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Originally Posted by SweetCharmer
this is getting bigger and bigger really quickly
apparently they're screening people in japan for this flu and at the moment there isn't a cure for this strain of the virus
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Well, for the record, it's not that it's incurable -- it's just that a vaccine for this particular strain hasn't been mass produced yet. But as a news article I read earlier tonight noted:
This swine flu and regular flu can have similar symptoms -- mostly fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the U.S. victims who recovered also experienced vomiting and diarrhea. But unlike with regular flu, humans don't have natural immunity to a virus that includes animal genes and new vaccines can take months to bring into use.
A "seed stock" genetically matched to the new swine flu virus has been created by the CDC, said Dr. Richard Besser, the agency's acting director. If the government decides vaccine production is necessary, manufacturers would need that stock to get started.
And per the latest AP news wire reports, before you worry about it being "incurable", ALSO keep in mind that (with regards to America):
So far, there have been at least 11 confirmed cases of swine flu in California, Texas and Kansas. Patients have ranged in age from 9 to over 50. At least two were hospitalized. All recovered or are recovering.
The point being that some people who have even contracted it then naturally beat it off with their own normal body defenses. So it's far from "incurable" if some people can just go home and pop some flu medication and beat it back themselves. That said, it IS a bad strain given the deaths in Mexico and something the World Health Organization obviously wants to mobilize and jump on right away since they ARE fearful of it spreading fast, much like most flu viruses do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SweetCharmer
is it just me or does this seem like Resident evil or something. a new virus appears and is virtually uncurable and sweeping the world
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Well, before anyone worries too much about a Resident Evil-like scenario, the wire services are likewise trying to downplay one rumor that was already starting to spread across the Internet, which I'm sure conspiracy buffs were going to be jumping all over like crazy...
Mexican authorities did lay to rest one persistent doubt, after Mexican museum director Felipe Solis died this week, just days after accompanying U.S. President Barack Obama on a tour of National Anthropology Museum on April 16. Solis had a pre-existing illness, and he died of pneumonia unrelated to influenza.