wars are fought completely with bullets. It ignores most of the war that gets fought in meeting rooms, metal shops, warehouses, and driving semi-trucks. America's Army isn't about fostering a "USA #1" attitude. For the most part recruitable teens have already bought in or don't care. The real brainwashing is that you join the military and you'll become an action hero.

You can move out of the neighborhood. Doing the same in the army constitutes being Absent Without (Official) Leave.

I'm sure all the people in violent urban neighborhoods are there by choice. And the punishment for gang members who go AWOL is a lot more harsh than the military.

Correction. PARTS of the cities. And Iraq is a COUNTRY. At war. It is not just Baghdad or just parts of it.

Yes, Iraq is a country, and just like other countries only parts of it are extremely dangerous driven by population denisty like the US.

I am willing to bet that you have far better chances of being shot anywhere in Iraq than standing on a sidewalk in Bel Air eating an ice cream.
Or at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Or walking down the street in Moscow.

I'd rethink that last one given Moscow has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

> The drift from pigs to humans...

Citation, please?

From the CDC: "This virus was originally referred to as âoeswine fluâ because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs in North America."

Read http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8024605.stm [bbc.co.uk] which basically states that all the masks are good for is if you are sick they might help contain it.

a quote from the article you cite: [British] Health workers have been told to wear [face masks], along with special gloves, if they are in contact with potential victims. So the British NHS seems to think that masks do something.

The United States CDC has this to say:
  When crowded settings or close contact with others cannot be avoided, the use of facemasks or respirators in areas where transmission of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus has been confirmed should be considered as follows:

1. Whenever possible, rather than relying on the use of facemasks or respirators, close contact with people who might be ill and being in crowded settings should be avoided.
2. Facemasks should be considered for use by individuals who enter crowded settings, both to protect their nose and mouth from other people's coughs and to reduce the wearers' likelihood of coughing on others; the time spent in crowded settings should be as short as possible.
3. Respirators should be considered for use by individuals for whom close contact with an infectious person is unavoidable. This can include selected individuals who must care for a sick person (e.g., family member with a respiratory infection) at home.

The masks are simply a placebo where the ignorant masses can buy some "protection" against an unseen foe.

If your standard is 100% protection then you could say that about anything - vaccines, facemasks, etc.

I'm not opposed to vaccines, I'm just puzzled why we're not doing more (e.g. facemasks/respirators) to prevent disease transmission in high risk situations like airlines and public transportation.

In the 1918 pandemic the world was swept by a mild version that killed very few and infected many. And then in six months in the biomass of humanity the mutagenic properties of influenza found a superflu that killed, by some reports, 100 million or about 10% of all living people at that time. At that, some think we were lucky. It could have been much worse.

But don't panic.

More like 1 or 2 days. Read the 6 or 7th entry, "How can someone with the flu infect someone else?":

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/swineflu_you.htm

Why isn't there a pandemic panic when we get the flu every year? This all seems so overblown to me. If this is a 5 on the scale that goes to 6, how is it that the regular flu doesn't push us to 6 with the number it kills?

To me, the question is not "Why are we so concerned about this new flu outbreak in Mexico?" but instead "Why are we not more concerned about the ordinary seasonal flu?"

There's a a CDC web page that claims that "Every year in the United States, on average: ... about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes". On average one hundred people die every day from the ordinary flu.

The airlines jump all over Joe Biden for suggesting that people should avoid air travel but the real question is why the airlines aren't doing more to prevent flu transmission on their flights generally.

According to another CDC web page "[transmission of H1N1 flu] is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus." Air travel involves being crammed in a small tube with hundreds of other people some of whom are coughing and sneezing from the flu.

I can understand that when the Wright brothers first started flying they had more pressing concerns than catching the flu - but that was a hundred years ago. There's really no excuse for airlines not to be implementing measures prevent passengers from breathing each others sneezes.

As an aside, I see all this excitement from Obama about public transportation but, for me, the big drawback to public transportation is disease transmission. And yet somehow the topic of trying to design public transportation that minimizes disease transmission doesn't even come up.

There's something about our culture where expressing a desire to avoid catching a transmissible disease is like being antisemitic - everyone gets shocked and horrified that you could even dare to say such a thing.

Why isn't there a pandemic panic when we get the flu every year? This all seems so overblown to me. If this is a 5 on the scale that goes to 6, how is it that the regular flu doesn't push us to 6 with the number it kills?

To me, the question is not "Why are we so concerned about this new flu outbreak in Mexico?" but instead "Why are we not more concerned about the ordinary seasonal flu?"

There's a a CDC web page that claims that "Every year in the United States, on average: ... about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes". On average one hundred people die every day from the ordinary flu.

The airlines jump all over Joe Biden for suggesting that people should avoid air travel but the real question is why the airlines aren't doing more to prevent flu transmission on their flights generally.

According to another CDC web page "[transmission of H1N1 flu] is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus." Air travel involves being crammed in a small tube with hundreds of other people some of whom are coughing and sneezing from the flu.

I can understand that when the Wright brothers first started flying they had more pressing concerns than catching the flu - but that was a hundred years ago. There's really no excuse for airlines not to be implementing measures prevent passengers from breathing each others sneezes.

As an aside, I see all this excitement from Obama about public transportation but, for me, the big drawback to public transportation is disease transmission. And yet somehow the topic of trying to design public transportation that minimizes disease transmission doesn't even come up.

There's something about our culture where expressing a desire to avoid catching a transmissible disease is like being antisemitic - everyone gets shocked and horrified that you could even dare to say such a thing.

Airborne transmission occurs by dissemination of either airborne droplet nuclei or small particles in the respirable size range containing infectious agents that remain infective over time and distance.

Frankly, I'm inclined to believe that when the CDC says that there is "some evidence" of airborne transmission, they actually know what the term means, and are using it in accordance with their own definition.

Well, obvious anti-immigration bias in your post aside,let's look at this on the facts:
- There are already numerous cases in the US, and knowing about it and being aware of the issues (such as seeking medical attention if you start to feel sick) is the important thing; Closing the border only stops the legitimate people trying to cross the border. How exactly does that help stem the flow of illegal immigrants? Oh, right, we just kill them all. (Citation: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ - And no, no reference to killing immigrants there)
- The financial damage of closing the border; Based on 2006 financial figures, closing of the border would cost approximately $931 million in lost trade revenue EVERY SINGLE DAY the border stays closed; Now, that's a mix of revenue between the US and Mexico, but that's the total amount. But still about $380 million in lost exports to Mexico alone. (Citation: http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/eng/eataglance_trade.html)

So, in addition to not doing any good, it makes our current wonderful economic state even BETTER by destroying almost a billion dollars in revenue a day. What exactly do you hope to accomplish by closing the border?

Not airborne, generally not lethal

The CDC has stated that they believe this virus is being trasmitted from person to person the same way other influenza viruses spread - airborne aerosols created when infected people cough & sneeze.

It may seem to have a relatively low mortality rate, but that doesn't have any bearing on whether or not the virus is airborne.

Oops, the fact sheet is here.

"Current level of influenza pandemic alert raised from phase 4 to 5"

http://www.who.int/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic/phases.htm.

Obviously as it spreads more, the risk is greater, but it isn't some "terror alert level" they're raising, it's the phase in the progression of the outbreak that they're tracking.

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm

Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160ÂF kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

Thanks for tanking the pork prices with your misinformation though. Lots of pork for me to eat!

The 4% is based, at best, on incredibly thin numbers from Mexico (thin in the sense that there isn't much information about the actual number of infected patients, meaning that the denominator isn't very useful).

As of this morning, there were 91 confirmed cases in the United States:

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/index.htm

The WHO has similar information for worldwide cases (the numbers coming out of the media for Mexico are much higher than the WHO report for confirmed cases, 150+ deaths, with hundreds infected):

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/entity/csr/don/2009_04_29/en/index.html

If you look at that CDC search, one article that jumps out is this one, which says that based on later research, it looks like the big killer wasn't actually the influenza itself or related cytokine storms, but secondary bacterial infections causing pneumonia among people weakened by the influenza. That's actually fairly good news, because it's much more likely that we can treat those in a hurry with existing antibiotics (as opposed to waiting 6 months to get a newly-tuned H1N1 vaccine or using the increasingly-ineffective antivirals like Tamiflu), and because quarantine also reduces the spread of bacterial infections so people who do get the flu are less likely to get the secondaries.

http://www.cdc.gov/search.do?queryText=cytokine+storm&searchButton.x=0&searchButton.y=0&action=search

There was an interesting and informative link in a story here on /. on Saturday.

Several Doctors from the CDC participated in the briefing. Here is a direct link to the briefing transcripts.

They talk about the genetics, and their testing results in the briefing:[from CDC link above]
"ANNE SCHUCHAT, MD, Interim Deputy Director for Science:[...]

I want to tell you a little bit about what the laboratory ahs found from exploring this particular strain. CDC has conducted testing on all seven samples and we've determined that they are swine influenza A, H1N1. These are human infections with swine influenza viruses. These are viruses that usually infect pigs but in this case we're finding the illness in people.

Preliminary testing of viruses from the first two patients shows that they are very similar. Additional testing is ongoing with the newer isolettes. We know so far that the viruses contain genetic pieces from four different virus sources. This is unusual. The first is our North American swine influenza viruses. North American avian influenza viruses, human influenza viruses and swine influenza viruses found in Asia and Europe.

That particular genetic combination of swine influenza virus segments has not been recognized before in the U.S. or elsewhere. Of course, we are doing more testing now and looking more aggressively for unusual influenza strains. So we haven't seen this strain before but we haven't been looking as intensively as we are these days.

The viruses are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine anti-viral drugs but they are sensitive or susceptible to oseltamivir and zanamivir, the newer anti-viral drugs for flu. And at this time we don't know exactly how people got the virus. None of the patients have had direct contact with pigs."

[my emphasis]

Your earlier comment referring to the briefing started me looking for this...I had remembered reading about it this past weekend.
The briefing transcripts are an interesting read.

The CDC seems to be in fairly good form with this incident.

Is 7% a "high" death rate?

The CDC says this about the 1918 Flu pandemic:
Case-fatality rates were >2.5%, compared to 0.1% in other influenza pandemics

Infant mortality is an interesting metric... how much of Canada's population is made up of exceptionally low-income migrant and illegal workers? Their babies still count, too. A raw percentage also doesn't correct for the much more racially mixed US population, which causes a much higher infant mortality than in the US: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db09.htm

And the spending... how much of that is cosmetic and elective surgery? Are those even options in Canada? Not to mention... how many Canadians come down to the US to have surgeries their government won't cover? Does that spending count toward the US spending, or Canada's?

Nice informative rating for "statistics" that have been taken well out of context, though.

[...]DON'T try the pork!

You're most likely joking, but just to be safe: the swine flu is not transmitted by pork (unlike the bird flu which was transmitted by chicken meat).

Are there human infections with swine flu in the U.S.?
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Other U.S. states have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans and cases have been reported internationally as well. An updated case count of confirmed swine flu infections in the United States is kept at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation.

Is this swine flu virus contagious?
CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people.

What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

How does swine flu spread?
Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

What should I do to keep from getting the flu?
First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these swine influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).

How long can an infected person spread swine

Are there human infections with swine flu in the U.S.?
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Other U.S. states have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans and cases have been reported internationally as well. An updated case count of confirmed swine flu infections in the United States is kept at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation.

Is this swine flu virus contagious?
CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people.

What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

How does swine flu spread?
Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

What should I do to keep from getting the flu?
First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these swine influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).

How long can an infected person spread swine

Are there human infections with swine flu in the U.S.?
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Other U.S. states have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans and cases have been reported internationally as well. An updated case count of confirmed swine flu infections in the United States is kept at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation.

Is this swine flu virus contagious?
CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people.

What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

How does swine flu spread?
Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

What should I do to keep from getting the flu?
First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these swine influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).

How long can an infected person spread swine

The CDC actually advises to use a tissue and throw away as a preference, and the sleeve only if you don't have tissues available.

"Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. "

See: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

The death rate is high

From the CDC:
"as of April 23rd, there were more than 854 cases of pneumonia from the capital. Of those, 59 have died."
Is 7% a "high" death rate?

*There are some reports that anti-virals are ineffective, I think they're hysteria.

The US Centers for Disease Control say the following:

"There are four different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in the US for the treatment of influenza: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the most recent swine influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine. At this time, CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses."

If you'd take a little time to read about it... yes, it's 'really' special.

I'm not saying "ZOMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE"-special - we're not, as it is, many of those infected happily survive.

Let's start with 'the flu', though.. There is no 'the flu'. Influenza is a big ol' family of viruses.

This one - although it baffles me why the media latched onto 'swine' as their name for it, maybe the pork industry lobbied strongly against naming it 'pork' or 'pig' flu - is one of the mutations of form H1N1 ('bird flu' was H5N1; H and N refer to certain protein types). That only tells part of the story as there's multiple H1N1s with different aminoacids and whatnot, like yea olde Spanish flu (yeah, the proper pandemic one) was H1N1 as well. There's the first 'special' bit; it shares a name with the Spanish flu.

Won't go into details about how it differs from Spanish flu - suffice it to say that this particular strain of H1N1 influenza appears to be a mixture of porcine, bird and human flu viruses' RNA. From there comes the second 'special' bit. It's 'rare' that the flu jumps species from pigs to humans in general, even rarer for it to thrive, but even more rare that it appears to spread between humans.

Now for the third special bit... even H5N1 - that other 'big scare' - mostly affected the (really) young, the elderly, and the weak in terms of severity. This one, however, seems to just as happily make young healthy adults sick.

That's why it deserves its own little name. As for how scared you should be:
'Swine' flu responds well to the relatively recent anti-flu drug Oseltamivir (marketing name: Tamiflu). That is to say, it gets killed pretty quickly and eradicated from the body if treatment is followed through (yeah, I know, right?). That's good news for the producers of Tamiflu who love having this in the news, and for their shareholders who saw their stock skyrocket as a result. It's pretty special that there's tons of people out there just waiting around to make money off of this kind of thing.
Oh, and it's also good news for those infected, of course.

Unfortunately, Tamiflu (and others) are prescribed willy-nilly as seasonal flu drugs (despite the CDC advising against it; like 'advice' matters if there's a mint to be made), making it all the more likely that more resistant strains will pop up in due time.
At the same time, being a relatively recent drug, not all of the side-effects are fully known and understood yet.

As for what you can do about it...
- I wouldn't plan a trip to Mexico and go frolic with any pigs if I were you.
- I wouldn't swap spit/etc. with any of the students already diagnosed as being possibly infected.
- If you are infected with any type of flu.. cover your mouth when sneezing/coughing, wash hands regularly. Won't do much for you, but it'll help prevent spreading of it.

Speaking of the CDC.. they have some pretty decent pages up as well:
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/general_info.htm

Also this is the first recorded time Swine flu has passed from human to human.

Nope

If you were vomiting, it probably was NOT the flu.

According to the CDC, nausea is not unheard of in swine flu.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_212.pdf

Pages 50-58 of PDF.

That's not it. That's an older article without the state breakdowns. I've not found a legal open link to this paper (about publicly funded research...mutter) but the site in which it resides is http://www.ajpm-online.net/

The lead researcher is a Mathew M Zack, who is not listed in this older pdf.

On the upside, I did find that the CDC makes the data on which this new paper is based freely available here: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/HRQOL/
with a prettier but less depression specific version here:
http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/findings.htm

That's not it. That's an older article without the state breakdowns. I've not found a legal open link to this paper (about publicly funded research...mutter) but the site in which it resides is http://www.ajpm-online.net/

The lead researcher is a Mathew M Zack, who is not listed in this older pdf.

On the upside, I did find that the CDC makes the data on which this new paper is based freely available here: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/HRQOL/
with a prettier but less depression specific version here:
http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/findings.htm

It's here.

Look here.

How to say this politely...

STFU!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/britain-records-18-fall-in-gun-deaths-1232069.html

[...]Most of the 42 gun-related deaths last year took place in London, the West Midlands, Manchester or Merseyside, with swathes of the country recording no homicides, suicides or accidental deaths from firearms[...]

http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
2005 CDC Statistics for firearm related deaths in the US (latest that are available):
Number of Deaths: 30,694

Now, tell me again how gun control does nothing to prevent crime?

Wow, you're still trying to win this. Wow. OK, cayenne8, this may be a shock to you, but transmission of HIV via blood transfusion actually doesn't happen anymore (CDC link. The majority of HIV blood transfusions took place in the (gasp!) early 1980s. You remember, those 14,000 isolated incidents. So, it turns out that the "golden years" were actually the ONLY years you were likely to get HIV from blood transfusions. Seems like the 1980s are specifically WORSE in the very area you are claiming to be better (probably, by now, just to be a troll/flamebaiter).

Please recognize that I do understand that we agree on the primary issue, so please take this as it is intended, which is debating the details combined with a digression to a whole other subject.

The obesity rate in America is a joke. In October I reached a weight that I considered to be obese. I defined it as a weight where I became winded doing a normal activity that should not have winded me. So, I decided to lose weight. To have a yardstick to measure my weight loss by, I looked up what is considered overweight, and what is considered obese. The numbers are absolutely ridiculous. Using a scale that uses electrical impulses to measure body fat, I show as having 160 pounds of lean body mass. I know that these scales can very based on hydration and some other factors, so, I am using the highest fat reading it ever shows. Now, the BMI charts like to show my ideal weight at 157 pounds. This would not only require me to lose 100% of my body fat which would kill me, but I would also have to start choosing body parts to amputate. This gets even worse we take into account that I build muscle extremely fast if I exercise. Right now, I'm actually making a point not to get much exercise, and I would have to amputate to reach my 'ideal' weight. With even a moderate amount of exercise, I would have to amputate to get out of the 'overweight' range dictated by the doctors and government.

Now, I have certainly heard the argument "Well, your no body builder". But, that is a ridiculous argument. If Schwarzenegger put on 20 pounds during that time, he wouldn't have been a body builder anymore either, but that certainly would not have meant that he was out of shape. Any scale that could call that man obese is simply not worth even considering. As a good example of how absurd the obesity scales are, you can just look at Arnold Schwarzenegger during his 6 year winning streak of the Mr. Olypia competition. According to the CDC, he was obese the entire time.

That may be the definition that Wikipedia uses. That may be the definition that you use. That IS the definition that I believe should be used. It is not the definition that the various government and do gooder organizations use. Frequently quoted government organizations like the CDC disagree with you, me and Wikipedia.

There's nothing inherently bad about gaming, so long as you remember to exercise. But most Americans are a bunch of fatasses so they won't do that.

Troll, but true: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/

Better to just cite the CDC guidelines for adults:

(150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activities OR 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity) + muscle strengthening 2 days / week

See http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html

70% you say? You might want to notify the CDC. Their numbers are way off.

The worst thing about this in the real world is that I just don't think that the bad intentions that your quote implies are actually there for the most part. Most of these legislators are just seeking solutions to the problems that exist in society at the command of their constituents (voters and special interests).

Well, let's look at the number one cause of bullshit imprisonment, the so-called War On Drugs. We went through this issue as a nation already, with the prohibition of alcohol. The only constitutional amendment ever passed whose stated purpose was to limit the freedoms of the citizenry, the prohibition of alcohol served only to provide fortune and indeed fame (and not infamy, either) to organized crime. The same thing is happening today with, basically, the list of controlled substances. In fact, you could essentially use Schedule A as a list of what drugs you could potentially make money on in the USA. Even the CIA World Factbook will tell you (after a lengthy delay in which I visit Mycroft and make a search plugin - am I lazy yet?) in no uncertain terms that the US is:

world's largest consumer of cocaine (shipped from Colombia through Mexico and the Caribbean), Colombian heroin, and Mexican heroin and marijuana; major consumer of ecstasy and Mexican methamphetamine; minor consumer of high-quality Southeast Asian heroin; illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine; money-laundering center

So you can see how well that whole "War on Drugs" thing is working.

Every politician complicit in this farce shares responsibility for government-sponsored slavery (in the form of privatized, for-profit prisons, which have been overstuffed with nonviolent drug "offenders") as well as the general degradation of the people. And many of them have gotten enormous kickbacks directly from those who profit most from the current state of affairs; not just the companies running the prisons, but overwhelming sums of money from "big pharma" which depends on this bought-and-paid-for legislation to keep the masses purchasing their drugs. Meanwhile, if I'm reading the results right (?) it appears that prescription drugs killed almost as many people as recreational even in the reported data for 2005 (latest year of available results.) Mis-prescription of drugs is thought by some to be the single largest killer in America today. You could argue back and forth about whether these people would have lived as long as they did without prescription medications, but their use is not an either-or; there are cases where naturopathic medicine (e.g. non-synthetics) is the best available option. The modern medical establishment and their hired tools (found in large numbers on both sides of the aisle) would have you believe that this is never the case, and the resulting political policy is very much to the detriment of all American citizens.

This is the long and explanatory way of saying that I believe that you are wrong; that even if they would not put it as Ayn Rand did, every one of these mainstream completely-beholden-to-corporate-masters politicians is very much a willing part of this type of oppression.

The only solution to the issue is not more laws, but fewer and clearer laws.

And more to the point, laws which serve the people. For example, the purpose of copy