Ben Hannant has Swine Flu

[Nashy]

But you don't read the news, so how would you know?

 

[Fozz]

One thing to remember is that there is communal resistance to the usual seasonal flu thanks to vaccines, so 1500 people die yearly despite that. There is very little resistance to the swine flu because there is no vaccine so the potential is quote worrying.

Yes, it may turn out to be nothing but I'd rather play it safe.

 

[Flutterby]

As Coxy said earlier though, they have found this is related to other viruses that have been before, which is why Swine Flu seems to be affecting younger people moreso than older people - who are those usually most susceptible to the flu - becuase they have built up some form of resistance.

 

[Kimlo]

But you don't read the news, so how would you know?

There's a good reason I rarely read the news [icon_wink

 

[Foordy]

The Dragons breached the quarantine with Boyd's presence in the away dressing rooms before last nights match with the Titans

http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhqnews ... 19254.html

 

[Je$ter]

How the frick do AFL teams get allowed to travel in and out of Victoria all the time and not have any reported implications from Swine Flu, yet rugby league does?

 

[Kaz]

The Dragons breached the quarantine with Boyd's presence in the away dressing rooms before last nights match with the Titans

http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhqnews ... 19254.html

Well he already travelled on the bus with them, so I don't think it made much difference.

And also the Dragons say they weren't told until Boyd had been taped up etc.

 

[Foordy]

The NRL have stated that the informed the Dragons of the situation with Boyd before 4pm. I doubt they would have even been at the ground at that time.

 

[NPK]

How the frick do AFL teams get allowed to travel in and out of Victoria all the time and not have any reported implications from Swine Flu, yet rugby league does?

Good question eusa_think

 

[tryhard]

How come Petero and Price are still playing and training? This really has become a joke. Vossy and Gould both went into isolation(hopefully forever) and yet Wally, Vautin, the list goes on are still out and about doing their job. It is a joke the way it is being handled.
Seems as though a lot of picking and choosing who and who not should be thrown into isolation to me.

I was at the Club on Monday and the boys were all together and having photos done etc. and then the Origin guys get sent home. Seems the whole team and all associated with it should be stood down.

I to wondered about the AFL guys [icon_shady

 

[Coxy]

The risk of Swine flu mutating into a much more vicious virus is limited apparently. It'll be small step changes. Normal Type A influenza mutates every year and that's why vaccines don't stop the death toll. It was also noted that of the major pandemics in the past where hundreds of thousands, even millions of people died worldwide, most were a result of secondary bacterial pneumonia.

With drugs like tamiflu available - which if taken within 24 hours of becoming symptomatic render you non-contagious within 24 hours and greatly reduce the severity of symptoms (still takes 7-10 days to get over it) - and the myriad of antibiotics available, the risk of such a widespread fatality rate from any strain of flu is unlikely in the DEVELOPED world...in the third world it's a different story. Hence why Mexico has suffered much more with swine flu. It can also explain a lot of problems in the US too - it's not third world, but a huge number of their population don't have access to medical care as they can't afford it.

There's over 1000 cases of swine flu in this country. The only way to stop the spread would be to quarantine EVERYBODY, keep everyone at home for a week. As if that's going to happen.

And, given that every mutated virus still bears some resemblance to its predecessor, it actually makes some sense to let this mild variety get exposed to a lot of people to build up some communal resistance - plus it'd be a damn good idea to get a flu shot next year, which will immunise against this strain.

 

[Emma]

Completely agree Coxy - I heard a doctor on the tv the other day say that quarantining people at this stage is possibly the worst thing we can do. Reason being that normally viruses like this come in waves, with the second wave likely to be worse. So if people are in quarantine now, no one is building up a resistance to it at all, so when the second wave hits, a lot more people will be getting much sicker than we're currently seeing. At the end of the day, I can't really see Australia suffering more with this virus than we do with the normal every day flu.

I realise all viruses have the potential to turn nasty, but realistically, in a country like Australia I don't see it being any worse than the ordinary, every day flu.

 

[Coxy]

Bingo. As I hinted at in my last post, the biggest advantage we have is that we have freely available health care. In the case of a flu epidemic, the government makes tamiflu available free or at least greatly subsidised. It's prohibitively expensive for most people at normal times (about $40 a pop I think) and given it only reduces symptoms it's usually not worth it.

Its primary aim is to prevent spreading.

Compare with third world countries and "user pays" health systems like the US, if you get the flu you're on your own...and the real risk once you do have it is not resting, keeping fluids up etc. That hurts your body's ability to fight it, which can lead to dangerous complications (pneumonia etc). That's how healthy, strong people die from the flu.

 

[Coxy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/health/09flu.html

Some interesting stuff in there about H1N1 swine flu.

The swine flu virus is rapidly making its way around the world, but it has been relatively mild so far, causing only 139 confirmed deaths. Could it mutate into something more lethal?

Scientists looking at its genetic structure say there is no obvious pressure for it to do so — no reason for this virus to “want,†in the Darwinian sense, to kill more of its hosts.

It is already doing a near-perfect job of keeping itself alive by invading human noses and inducing humans to cough it from one to another, said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

“A really aggressive flu that quickly kills its host†— like SARS and H5N1 avian flu — “gives itself a problem,†Dr. Lipkin said.

The current swine flu strain lacks several genes believed to increase lethality, including those that code for two proteins known as PB1-F2 and NS-1, and one that codes for a tongue-twister called the polybasic hemagglutinin cleavage site.

PB1-F2 appears to weaken the protective membrane of the energy-producing mitochondria in an infected cell, ultimately killing the cell. Specifically, it attacks dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system. Its lethality could be accidental — a protein good at killing sentries might just go on killing other cells once inside the fort.

All pandemic flus, including those of the Spanish, Hong Kong and Asian flus, make PB1-F2. So does the H5N1 bird flu. The current swine strain does not.

The NS-1 protein also maims the immune response by blocking interferon, an antiviral protein made by cells.

Very lethal bird flus also have the unusual cleavage site, which allows the hemagglutinin spike on the virus’s shell to split and inject its genetic instructions into different kinds of cells, like those in the lungs and the gut.

Such an addition to the novel H1N1 would be very dangerous. But because it has been found only in avian flus, it is unlikely to become a component of a human flu, Dr. Palese said. Even the 1918 virus, which was avian in origin, lacked it.

A much more likely change, scientists have said, is that the H1N1 swine flu will become resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu. A gene for Tamiflu resistance is now almost universal in seasonal H1N1 flus.

If that happens, the world’s Tamiflu stockpiles will be all but worthless, and doctors may have to switch to Relenza, which is a powder used with an inhaler, which makes it more expensive and harder to take.

Tamiflu resistance is more of a worry. It would certainly enable this virus to pass freely from person to person with little we could do to stop it.