UK To Get Face Masks Due To Swine Flu

Just heared this on the radio, apparently the whole of the UK is to get face masks similar to Mexico due to the swine flu outbreak.

Not sure if this is true or not, I havent checked the news sites. To be honest with you I am not worried about it... remeber bird flu a few years back? It went on for what? 2 years and suddenly nothing else was being reported and it was forgotten about. Ok so quite a few people did die during that time, but again its similar to this and causing a mass panic...

Anyone heared anything else about this? Your thoughts on it?

Edit: Partially confirmed, funny how the media do anything legally possible to twist the news.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8023977.stm

Ah yes, I study a lot of virology at University.

Bird flu, SARS, etc. all went away because of these extreme responses. If one of these viruses gets into a proper pandemic millions, possibly billions will die, so the governments have good reason to get on top of it early

Mind you not much to worry about at the moment, governments problem. But I tell you if it DOES get to a global pandemic I'll be wearing a mask too.

Murudai said:

Ah yes, I study a lot of virology at University.

Bird flu, SARS, etc. all went away because of these extreme responses. If one of these viruses gets into a proper pandemic millions, possibly billions will die, so the governments have good reason to get on top of it early

Mind you not much to worry about at the moment, governments problem. But I tell you if it DOES get to a global pandemic I'll be wearing a mask too.

Click to expand...

The masks are only useful for 2 hours, they stop working when they get damp.

If this flu is treated it only has a 4% mortality rate anyway.

Also, I thought the 30 million face masks in the UK were only for medical staff, at least for now anyway .

-Adam

Tis the end of the world

This reminds me of that south park episode where the native americans give the white people blankets with SARS. Then the cure for SARS ends up being chicken noodle soup, dayquil, and sprite

The masks aren't really going to do anything. They're pretty much just to calm people down and make them feel safer... but that can also cause a problem because then people may be less cautious if they feel safer.

Basically, if you feel sick, having trouble breathing, go to the doctor and don't put it off more than a day or two since when you first felt sick. The flu is very treatable, even the severe strains. The problem comes from people who don't seek medical treatment when they should, and the severe strains increase the likelihood of severe symptoms and can hasten progression (timeline) of the symptoms, but most strains don't need treatment (though a flu vaccine is good prevention! It doesn't cover all strains, though).

HumanSymphony said:

This reminds me of that south park episode where the native americans give the white people blankets with SARS. Then the cure for SARS ends up being chicken noodle soup, dayquil, and sprite

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LOL, do you remember how they got the SARS on the blankets to begin with ?  : ;D

Funny eppisode...

*Edit.. It was throw rugs..not blankets

WannaBurn said:

[quote author=HumanSymphony link=1240999010/0#4 date=1241061790]This reminds me of that south park episode where the native americans give the white people blankets with SARS. Then the cure for SARS ends up being chicken noodle soup, dayquil, and sprite

Click to expand...

LOL, do you remember how they got the SARS on the blankets to begin with ?  : ;D

Funny eppisode...

*Edit.. It was throw rugs..not blankets [/quote]
Yes, they rubbed chinese people on them... LOL! and it was indeed blankets

EDIT: also, for those unfamiliar with american history, and what makes this episode even greater, is that this is something white people actually did to the native americans centuries ago (not with SARS obviously, it was smallpox)

HumanSymphony said:

[quote author=WannaBurn link=1240999010/0#6 date=1241067596][quote author=HumanSymphony link=1240999010/0#4 date=1241061790]This reminds me of that south park episode where the native americans give the white people blankets with SARS. Then the cure for SARS ends up being chicken noodle soup, dayquil, and sprite

Click to expand...

LOL, do you remember how they got the SARS on the blankets to begin with ?  : ;D

Funny eppisode...

*Edit.. It was throw rugs..not blankets [/quote]
Yes, they rubbed chinese people on them... LOL! and it was indeed blankets

EDIT: also, for those unfamiliar with american history, and what makes this episode even greater, is that this is something white people actually did to the native americans centuries ago (not with SARS obviously, it was smallpox)[/quote]


Hmm, my bad.. Thought it was like persian carpets or something like it, I just remember the funny scene where they were rubbing the SARS on..ROFL.. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are genious

Didnt know that piece of American history either, the eppisode makes a little more sense now