Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WHO Declares H1N1's Spread Officially a Pandemic

Posted by timothy on from the didn't-you-see-pandemic-in-concert-with-sepultura? dept.

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."

11 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. "H1N1" by plus_M · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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".

    1. Re:"H1N1" by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:"H1N1" by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The news media is an entertainment media myth.

    3. Re:"H1N1" by Spazztastic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
    4. Re:"H1N1" by dzfoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

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

      Pay attention!

              -dZ.

      --
      Carol vs. Ghost
      ...Can you save Christmas?
    5. Re:"H1N1" by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    6. Re:"H1N1" by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

  2. Re:Overreaction by Allicorn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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.

    --
    OMG!!! Ponies!!!
  3. Stop being such whiny babies by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  4. Re:WHAT's on second by oodaloop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Obscure? Nothing's obscure on slashdot.

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  5. Re:Jumping the gun by Neon+Aardvark · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Azural - instrumentals