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Swine Flu Kills Obese People Disproportionately

Philip K Dickhead writes "Bloomberg is reporting that the World Health Organization discovered a single, surprising characteristic that's emerged among swine flu victims who become severely ill: They are all fat. Infected people with a body mass index greater than 40 suffer respiratory complications that are harder to treat and can be fatal. The virus appears to be on a collision course with the obesity epidemic. WHO officials are gathering statistics to confirm and understand this development. 'It's very likely that if we went back retrospectively and looked at people who did poorly during seasonal flu, what would shake out is that obesity would be one of the risks.' Fat cells secrete chemicals that cause chronic, low-level inflammation that can hamper the body's immune response and narrow the airways, says Tim Armstrong, a doctor working in the WHO's chronic diseases department in Geneva."

9 of 661 comments (clear)

  1. Darwinism is Finally Back! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    After a long stretch of reverse Darwinism, it's good to see natural selection finally culling the herd as it should.

  2. Swine flu kills porkers by bitemykarma · · Score: 0, Troll

    Isn't that redundant?

  3. Re:Well... yeh. by dfghjk · · Score: 0, Troll

    "That usually (YMMV) means you're eating the wrong food. Your body tends to stay hungry until it has got what it needs. Eat something else and the craving remains."

    Thanks for the old wives tale, AC.

  4. Re:A reasoned discussion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    1) It takes a long time to lose weight if you're morbidly obese. Months or years.

    It takes months or years to become morbidly obese in the first place. Cry me a fricken river. The longer you wait to take action, the longer it'll take.

    2) Some of the people we're talking about are morbidly obese because of other underlying illnesses.

    And that's a valid reason. However, since that's a fraction of a percent of obese people, it's really not worth considering.

    If you're expecting someone with chronic respiratory problems to get up and jog 5 kilometers every morning you're smoking crack

    How about walking 10 minutes every couple of hours, then? There are low-impact ways to exercise. Find them out.

    It's about having some god damn compassion instead of an attitude that those disgusting fatties can go lose some weight - it's all their own fault.

    Maybe because for the vast majority of obese people, it in fact is their own fault?!

    It takes years to go from a bit chubby to morbidly obese. That's years of ignoring the problem, years of refusing to take action. It doesn't just suddenly happen.

    I don't have compassion for people who whine about how tired they are after staying up watching movies and drinking all night. Their choice, their consequence.

  5. Re:A reasoned discussion by syousef · · Score: 1, Troll

    It takes months or years to become morbidly obese in the first place. Cry me a fricken river. The longer you wait to take action, the longer it'll take.

    Well I got obese around the age of 3 asshole. You going to hold a child accountable for that? Even holding the parents accountable has its problems. Not all our bodies work the same way dipshit.

    And that's a valid reason. However, since that's a fraction of a percent of obese people, it's really not worth considering.

    Of course you know everyone's complete medical history and have statistics to back up your abhorrent decision that this "fraction of a percent" of people isn't "worth considering". Your choice to ignore those who most need help is repugnant and a general indicator of your lack of compassion. Fuck you.

    How about walking 10 minutes every couple of hours, then? There are low-impact ways to exercise. Find them out.

    Yeah that'll work. You wanna be the one to explain to my boss what the fuck I'm doing. Asshole.

    Maybe because for the vast majority of obese people, it in fact is their own fault?!

    So what you're saying is that a huge percentage of the population are just weak willed. Doesn't the fact that it's such a wide spread thing that goes across all demographics when it comes to socio-economic status and education tell you any fucking thing? Are you really that obtuse?

    It takes years to go from a bit chubby to morbidly obese. That's years of ignoring the problem, years of refusing to take action. It doesn't just suddenly happen.

    I don't have compassion for people who whine about how tired they are after staying up watching movies and drinking all night. Their choice, their consequence.

    Well it's clear that you have no compassion period. Why don't you post with your actual name instead of being such a coward to boot? Trying to explain anything as complex as how to change a tyre on you is clearly wasted, let alone how and why people "allow" themselves to put on weight.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  6. its new by circletimessquare · · Score: 1, Troll

    that makes it important

    neither you, nor i, nor the cdc, nor the who, really knows what will happen in the fall, or how many it will kill. could be a couple hundred, could be couple hundred thousand. if you find someone who can tell me for certain how many will be killed, i'll show you a liar. that kind of unknown makes it newsworthy and genuinely important

    the flu always explodes in the late fall, and this is a new bug. its a significant unknown, and that matters

    its not hype, its a genuine concern

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  7. Re:The story title is wrong ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 0, Troll

    [whiny voice] but I've got a slow metabolism *munch* *munch* It's my glands *munch* I don't eat anything *munch* [/]

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  8. Re:The story title is wrong ... by Hognoxious · · Score: 0, Troll

    Some people have metabolic problems to blame for their size and no matter how little they eat and how much they exercise they don't shed the kilos.

    Ever looked at photos of the POWs liberated from the Japanese? Or Auschwitz?

    I guess they hid all the fat ones at the back.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  9. you're right, it is more complicated than that by circletimessquare · · Score: 0, Troll

    but i wasn't really talking about the problem in general, i was talking pointedly at this self-loathing overrationalizing type for which it IS a lot simpler than they portray in their giant web of learned helplessness

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it