don't panic, but "SWINE FLU COULD SPREAD GLOBALLY"

ah, so now i can go into my shop and happily buy kleenex tissues without feeling like i'm a teenager buying a packet of condoms

This is a thing? :O

In the wake of the mixed messages of "OMG Pandemic" and "Don't Panic, Wash Hands", I'm sure some people feel a little weird in Walgreens asking for Kleenex.

WTF with that article. Should people "panic"? No. Should there be serious concern that doesn't trivialize the threat? Yes.

The outbreak of swine flu should be renamed "Mexican" influenza in deference to Muslim and Jewish sensitivities over pork, said an Israeli health official Monday.

^^ what's weird about this is that there has surely been more of the opposite wacky reaction -- i.e., "see, pigs are filthy, this is why we don't mess with them"

btw I have swine flu and you can totally catch it from posting next to me

*achoo*

Oh, get a grippe!

It's not good for OCD hypochondriacs at all.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090430/ap_on_he_me/un_who_swine_flu

WHO to stop using term 'swine flu' to protect pigs
-
By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writer Frank Jordans, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 1 min ago
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GENEVA – The World Health Organization announced Thursday it will would stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. The policy shift came a day after Egypt began slaughtering thousands of pigs in a misguided effort to prevent swine flu.

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the agriculture industry and the U.N. food agency had expressed concerns that the term "swine flu" was misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to ban pork products and order the slaughter of pigs.

"Rather than calling this swine flu ... we're going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A," Thompson said...

YEah, this'll stick.

guys i heard a joke today.

they said america would elect it's first black president only when pigs fly. obama entered the white house and now we have SWINE FLU/FLEW.

"H1N1 influenza A or HNIA for short."

Then Warren Defever wonders why his band is suddenly so popular on Google...

Aide to White House, family members test probable for swine flu
by Associated Press
Thursday April 30, 2009, 2:40 PM
WASHINGTON — A member of the U.S. delegation that helped prepare Energy Secretary Steven Chu's trip to Mexico City has demonstrated flu-like symptoms and his family members have tested probable for swine flu.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that three members of an aide's family are being tested to see if they have the same strain of swine flu that is threatening to become a pandemic. The aide worked in presidential advance, which is responsible for planning and preparing trips.

Gibbs said that Secretary Chu has not experienced any symptoms. The spokesman also said that President Barack Obama also has had no symptoms of the virus and doctors see no need to conduct any tests on his health.

Then the entire WH press corps starts coughing...

I'm going out to the countryside until the plague passes.

BUT THAT'S WHERE IT CAME FROM!

"They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."

The Eazymeron

watched scary RI press conference at lunch

governor smiling way too much, like someone desperate to convince you everything's under control

I could almost smell his sweaty palms

2 more in R.I. being tested for possible swine flu
10:15 AM Thu, Apr 30, 2009
Kate Bramson

The R.I. Health Department has sent two more samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be tested for possible swine flu, department spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth said at 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

That means the Health Department is awaiting test results on three Rhode Islanders.

The Health Department announced Wednesday that a student from North Kingstown High School is being tested. The results in that case are expected Friday or Saturday.

Beardsworth said she does not know where the additional two people who are now being tested are from in Rhode Island, nor does she have any demographic information, including their ages.

Beardsworth said the current time frame for test results to come back from the CDC is 24 to 48 hours. But she said it's important to remember that the CDC is the only place right now that can conduct this final stage of testing and the center is getting an increasing number of requests for such tests. She said she believes the samples are being sent to the CDC on Thursday.

Beardsworth said North Kingstown High School remains the only school in Rhode Island closed because of concerns of swine flu spreading.

Beardsworth said she hopes to have more information about the Rhode Islanders being tested for a news conference this afternoon.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-reality30-2009apr30,0,3606923.story

"scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza -- at least in its current form -- isn't shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare."

Oh jeez front page articles like this are NOT HELPFUL:

AUSTRALIANS could soon be asked to stock their pantries with food and water and prepare for an emergency, according to the Federal Government's pandemic flu plan.

A manual outlining Australia's response says that when the World Health Organisation moves to phase five, which it did yesterday, Australia will be in its "delay phase".

This phase recommends that the Government implement border surveillance. It also recommends people develop plans to stay at home. This includes a direction to stock pantries with supplies for 14 days.

Not failing to mention that this is what they would say IF A PANDEMIC HAPPENED. The Age are wording it in such a way as to suggest "yo, go out and stock up now oh but dont panic or anything".

This'll cause bloody panic. No cases have happened here!

i look forward to the supermarket shelves being half empty yet again

Someone just drove into a building in downtown San Francisco about half an hour ago ... probably swine flu.

I have a sore throat. Swine flu, obv.

ILX hit by swine flu

looool

would catch

panic buying has already started; last night, i couldn't find a single bottle of rose in tesco express.

shop near me had ran out of beef flavoured monster munch too, ffs people calm down we don't know the full scale of this yet.

"What strikes me the most is that the bakery section no longer allows you to take the bread with the tongs and they have put a plastic curtain in front of it to prevent you from doing so."

*gasps*

BBC's "swine flu couple feared dying" headline is slightly misleading

ie past tense, not that they are feared to be dying

Lucky that nice Michael O'Leary was around to reassure them really.

I saw this couple being bundled with coats over their heads into their house last night complete with press photographers/handlers - and of course being filmed by the beeb/sky/etc. It was kind of weird. But, hey good luck to them, made a few pounds out of the Daily Mail. Probably paid for the honeymoon?(I have no idea how much a story like this would go for).

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/autocodes/countries/mexico/tests-results-awaited-on-swine-flu-transmission-in-uk-292148.htm

The Askhams are currently being represented by PR guru Max Clifford

FFS all they did was getting fucking sneezed on and they've got Clifford touting them round the press. Better strike while the iron's hot I suppose - next week there'll be 50 million of us dying trying to sell stories.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bradford_city/8028586.stm

^^^ most tragic swine flu news of all there

lol

broadly in favour of Max Clifford spending time with people who have infectious, potentially fatal disease, but the bastard probably took precautions

http://19.media.tumblr.com/fFsbqlx6umxpj7l1id7aSaiYo1_500.jpg
http://19.media.tumblr.com/fFsbqlx6umxpj7l1id7aSaiYo1_500.jpg
http://19.media.tumblr.com/fFsbqlx6umxpj7l1id7aSaiYo1_500.jpg

I wonder who at the Department of Health thought that a slogan for avoiding a deadly flu pandemic should start with "CATCH IT!"

http://doihavetheswineflu.com/

Washing your hands: catch the fever!

http://doihaveswineflu.org/

Best websites.

Now imagine if it was slow loris flu.

oh speidi

http://doihaveswineflu.co.uk/

http://www.doihaveswineflu.info/

http://media.egotastic.com/media/pictures/0904/swine-ad.jpg

my hr dept sent out a memo today banning employee travel to mexico and also explaining in detail how to wash your hands

lol cya

Same with us yesterday, Edward III.