[chuuzetsu]

Because that 57 figure is in a small amount of people compared to the number that are expected to become infected when this is all over. It's a little too early to be judging death tolls.

57 compared to a world population of 6,706,993,152.

[Douglas]

Odd..... to compare the US death toll to the world population. Would seem more appropriate to compare the US death toll to the US population or the world death toll to the world population. But it's nice to see you have a proper real accurate figure there.

Anyway yes it's small beans just now, but it's in the early stages, judge this when it's all over. It's kinda like judging AIDS in 1981.

[chuuzetsu]

Odd..... to compare the US death toll to the world population.

Fine, it's 57 to a US population of 304,059,724. I'm still not scared.

I find AIDS to be more alarming, as over 10,000 people in the US die each year. I just read that the number for 2007 was 14,561 deaths to a US population of 304,059,724. That is significantly more alarming than swine flu.

You are buying media scare tactics. Calm down.

[Douglas]

That is significantly more alarming than swine flu.

But it has had 25 years more to spread and kill people.

You are buying media scare tactics. Calm down.

No I'm actually trying to give you some perspective rather than trying to compare a 25 year old disease to one less than a year old.

[chuuzetsu]

Because the 25 year old disease will still kill 10,000 people in the US next year while Swine Flu will be a forgotten memory.

[Douglas]

Because the 25 year old disease will still kill 10,000 people in the US next year while Swine Flu will be a forgotten memory.

Now you see you've made that claim with no reason or basis. It's the anti-scare tactic, but an equal fallacy. You cannot possibly know if this disease will be forgotten or how bad it will be. We are in the opening stages of a pandemic and you or noone else has any idea what the results will be.

[Igor Antunov]

It's logical to compare infected cases with the death toll. It's even more logical to take precaution so that if the virus mutates to something far more deadly, considering nobody has immunity, deaths can be minimized.

[Ter]

It's even more logical to take precaution so that if the virus mutates to something far more deadly, considering nobody has immunity, deaths can be minimized.

QFT.

There is a good possibiity that it is a false alarm, everybody hopes so. In case it isn't, the authorities are doing the right thing by speeding up vaccine development, stocking up on anti-viral medicines, and preparing plans of how to deal with a devastating pandemic. There is an analogy with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and it would be foolish not to prepare.

As I said many times before: hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

In the meantime, it is amusing to see some people here declaring that it is nothing, ridiculous and so on. Maybe they know something that the biggest experts in the world, virologists and epidemiologists, don't know ?

Ter

[Nets]

Fine, it's 57 to a US population of 304,059,724. I'm still not scared.

I find AIDS to be more alarming, as over 10,000 people in the US die each year. I just read that the number for 2007 was 14,561 deaths to a US population of 304,059,724. That is significantly more alarming than swine flu.

You are buying media scare tactics. Calm down.

Part of that is that the flu is airborne and highly contagious, whereas HIV/AIDS is not. The people who get AIDS are usually either drug addicts and/or people having unprotected sex. The blood supply is monitored now so it isn't like back in the 1980s where people having surgery and hemophiliacs were very susceptible. I am not saying that that AIDS victims "deserve" their fate, but I think the view is that they are at least partially culpable for their plight through risky behavior. What can society do? People know what they have to do, but they are irresponsible.

The fact that condom use is dropping in the gay community defies reason, and is alarming.

The flu is completely different.

Now, if AIDS becomes airborne, god help us.

[chuuzetsu]

Part of that is that the flu is airborne and highly contagious, whereas HIV/AIDS is not. The people who get AIDS are usually either drug addicts and/or people having unprotected sex. The blood supply is monitored now so it isn't like back in the 1980s where people having surgery and hemophiliacs were very susceptible. I am not saying that that AIDS victims "deserve" their fate, but I think the view is that they are at least partially culpable for their plight through risky behavior. What can society do? People know what they have to do, but they are irresponsible.

The point I am making is not that AIDS can be caught as easily as the swine flu. The point I am making is that money is going to be invested in vaccines that eventually might be a wasted investment. Regardless, companies will still have large profits as a result. I believe Rumsfeld even made a huge profit off of the bird flu vaccines.

The fact that condom use is dropping in the gay community defies reason, and is alarming.

Citation? That's a bit bothersome. Then again, I argue that gay oppression leads to more risky behavior.

Now, if AIDS becomes airborne, god help us.

When I was a kid, my parents told me I could get AIDS by sitting on a toilet seat or even catch it by being near one infected. Looking back, I think it was just a way for my parents to get me to stay away from "queers and blacks".

[Nets]

Citation?

I can't cite it at the moment, but I've come across that factoid in numerous AIDS related articles. I could care less about the gay issue, but tangentially I learn about it through reading about AIDS.

That's a bit bothersome. Then again, I argue that gay oppression leads to more risky behavior.

Oppression? In Europe and America? Give me a break.

When I was a kid, my parents told me I could get AIDS by sitting on a toilet seat or even catch it by being near one infected. Looking back, I think it was just a way for my parents to get me to stay away from "queers and blacks".

My mom was a nurse in a Manhattan hospital in the early 1980s, so she saw the AIDS epidemic first unfold before they had any idea what was going on.

[Douglas]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8124987.stm

It's started to mutate by the looks of it. Fantastic.

All that money spent on tamiflu.