The swine flu panic will turn into a national sickie

ian skidmore

Corporal Jones for Prime Minister.
Only fitting we should call out the Home Guard. We have the biggest standing Barmy Army in history

Chris

Normal people aren't panicking. We don't ask for a second opinion from a "private GP" whatever that is.

Officials trying to justify their existence and ever increasing budgets, and journalists who don't actually understand the concept of a story are panicking. You've all cried wolf too many times. The world didn't come to an end for herpes, AIDS or the millennium bug. We're not all going to get killed by terrorists. or SARS, or whatever the latest form of flu is.

David

Utter rubbish. If the government did nothing, then you'd accuse them of letting us die. There have been mistakes, notably on the ministerial front (and with this shower that's not surprising) but behind the scenes preparations and advice has been generally measured.

Sasha

Great article and so true! I was diagnosed with swine flu but was told by my GP "don't panic, it's just the same as any other flu". I stayed home, did the usual sensible things and was back to work 5 days later (only worked out to 3 work days). It's all been blown out of proportion to take our minds off of the MP expenses scandal and alike. Sceptical...most difinitely yes.

Zomby

Getting very excited there about the word "help" being highlighted in blue and having brackets around it. If you weren't such a luddite perhaps you'd know that (a) this is because the word "help" contains a hyperlink to a page giving further explanations on the question being asked, and (b) this feature is common to 90% of online forms or questionnaires.

Elinor Pullen

Brilliant. Despite 28 years practicing medicine and a graduate degree in Public Health from UCLA, I could not have pulled together the disparate realities presented to the public on swine flu. This is a must read.

Andy

Ooh, pandemic, national emergency, Civil Contingencies Act ... can't have the "chaos" of an election in that case, can we? What do you think?

Peter from Maidstone

I see that the media is reporting that cases of Swine Flu have now hit 100,000 a week. But I don't see how anyone can know? Are the symptoms unique? Otherwise if I ring the help line and say I have a headache, my limbs ache and I keep sneezing will I be counted irrespective of what type of flu I actually have? How many cases of swine flu have been scientifically determined in a lab?

http://faustiesblog.blogspot.com

Many who have taken Tamiflu say the 'cure' is worse than the disease and they'd never take it again.

The side-effects can be fatal, and yet this government wants advice on taking it dispensed over the 'phone by bureaucrats with 5 hours' 'training'.

The government's excuse for the panic is the detrimental effect on the economy. Well if the side-effects are worse than the flu symptoms, then Labour is doing more damage to the economy (and people's health) than swine flu.

Pavo Absolutus

Even this accursed 'government' can only inflict death the ONCE - probably to the prolonged dismay of the MoD, who no doubt are actively working on the 'problem'.

It would be madness to belittle this or any other form of human influenza virus ( they all have an ability to self modify and catch us out ! ), but to a large extent, "Flu is still Flu" whether it 'originates in China or Mrs Piggys' own backyard' !

Until the 'practice' of hawking and spitting in the street became regarded as a 'vile' practice, tuberculosis was rife in many countries including the UK ( England as it was then ! ).

With the emergence of the 'modern footballer icon' hawking and spitting anywhere one chooses again seems to be 'the thing to do' - so is it any wonder that Flu, as any other virus, spreads like 'wildfire' ?

Remind our stupid overpaid football icons that they still have the physical capability to "Swallow" - as witnessed by their capacity to drink themselves silly - and it is time they grew up and ceased setting appalling examples of behavior and dangerous habits !

In this age of disposable everything, there is no excuse for not carrying handkerchiefs to cough and sneeze into - USE THEM !! ( But DON'T just then drop them on the ground !! )

Does EVERYTHING have to be spelled out to people these days - where is their COMMONSENSE and DECENCY ???

"Verbum sat sapienti".
( A word to the wise ).

David Holmes

The last information I have is that Tamiflu won't have any effect on Swine Flu. It was manufactured for use with that other non-event - avian flu, but the Pharmas want their money back. The pig has always been a symbol of greed - how appropriate!

Phil

I live in Spain, and the treatment can only be given by a hospital. Last year there were 8000 deaths from flu according to the press and they expect 8000 from swine fever this winter. My question is can they aford to lose all those votes?

Jim Scott

Why are we subjected to a running total of fatalities for Swine flu but not ordinary flu, road deaths,or any other death inducing event? Why is it front page news? Am I being cynical in suspecting it's all being massively hyped in order to relegate much more serious and pressing issues to the inside pages?

David Short

I've been sniffling for days and days.

I think I'd better have another bottle of whisky, and not do any work.

David Ross

I like the idea of a civil war between common sense and hypochondria, it is so true.

It takes all sorts to make the world, from the stone faced unflappable even to the point of inaction, to the headless chicken jumping up and down at the slightest rumour.

Until now, we have managed a balance between these ends of the spectrum in intelligent discussion. However, today, the headless chicken end of the scale seems to be in ascendancy in the media and political class.

Alex

Quite a lot of people who seem to have it that I know of have not gone to the doctor and neither have they informed any authority so I don’t see how any statistic can be accurate. The reason for much of the fear is that it affects a different section of society to seasonal flu. I think people get more alarmed by pregnant women and children dying rather than the usual pensioners, ageist maybe but regular flu is still happening in its usual numbers in parallel.

Frank

It's simple. We've had more sick days at work in the last month than in the previous year. All flu. And I TRUST my employees. No-ones malingering. It's not fatal, it's just costing me thousands of pounds.

Mark Adrian Solomon

Well said Chris and you can add climate change and BSE to the long list of overhyped disasters that won't/didn't happen. Being lucky enough to live outside the UK now, it is amazing to see how regularly the country whips itself up into a wild irrational frenzy over some health scare or other, often imagined or worsened by the government's own actions. Do you realise that the rest of the world is laughing at you? and how tiresome it all is?