WHO Declares H1N1's Spread Officially a Pandemic

juggledean writes "The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global flu pandemic after holding an emergency meeting, according to reports. It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile." Whether it's called a pandemic or not, there's a hopeful note in the story about H1N1's spread: "...there were people who believed we might be in a kind of apocalyptic situation and what we're really seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limiting."

Comments

"H1N1"

[plus_M]

I admit I'm not the most knowledgeable about this topic, but I *do* know that H1N1 is not a very specific name for this influenza strain. In the past, we have named influenza outbreaks such as these after their country of origin (see Spanish Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Asian Flu), and in light of this I think a more appropriate name would be "Mexican Flu".

Re:"H1N1"

[drinkypoo]

With the politically correct liberal media, we can't have that name or it will possibly hurt the tourism in Mexico.

You mean more than their continual reporting of violence including beheadings in Mexico, which has claimed only one tourist life... and there are indications that he was actually there on some sort of nefarious business?

The liberal news media is a conservative myth.

Re:"H1N1"

[The End Of Days]

The news media is an entertainment media myth.

Re:"H1N1"

[Spazztastic]

I don't think naming it the "Mexican Flu" is going to hurt the tourism to Mexico any more than the knowledge that the strain did, in fact, originate in Mexico and the massive number of reported cases in Mexico already have. And besides, as I mentioned, there is a precedent.

plus_M, I've talked to people who still think that you can get it from eating pork products. People in general are stupid, and these same people are the ones who avoided Toronto when SARS hit.

Re:"H1N1"

[dzfoo]

>> Fun! Who's got the next one?

No. Who Declared H1N1's Spread Officially a Pandemic.

Pay attention!

        -dZ.

Re:"H1N1"

[drinkypoo]

The news media is an entertainment media myth.

Sir, I doff my hat to thee.

In response to those who say that reporters self-identifying as liberal is relevant, please consider the economic reality of what is published and how it is edited before making ignorant remarks like that... as I failed to do when I referred to the 'news media' as if it were there to report the news or something.

Re:"H1N1"

[Count of Montecristo]

Indeed it would be appropriate, although human idiocy knows no bounds. H1N1 is a neutral, politically correct, idiocy-avoiding name. There you have the Egyptian Government culling a ridiculous number of swine, just to show that the government was doing something, but hey, its "Swine Flu", swines must die! , Not to mention the Chinese Government confining Mexican Tourists -healthy Mexican Tourists, mind you- just because they were Mexican.

The reasoning was similar, "Hey, its the Mexican Flu, let's quarantine Mexicans!"... There are other examples of Xenophobia being triggered by associating Mexico with the desease, not to mention the disaster in the Tourism industry in Mexico.

So, while i concurr that previous practice was acceptable (Spanish Flu, et al), the current near-instantaneous information transfer and given the unlimited ability for human idiocy, A/H1N1 Influenza, is quite acceptable. After All, if you call it Human Influenza will any government risk culling humans? how about getting rid of the pesky furry H1N1s? oh, wait! H1N1 actually designates the virus... guess it is as correct as any name.

Re:"H1N1"

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Just ask the majority of reporters and news producers, who explicitly identify themselves as left-leaning and left-voting.

Just ask the majority of owners of news organizations, who explicitly identify themselves as right-leaning and right-voting.

Re:"H1N1"

[MaskedSlacker]

Yay for corrupt protectionism! We have to make it illegal to call things what they are to protect the industrialists who own Congress! Yay!

Re:"H1N1"

[ceoyoyo]

Delete the word "swine" from his post and it's true for any stretch of time you care to contemplate.

I work at a hospital...

[greenguy]

... and the nurses spend a lot of time rolling their eyes about this. Or as one of the doctors put it, "Replace 'H1N1' with 'bad cold.'"

Yes, it's killed a number of people. But not as many (in the same timespan) as, say, cars, or industrial accidents, or smoking, or cancer, or heart disease, or drug violence, or drugs themselves, or the US military, or suicide, or old age, or AIDS, or plane crashes, or....

Re:Overreaction

[Allicorn]

"Pandemic" is not a word which implies anything about lethality or how "damaging" the strain is.

The WHO declaring H1N1 pandemic is not overreaction, hyperbole or scaremongering. The particular strain has reached a specified spread at which point it qualifies for that label.

Now, the news media's choice of tone and language in reporting on H1N1 is another matter entirely.

Re:Think of the Trees...

[Culture20]

For years, and years in the United States we fought forest fires in an absolute manner. When you see a fire, put it out completely, ASAP. And slowly fuel that should have burned built up. Until eventually the fires that did break out were so intense that they couldn't fight them anymore. Now that the world population is approaching 7 billion, am I the only one who finds this analogy terrifying?

If we left our dead to rot at our feet, I might be concerned. Yes, I know, we're the fuel, and viruses the fire; but we're like dry brush and tinder that can move, wet itself down when it sees fire in the distance, build firewalls, make back-fires, etc.

Stop being such whiny babies

[WillAffleckUW]

Is it a pandemic in the disease spread methodology? Yes.

Is it killing millions of people each year? No.

Is it killing thousands of people each year? No.

Is it killing slightly more than any typical flu does? Yes.

Solution? Wash your hands with hot water (not scalding) and non-antibiotic soap (e.g. Ivory hand soap). Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze, using a sleeve if you have no tissue.

That literally cuts the infection rate dramatically.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to my medical research.

Re:WHAT's on second

[oodaloop]

Obscure? Nothing's obscure on slashdot.

Re:Jumping the gun

[Neon Aardvark]

The vast majority of infection and death happened after WW1, so you're wrong about that.

Another difference from those times to now is air travel, which can see infection spread vastly quicker.

Regarding the meaning of the word "pandemic", I'll take the technical description of people working in that field, thanks very much, and not yours.

The reason I stated that your definition of the word was wrong was not the mentioned of the Black Death, but the "REAL" (sic, in caps) qualifier, suggesting that in your head you have a cut-off death toll for your special definition of the word. This was sorta the point of your post.

But aside from the ad hominems, caps and lack of logic, keep it up, you're doing great.

Re:Let's play a word game

[couchslug]

"Mad cow == bird flu == swine flu == HORSESHIT."

You might have expressed it better, but you....are correct.

MRSA has a vastly higher body count than all the above, but since it is often spread by poor hygiene at hospitals it gets low billing.

http://www.protomag.com/assets/a-killer-called-staph

http://www.symptomsmrsa.com/ca-mrsa/ca-mrsa-death-count-surpassing-aids/

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heic/patient/mrsa/