Posted By AHS I am sure our minds are getting more focused as the death toll rises although according to the NHS it was a coincidence in most cases eg http://uk.news.yahoo.com...ural-causes-dba1618.html ? However I was shocked to learn that local pharmacies including my own havent got any Tamiflu. If this thing mutates as Spanish Flu did before in the fall of 1918 are they honestly expecting millions of people to pitch up at the General Hospital which nowadays could be a very long way away.

Posted By holmezy I'll just put my black cape on and pick up my scythe.... As I understand it, swine flu is just another strain of the flu virus, and not a particular virrulent one at that. Every year, we have different strains of flu as it mutates, and this is another version of it that began life in pigs. Much like Avian flu (just another strain of flu) it eventually mutated so as to affect humans. Most virus's present in animals have "potential" albeit a low likelyhood of mutating sufficiently to affect humans so next year we may get monkey flu or panda flu! Tamiflu, if you read the blurb, does not immunize against the virus, and as the virus is constantly changing, its highly unlikely there will ever be a 100% effective immuniser. What Tamiflu does do, is to strengthen the body's immune system so that it fights off the flu when its contracted, mminimises the effects of the virus and aids recovery. It sells papers to report every death associated with swine flu, which is expected to kill the same amount of people, (usually those already immuno suppressed) as "ordinary" seasonal flu does every year. Strangely enough, no "ordinary" seasonal flu deaths get reported because it doesnt sell papers. I'm not a medical person, but rather than believe the press and the scaremongers, I've asked nurses, doctors and other learned folk to get a balanced opinion. I'm not at the panic stage yet with swine flu, but apparently a there's a chicken ( Mr Licken to his friends) going round saying the sky is going to fall in, which is probably more of a risk. Holmezy I've removed my black cloak, put down my scythe and am going to have a lemsip........just in case this slight sniffle develops into something more serious.

Posted By holmezy Yesterdays super soaraway current bun ran the following headline in big letters "Healthy girl,6, killed by swine flu" then at the bottom of the same page wrote in smaller letters. "diagnosed with tonsilitis" Great example of mis-reporting and scaremongering if you ask me! Holmezy

Posted By holmezy AHS Perhaps the government believes its own hype? Perhaps its a diversionary tactic to remove focus from other concerns. Tamiflu is anti viral, however in the majority of instances it won't prevent you catching the virus. What it will do (with a few possible nasty side effects) is build up your immune systemt o fight the virus quicker, so rather than you have a week in bed, you might only have a couple of days. The virus needs to be detected very early, and Tamiflu taken within a couple of days for it to be fully effective. You can buy Tamiflu on the tinterweb if you want to! Here comes that chicken again.....panic!! Holmezy

Posted By Tabs The government has moved from a containment phase to a treatment phase. This means that rather than trace, isolate and inform the response now is to deal with the ill. Telling people around you has no tangible benefits unless they are all going to self-quarantine just in case. Self-quarantine (as per the person with close contact with the ex) is laudable and if everyone could do that, the spread would be delayed or even broken - but in all probability it is futile as others are not following the same pattern of behaviour. It has been decided that the virus is widespread and should be allowed to follow the natural course of such an infection. Washing hands and cleaning surfaces is a help, but is not completely effective unless done after each and every contact (cleaning a handle twice a day is great until the next contaminated person touches it (within a minute, an hour?) and then it's contaminated). It is not the same as other seasonal flus but the difference is symantec rather than meaningful to the layman. One important difference is that it is skewed in regards as to who it is killing. There is a lot of good advice on several websites including NHS; HPA; WHO; which can be read.

Posted By steve e ashton JOKE We're all waiting for swine flu H1N1 to mutate and combine with avian flu. Then we can be certain that pigs can fly. END JOKE The UK resilience website has been promoting the cause of good contingency planning for many years. Cassandra-like, they are now able to say (pehaps with a tinge of sadness that their advice has been so widely ignored) 'we told you so'. Those (few) organisations who heeded advice and effectively incorporated pandemic flu into their planning should soon be banking the dividends of their foresight. Others, without that foresight, will go bust as business-critical staff take prolonged absences. Will anyone be held to account? I doubt it. Steve

Posted By John Richards Tamiflu does nothing for the immune system at all. It inhibits the enzyme that allows the virus to "escape" from an infected cell to infect other cells. The body then goes through the normal routine of antibody production to enable infected cells to be killed. Patients with other problems (bronchitis, for instance) are prescribed antibiotics to forestall respiratory infections during the infected phase of flu...

Posted By LMR And for further information on the panic/fear mode of swine flu ... more people died in the recent heatwave to heat than ever did to swine flu ... did we have a fear campaign for that ... if we did i missed it! I also remember SARS a few years ago