MetaFilter posts tagged with flu

Influenza in the Amazon

roofus — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:19:43 -0800

A British TV crew have been accused of spreading flu to a remote Peruvian tribe of 250 members, leading to 4 deaths. TV director Matt Currington (google cache) and team were researching for the Discovery channel in the Peruvian Amazon, when flu struck the Matsigenka people. Despite denials from the production company, US anthropologist Glen Shepherd has substantiated the allegations.

wash your hands (a PSA)

tarheelcoxn — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:24:23 -0800

Don't want the flu? Wash your hands! Washing your hands is not the only way to prevent the flu, but it's clearly important. Note that not all hand sanitizers are effective! Also, way to go ladies (90% of you, anyway). Guys, we need to catch up. Can you tell I'm home sick?

The end of influenza?

Kickstart70 — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:55:16 -0800

The end of influenza? New british vaccine may prevent ALL types of flu, savings thousands of lives (and sick days) each year.

If they'd had this website there'd have only been 6 dwarves

phearlez — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:01:49 -0800

Both Find a Flu Shot and Flu Clinic Locator will let you punch in a date & zip code and find a bunch of locations near you in the U.S. selling the vaccine. For the first time in three years there's plenty to go around. The CDC estimates that everyone who might want one will be able to get one. And you probably want one. According to wikipedia "36,000 people per year in the United States die from influenza, and 114,000 per year are admitted to a hospital as a result of influenza. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, between 250,000 and 500,000 die from influenza infection each year worldwide." That's 5 to 10 times as many civilian casualties as the Iraq conflict in 1/3 the time. [more inside]

Ba ba ba ba bird flu!

casconed — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:30:52 -0800

The "Bird flu dance" is "sweeping" Africa. Or at least the Ivory Coast. DJ Lewis created the dance (youtube warning) which was described in the BBC article as being "like a chicken with Parkinson's disease trying to dance to hip-hop". There are examples all over youtube (warning: here be lofi youtube videos).

Is H5N1 flu transitioning to human-to-human transmission?

chakalakasp — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 01:30:31 -0800

Is H5N1 flu transitioning to a human-to-human illness? Recent reports of familial clusters suggest that it may be, though there are certainly other possible explanations, such as families living in environments contaminated by virus-laden bird feces. On the other hand, it would seem that epidemiologists are growing increasingly interested in the possibility that these clusters are indicative of human-to-human transmissions. Further, the virus may be inching towards being asymptomatic, which isn't as good as it sounds: if people can carry the virus and transmit it to others without showing symptoms, it will be very difficult to impossible to tell who is a vector and highly difficult to control any emerging epidemic.

H5N1, shmaitch5N1

Eothele — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 08:35:05 -0800

Dengue in Texas. If it ain't the flu, it's the haemorrhagic fever. Disease info from WHO, CDC, Wikipedia.

Kobayashi Maru, what do you do?

Eideteker — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 21:32:17 -0800

Taiwan ignores drug patent - To save its people from a dangerous flu, Taiwan is synthesizing a vaccine without permission. This bears a striking resemblance to a classic moral dilemma of Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Kohlberg's theory is not without criticism, including gender bias, Western-centric thinking, and external validity. Simply knowing a person's decision doesn't tell you about their stage of development; you have to know the reasoning behind it, which is hard to come by in real world situations. Conversely, knowing a person's stage of moral development (even harder to come by in the real world) does not reliably predict their decision (moreso at the higher levels). Nor does Kohlberg's theory scale to what choices societies themselves make. Decision Making is a booming field of research, but how much research is being done on morality and group decision making? Not much. (initial article via /.)

Personal Pandemic Preparedness Plan

stbalbach — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 16:52:52 -0800

Personal Pandemic Preparedness Plan.

Pandemic Flu Awareness Week

grabbingsand — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 06:34:36 -0800

October 3-9 is Pandemic Flu Awareness Week. "Like hurricanes, when a pandemic occurs can not be accurately predicted. Nonetheless, that which can be done in advance should be done, because eventually something will happen. Planning can only help, even if at the local level it can’t prevent." (Avian Flu previously discussed here, here, here and here.)