Mexican flu

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Here in Finland a group of playful statues of pigs was removed from public view under the protest of some Muslims because pigs are considered offensive to their religion. The concept that immensely stupid traditions can affect the existence of biological species is no doubt impressive in casting doubts on human intellectual superiority over all other species. Perhaps a name change in the flu would enhance a joyful emotion to those infected. The flu must, according to religious creation's concepts, be the work of God and therefore those receiving it should express great happiness in receiving this Heavenly gift.

Sand......My hat off to you . Honestly though, i wonder what they'll do when they get infected by non-mexican people. <.<

Don't know which bits you've seen, but for example the Mexico City metro beats the NYC subway for cleanliness (and safety) - I've ridden both. The NYC subway in turn beats the Paris metro for hygiene.


Concenik, the strain didn't actually originate in Mexico City - the earliest confirmed case known was in Veracruz State, near a large pig farm half-owned by some Virginia-based company. The other early confirmed cases were in neighbouring Oaxaca State, further south than Mexico City. Even if you wanted to direct a boterrorist attack to more than one target, you'd still release it in at least one of the actual targets, not somewhere else altogether, that's elementary logic. And somewhere like NYC is a bigger transportation hub than Mexico City. It's not at as if a virus mutating, etc were unprecedented.

now you know how such a small country like Israel can control such a large country such as america. thats hilarious, jews really do run the world

If you haven't seen the Moscow subway stations, do so.... they are so lavishly decorated you'd feel like royalty o.O

And about the Paris subway...so true... it reeks of piss... <.< (least the last time i went)

Oh and also, i heard tonight they changed the name of the flu to huh....Flu "A"? or something? >< Oh and yey, our first case in Quebec today

However sad it might be that this flu might kill people, in general it should be a good thing, since viruses find ways to spread, so too does our ability to counter them (eventuallly) either naturally or via medecine.

And is the new name any less offensive than to Mexicans, who may feel offense at this new name? People are ridiculous.
However, in a country like Israel, or the larger middle east, or anyplace with a large kosher or halal dieting population, it may be a good idea, as anyone coming in with "Swine Flu" may be ashamed to admit it to a doctor for being associated with such an "unclean" animal. Stupid, but true. I've just been calling the flu by H1 flu anyways. Nicknames bother me.

That's rather imprecise though, as H1 is only part of the technical classification (H1N1). Even the full term, H1N1, could still be somewhat ambiguous. 'Course, "swine flu" can refer to any of a number of outbreaks throughout history, so that's no better.

well, 15 minutes away. thirty miles. H1N1 enfluenza on the campus of Western Oregon University. Student back from spring break in Mexico.

Merle

well, 15 minutes away. thirty miles. H1N1 enfluenza on the campus of Western Oregon University. Student back from spring break in Mexico.

you know, it is not the Spring I am concerned with, it is when it comes back with a vengence in the Fall that it is going to be bad.

Merle

Back when I was a Muslim, I made a suggestion that pigs can be utilised as a good source of leather. I got so many hate PMs.... Apparently, pigs are evil creatures that serve no purpose and must be exterminated.

It is a major tragedy that decent adherents of various religions can only achieve reasonable and civil relationships in society by ignoring or second guessing the irrational dogmas inflicted upon them by their beliefs. It is the irrational and emotional cripples in society who accept the religious idiocies at face value and promulgate cruelties and atrocities that must be controlled and contained for sensible society to exist.

Exactly. I'd rather just use that (and save my breath with just the first part) and people immediately know what I'm referring to.
Besides, something I've noticed with disease epidemics like this that originated in so-called exotic or less developed countries seem to lead to bouts of racism. I was living in Hawaii when SARS broke out, and Asian tourists and locals were discriminated against because it was presumed they might be carrying the disease. I predict something similar here, where if a Hispanic person sneezes on the bus, people will go hysterical. So all the better not to use "swine flu" or "Mexican flu" if people will really be that stupid.

Yes, it gives people an excuse to discriminate. This is already happening to anyone travelling on a Mexican passport - even though you'd have much better public health grounds to exclude anyone travelling on a South African passport for example - AIDS being orders of magnitude more common in S. Africa than swine flu is in Mexico, not to mention that swine flu is curable. You have talk that the US should shut its borders with Mexico, but no talk that it should quarantine sub-Saharan Africa - even though the number of cases in Mexico is a tiny fraction of the population while in some countries AIDS is approaching Black Death proportions. Consciously or not, this is being seized as an excuse to justify anti-Mexican hysteria.

Numbers Coming Into Focus
We have some more tentatively encouraging news emerging about the Swine Flu virus.

Yesterday, we noted that the Mexican government had substantially revised downward the number of deaths attributed to the Swine Flu, from 159 to 84, after tests had ruled out many of the suspected cases.

Now comes word from the Times that Mexican officials have now reported that of the 908 suspected cases that have now been tested, only 397 turned out to have suffered from the Swine Flu.

Finally, there appears to be some clinical evidence suggesting that people over 60 may have some immunity to the virus.