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SWINE FLU UPDATE
CBC Canada - Public health officials and journalists have overstated the importance of the swine flu, a former Ontario chief medical officer of health says. Dr. Richard Schabas, chief medical officer of health for Hastings and Prince Edward Counties in eastern Ontario, said the H1N1 influenza outbreak needs to be put into proper perspective.
About 200,000 people die in Canada every year from all causes combined, including about 4,000 from seasonal flu. "By the time all the dust has settled on H1N1, somewhere between 200 and 300 people will have died in this country," Schabas said Thursday during a panel on media coverage of H1N1 on CBC-TV's The National.
Schabas criticized the media for not trying to put the story into perspective, and for being "a little too easy to spin sometimes" by public health officials.
"I'm not letting the media off the hook totally, but I think the real villains of the piece here have been those public health officials who have consistently overplayed and overstated the importance of what is happening," he said.. . .
healthy child in Canada is about 20 times more likely to be killed by a car than by the H1N1 virus, Schabas said, but that isn't going to make the national news.
"Children actually die of flu every year and a few more die of H1N1. This was not unexpected, and the way it was presented - as if this was a sudden bolt out of the blue, some change in our perspective of H1N1 - that's what created the anxiety. It was the way it was presented."
About 200,000 people die in Canada every year from all causes combined, including about 4,000 from seasonal flu. "By the time all the dust has settled on H1N1, somewhere between 200 and 300 people will have died in this country," Schabas said Thursday during a panel on media coverage of H1N1 on CBC-TV's The National.
Schabas criticized the media for not trying to put the story into perspective, and for being "a little too easy to spin sometimes" by public health officials.
"I'm not letting the media off the hook totally, but I think the real villains of the piece here have been those public health officials who have consistently overplayed and overstated the importance of what is happening," he said.. . .
healthy child in Canada is about 20 times more likely to be killed by a car than by the H1N1 virus, Schabas said, but that isn't going to make the national news.
"Children actually die of flu every year and a few more die of H1N1. This was not unexpected, and the way it was presented - as if this was a sudden bolt out of the blue, some change in our perspective of H1N1 - that's what created the anxiety. It was the way it was presented."
9 Comments:
Not sure about Canada, but in the US, the question needs to be asked as to why this is being overplayed?
Could it be to justify giving millions to big pharma companies to produce, or not to produce really, the H1N1 vaccine.
Those contracts require a crisis.
Sorry to be a cynic, but pumping money out to big corporations seems to be the only reason why the US gov does anything these days.
This can cure people's negative thoughts about swine flu and, maybe, stupidity:
For the record, the reason the Pandemic H1N1/09 vaccine is in short supply is that pharmaceutical companies were reluctant to produce it because it isn't very profitable. Flu vaccines in general are not profit-makers, and many companies have quit manufacturing them because of the very real risk of LOSING money if any year's flu turns out to be milder than expected. They are hardly a likely culprit if the danger has been overplayed. I'm not defending them, just saying they are more likely to try to stir up a panic to sell cash-cow drugs like Viagra than flu vaccine.
And certainly, Pandemic H1N1/09 does not kill as many total people as seasonal flu, but most of those who die from seasonal flu are elderly or immune-compromised. H1N1/09 is unusual in that it kills or causes major complications for otherwise-healthy young people. The real lesson from all this isn't whether the danger of H1N1/09 is being overhyped, but rather that the danger of seasonal flu tends to be seriously underestimated.
For the record, the reason the Pandemic H1N1/09 vaccine is in short supply is that pharmaceutical companies were reluctant to produce it because it isn't very profitable. Flu vaccines in general are not profit-makers, and many companies have quit manufacturing them because of the very real risk of LOSING money if any year's flu turns out to be milder than expected. They are hardly a likely culprit if the danger has been overplayed. I'm not defending them, just saying they are more likely to try to stir up a panic to sell cash-cow drugs like Viagra than flu vaccine.
And certainly, Pandemic H1N1/09 does not kill as many total people as seasonal flu, but most of those who die from seasonal flu are elderly or immune-compromised. H1N1/09 is unusual in that it kills or causes major complications for otherwise-healthy young people. The real lesson from all this isn't whether the danger of H1N1/09 is being overhyped, but rather that the danger of seasonal flu tends to be seriously underestimated.
Just to let you know there is a new hand sanitizer, which is FDA compliant. (I've done my research).
I have tried it, and it's pretty sweet. It's non-alcohol based, which is nice because it doesn't make you smell like alcohol and it doesn't dry out your hands. Plus, I am not sure how good putting alcohol on kids hands is...
Purel kills bacteria for 18 seconds, this one last for 8 hours. It protects you against ecoli, salmonella, and other bacteria and germs.
Go here: www.skinwearshop.com -- you can look it over and see if you like it. It does smell nice though and does what it says.
You idiot. it's anti-bacteria...not anti-virus.
To clarify 1:45's comment:
There are two different kinds of disease causing microbes that behave very differently, bacteria and viruses.
Bacteria are single cell organisms that function similarly to the cells in our bodies. They are alive in the same sense that we are and they can be killed by traditional antiseptics and anti-biotics. Hand sanitizers containing alcohol work very well for killing them.
Viruses are little packets of DNA that inject themselves into your living cells and take them over. They are not really "alive" (at least in the same sense we and bacteria are) when outside of another organisms cells. They are much harder to kill and hand sanitizers have no effect on them whatsoever.
The flu is a virus and therefore you cannot protect yourself from it with hand sanitizers.
You might not be able to 100% protect yourself from a virus, however it can't hurt to use an antibacterial hand sanitizer like the one that someone wrote on here.
I looked up, SkinWearShop.com and it actually does look like a great way to protect yourself against germs and bacteria.
When you do some research you find that tests were done with patients that used the SkinWear stuff. Ecoli, salmonella, and other major bacterias and germs didn't grow on their hands after the first application.
Having germs and bacteria on your hands can get you sick. Why not use something that can prevent you from having them grow on your hands?
I hate purell and get this weird reaction when I use it. Plus, you use that crap so much that your hands crack and it's painful in the winter.
I am going to try this new sanitizer because it's still proven to go above and beyond other sanitizers yet do it without all the alcohol.
Not to mention it lasts 8 hours... I am going to give it a shot.
Thanks to the person that posted about www.skinwearshop.com -- I am going to try it! :)
SWINES IN TOP HATS SWINDLE
Glaxo is just a marketing hand
so who sold that vacc to the whole world carrying seeds of the next pandemic?
What state, what monster?
When failed, getting away to try again?
Like Oklahoma
your comment must be approved by
OH YEAH?
guess where all the internet monitoring flows to and you guessed where that vaccine maker sits
According to a list compiled by Dr. Patricia Doyle at rense.com, a host of strange ingredients are used to make up Hoffman-La Roche's anti-flu drug Tamiflu, which has recently been connected with bizarre behavior,
Patients using Tamiflu -- which many nations are stocking up on as a way to combat a possible pandemic of the deadly H5N1 bird flu -- reported delirium, hallucinations, delusions, convulsions, disturbed consciousness and abnormal behavior. The FDA reports that side effects reported with Tamiflu include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bronchitis, stomach pain, dizziness and headache.
ANTI-MONOPOLISTS VERY QUIET ON JUST ONE FIRM ''SERVING'' THE WHOLE WORLD
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