Swine 'flu - What economic impact?

BettiePage

lostinrates wrote: »

Thanks Bluey: he seems better even today, I'm not even convinced its flu...maybe just a mild buggy-virus. Flu I think of as mandatory bed-time and wretchedness, he's just decidedly peaky.

Meanwhile: I alerted the flu list keeper I was off to stock up on flu stuff: as if he has flu I'll get it and preparedness is a bonus imo. I was asked to get a few other things for other people (many people being prepared rather than needing). Mainly this was lemsip.

And thats where the problems began. You are restricted by law to the amount of parecetampl you can purchase,:rolleyes:. We live fairly rurally, there is not a huge amount of choice but I pointed out that the majority of stuff was for my ''flu friends'' nd that death by lemsip would take a long time to ingest the stuff and would no be anyones first choice, and that parecetmol was not the nicest way to do it either (perhaps details of why were a bad idea?). This just seemed to make them more adamant I couldn't by the stuff :o

So, I've had to do a drive round (wasting money on petrol and time) on buying two products each from various petrol stations pharmacies and supermarkets. It seems to be rather biarre to have had a system on nominating flu friends but not lifting the number of products someone can buy when we are mant to isolate ourselves with the lurgey.

Good point. I've got about 6 boxes of paracetamol bought over a few shops. Just incase all 3 of us come down with it at the same time we'll have a couple of days worth of the stuff as I don't intend asking for Tamiflu.

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

Depending on how friendly you are with the cashier, it's actually per transaction, so you could have bought mutiples of 2 per transaction.

Yeah: they weren't having any of it. (its actually what I normally do with the over the counter pain relief I usually take if I'm not going to take something like lemsip) Its as if they've all be told to clamp down.

tomterm8

mr.broderick wrote: »

Pulmonary embolism !! I'm guessing it was nonmassive??!

Oh, sorry, I didn't see your post. I think the diagnosis was two large bilateral clots in the lung (i.e. bilateral being accross both lungs, and large being a classification lower than massive, but still with quite a high risk of fatality) and one massive proximal DVT. Although I have some doubts that the DVT that was diagnosed was actually the source of the PE's... I think they happened a couple of weeks earlier from a silent DVT. I had gone to the doctor with difficulty breathing, and the twit sent me home with antibiotics

By the time they actually diagnosed the PE's, I was feeling much better:rotfl:

ruggedtoast

to avert peoples gaze from House Prices, The Economy and The Recession (please dont move this to Moneysavers Arms. I cant stand the dratted place).

This job advert arrived artfully in my inbox today:

Position: Pandemic Flu Digital Communications Manager
Reference:
Sector: Public Sector
Salary/Rate: £170 - 230 per day
Location: Central London
Date Posted: 29/07/2009

Contract Position from August 2009 to March 2010

We are working with the communications directorate of this central Government department in their recruitment of a digital communications manager to help drive the Department’s pandemic flu communications making use of social media and new technologies to reach wider audiences.

The role will involve

• Developing and implementing a strategy for disseminating key messages relating to pandemic flu using on-line channels, social media and other web 2.0 technologies.
• Developing existing and pilot new web 2.0 technologies, ensuring full evaluation.
• Producing guidance and procedures including risk management to ensure the Department’s use of social media channels is effective and appropriate.
• Acting as the primary point of contact for key internal and external stakeholders on all digital communication issues relating to pandemic flu
• Providing expert advice to colleagues in the Communications directorate, policy teams and other Government departments on pandemic flu digital communications.

Key skills required for the role:

• A detailed understanding of web 2.0 channels and the importance of content across different platforms
• Hands-on experience of administering tools such as blogs, discussion forums, wikis, webchats and social media spaces
• An awareness of the benefits and risks of using web 2.0 channels in government
• Experience of using RSS readers and other tools for monitoring social media activity
• An ability to explain social media concepts in plain language and promote the benefits of integrated communications
• Excellent editorial skills including experience of writing or editing content for the web and other digital media, e.g. Twitter
• An ability to build and manage effective relationships
• Experience of juggling conflicting priorities in a high pressure environment
• Knowledge of the legal and quality standards that apply to UK government websites, including accessibility, data protection and the government web guidelines.

From what I can tell theyre actually recruiting posts now now to create high speed panic about what is essentially, the flu.

Baxter must be rubbing their phoney pharma hands together at the prospect of all the barely tested swine flu vaccine Browns going to start squirting into Brits this winter.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6694046.ece

Maybe thats his only hope of getting on a board somewhere after his landslide defeat next year.

Statistically youre in more danger of dying from crossing the road once that getting swine flu 12 times this year.

amcluesent

Pensioners at back of queue for swine flu vaccine

"Pensioners will be at the back of the queue for the new swine flu vaccine as a list of priority groups are drawn up, it has emerged. The first batches of H1N1 vaccine are due to arrive next month with enough for half the population expected to be delivered by December."

Pretty much as I predicated, 'vulnerable' drug-addicts first, those that have paid NI all their lives at the back. A marxist-led government seizes the chance to reduce long term health care and pension costs. "He's had a good innings..."

LydiaJ

amcluesent wrote: »

Pensioners at back of queue for swine flu vaccine

"Pensioners will be at the back of the queue for the new swine flu vaccine as a list of priority groups are drawn up, it has emerged. The first batches of H1N1 vaccine are due to arrive next month with enough for half the population expected to be delivered by December."

Pretty much as I predicated, 'vulnerable' drug-addicts first, those that have paid NI all their lives at the back. A marxist-led government seizes the chance to reduce long term health care and pension costs. "He's had a good innings..."

Have you read the whole article?

Data released by the Department of Health shows that children under one year old are ten times more likely to contract the virus than the over 75s.

Since the outbreak began in England at the end of April an estimated one in every 90 children under the age of one have had H1N1, followed by one in 77 children aged between one and four, then one in 95 children aged between four and 14.

In comparison one in 251 people aged between 45 and 64 have so far had swine flu, followed by one in 490 people aged between 64 and 75 and then one in every 833 people aged over 75.

They seem to be taking lots of relevant factors into account, not just age:

He said: "On the information we have so far unless there is an aggravating factor over 65s don't seem to be at risk from this as they are with seasonal flu. There is a good ethical argument for saying that the fit healthy over 65s are not a priority but there is no reason to discriminate between a 70-year-old asthmatic and a 10-year-old asthmatic."
Prof Dingwall said it was unacceptable to say that over 65s would not get the vaccine because younger people are of more value. But if there was good clinical evidence that younger people were getting swine flu more often and getting it more severely and that was the reason for prioritising younger people for the vaccine then that would be ethically acceptable.

H1N1 is behaving differently from normal seasonal flu. The pensioners aren't being forgotten when it comes to the vaccine from the strain that's actually likely to be a problem for them:

Pensioners and those with chronic conditions, such as heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, and diabetes controlled by insulin, are offered the seasonal flu vaccine every year and this will not change this winter.

Seems reasonable to me. Prioritise the people most likely to get it, and most likely to suffer complications if they do get it. That means not prioritising those least likely to get it, and least likely to suffer complications if they do get it.

Are you suggesting everyone at increased risk should be judged as to the extent that their increased risk is their fault? If you want to discount people on methadone prescriptions, are you going to check on all the asthmatics to find out which ones have contributed to their asthma by smoking?

mardatha

The way they're rushing this vaccine through, I'm perfectly happy to hide at the back of the queue thankyou!

michaels

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8182734.stm

mr.broderick

Loss of income for the welsh, maybe they should give the tickets to local school children.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Swine-Flu-Russian-Football-Fans-Told-To-Miss-World-Cup-Qualifier-In-Cardiff-Due-To-Swine-Flu-Fears/Article/200908115353576?lpos=World_News_Third_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region__3&lid=ARTICLE_15353576_Swine_Flu%3A_Russian_Football_Fans_Told_To_Miss_World_Cup_Qualifier_In_Cardiff_Due_To_Swine_Flu_Fears

amcluesent

A new superbug found in Britain is major concern

A new superbug that is resistant to all antibiotics has been brought into Britain by patients having surgery abroad, Government scientists said.

Doctors are urged to be vigilent for a new bug that has arriving in Britain with patients who have travelled to India and Pakistan for cosmetic surgery or organ transplants and is now circulating here.

So far there have been 22 cases in 17 hospitals Britain and the Health Protection Agency has said its emergence here is a 'major concern'.