Uh Oh We're in Trouble? First H1N1 Cytokine Storm/Other Problems

[Vajra]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090515/...ical Condition

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said repeatedly that there would be more deaths and new cases, and that the strain was still on the upswing in the U.S. Texas on Friday reported the nation's fifth swine flu death.

The mayor said Thursday that the assistant principal, Mitch Wiener, may have had pre-existing health problems — but on Friday, Wiener's son Adam said his father had only suffered previously from gout, which he said was unrelated to his current condition. He said his 55-year-old father is now suffering from pneumonia, kidney failure, dehydration and a lung infection.

"We're dealing with it the best way we can but it's obviously hard," said Adam Wiener, 23. "They say it's critical but not hopeless."

It isn't unusual for flu cases to ebb and surge as the virus moves through a population during flu season. The virus tends to disappear as the weather gets warmer and more humid.

Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, a deputy commissioner of the health department, said investigators are trying to learn more about why the disease has spread erratically.

With this Assistant Principal Guy only having prior case of "Gout" (which is a build up of uric acid because of a deficiency of the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase could this be related to these new symptoms of the swine flu??? Or could it be that it's beginning to mutate... -.-? Obviously they mean to say "Cytokine Storm" (no pneumonia) since that's what flu pandemics like these "can" cause if they are severe.

7520 cases confirmed in the World (But scientist estimate 50,000 cases total but unconfirmed), 4714 cases in U.S.A.; also 5th death in U.S. today in Texas

I'm guessing we'll reach 10k+ before the end of the weekend...And they keep noting that this flu is spreading faster than the normal flu (which was already noted by them saying that it is more contagoius, just a lower morality rate (atleast for now).

Also WTF it's fkking abnormal to have flu season in the almost fooking middle of MAY, when it usually ends LATE MARCH/EARLY APRIL!!!

Edit: Added Slapper's definition of Gout, and added the quote bar I forgot to add >.>...

[Despain]

>_> I'm already over the whole swine flu panic. Although I appreciate you keeping BG in touch with all this info, lol.

[_chuchu]

meh

[SephYuyX]

No, go away, stop bringing this BS Swine Flu crap up.

Flu Season is 6 months, and didnt really start till late December this year.
1000 people die every week from the common flu during said season.
Media BS is making Swine Flu into something it's not.

[Vajra]

Flu Season is 6 months, and didnt really start till late December this year.

Well, if it did start later this year, it might not really matter, since warmer weather has been around for about a month now, people congregating outdoors more = less flu spread (rather than indoors = more flu spread), and yet the cases are rising by 100s-thousands each day. Could it be that the contagiousness of this flu is so high that it'll be a 24/7/365 flu?

It's already established that the swine flu has a low morality rate (for now). Also, we already know that the southern hemisphere's flu season has just started (will peak in July). The recent Human influenza was a tamilfu-resistant strain. If it mutates in the southern hemisphere, then it "might" become tamiflu resistant when it comes back to us (if it dies out this summer and comes back in fall).

It's already in Asia and suspected to be in Africa where the Avian flu is present, and we know the morality rate of that virus is 60-70%, hopefully it turns out that if it were to merge with that virus, that it'd weaken (like the scientist that tested the combo of Avian + Human flu, who found out that it turned out to be weakened).

Also: David Cook and David Archuleta Chased for Swine Flu Check lol

[Rhinox]

Paranoid OP is too Paranoid

[Colenzo]

OMG 5 DEATHS
SHUT
DOWN
EVERYTHING

[Vajra]

OMG 5 DEATHS
SHUT
DOWN
EVERYTHING

My thread isn't specifically about the 5 total death's in the U.S. (and those should not be taken lightheartedly as a joke, the way you put it that is), but I'm mainly noting the first cytokine storm (google / wikipedia it) that might be occurring as a result of this outbreak. Read the bolded part of the original post.

[Slapper]

Whoever wrote that article doesn't know shit about gout. It doesnt happen when urine enters the bloodstream, its caused by a build up of uric acid because of a deficiency of the enzyme hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. I didn't sit through weeks learning about nucleic acid metabolism to read this nonsense.

[Kuya]

Wasn't the OP the guy who was scare mongering in the first thread? Well not scare mongering, just obsessing.

[Rhinox]

yep

[Tristam]

well of *course* it's spreading faster, it's a new strain but that doesn't make it more deadly. The reason we worry about shit like this is that epidemic diseases that cross from animals to humans tend to fuck up populations that don't have immunity (see the introduction of new world diseases arising from old domesticated animals to the new world).

The low mortality rate from this particular strain should ease fears going into flu season next year. Not for nothing, but treatment has gotten a fuckton better than in 1918 and if this isn't a particularly deadly strain, then the rate of its spread dosen't really concern me. Natural immunity will build and it will become another virus in the background of flu.

as for cytokine shock, it's perhaps a bit telling that they quoted this dude's son rather than, you know, a doctor. Gout can develop an immune response no problem atall to the uric acid crystals in a gout patient's blood. For him to say that they're unrelated is a pretty weird judgement, I would suspect the kidney failure is very much related to dehydration caused by the flu combined with the increase in uric acid crystals brought about by gout. But fwiw I'm not a doctor or even a med student.

[Senoska]

You guys that are shrugging the swine flu off have no idea what you're talking about. Stop posting like you do.

[Kuya]

Listen to Senoska, he knows how to handle college problems.

[Rhinox]

lol

[Bingbong]

OMG 5 DEATHS
SHUT
DOWN
EVERYTHING

Hello Mr. President of Madagascar.

[Khamsin]

How do you know it wasn't really pneumonia, and not a cytokine storm?

[Vekta]

If we worried over everything they say is going to kill us, we would die from worry far before some bullshit flu virus that the media latched onto.

[Seraph]

More people die from flesh eating crotch herpes than this flu virus. Chillax man~

[Senoska]

More people die from flesh eating crotch herpes than this flu virus. Chillax man~

The flu of 1918 killed about 5% of those that it infected.. Total deaths were about 50 million people.

An estimated one third of the world's population (or ≈500 million persons) were infected and had clinically apparent illnesses (1,2) during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic. The disease was exceptionally severe. Case-fatality rates were >2.5%, compared to <0.1% in other influenza pandemics (3,4). Total deaths were estimated at ≈50 million (5–7) and were arguably as high as 100 million (7).

Swine flu is worse. If shit gets out of hand, it'll be far worse than this. Not to mention travel and control is much harder now with flights around the world.

Don't worry guys, its nothing to worry about. Just let it work its way through the system, right?

I hope you drop dead.