To Tracie,

What does “shouldn’t” mean, regarding pigs? Humans domesticated pigs a long time ago (thousands of years); our species have evolved together since then. You could make a very good case that we shouldn’t raise pigs the way they’re raised on factory farms, and maybe that’s what you meant. But to say that we shouldn’t raise pigs at all is much less defensible.

Not only is Dr. Michael Greger not a nut, PETA or otherwise, he’s a highly respected expert on diseases that have their origins in animals, hence his current tenure at HSUS. Most of the zoonotic illness in recent decades (SARS, ebola, etc.) have occurred because of the horrid way humans treat animals around the globe. If we stop eating and exploiting creatures we shouldn’t (like civet cats,chimpanzees and pigs), human infectious disease epidemics such as swine flu will virtually disappear.

Wash your hands with soap and water. Use a paper towel to turn off the taps and to open the bathroom door.

Sneeze into your sleeve then breath twice into your sleeve.

If you hold in your sneeze, the first time you exhale you will be releasing the atomized sneeze anyway. Watch carefully the next time you do it. You will see a mist leaving your mouth or nose.

If someone near you holds in their sneeze cover your mouth and nose. Not as bad as being sneezed on directly but still a cloud of second hand secretions.

Students shoud have been prevented from going to Mexico during Spring Break. Why screen for terrorists but let emerging viruses of unknown origin right in?

The facts end up as obscured as in China, Indonesia, or any of these other places spokespeople conform to, “political and economic pressures”.

If a school in NY has sick kids, but officials get delayed in traffic; only have 9 kids still there to test who haven’t left for home for the weekend; 8 test positive, then, they claim, “the school only has 8 confirmed cases”- they never say they didn’t test the other 75 or whatever sick kids the school had called public health about!

It takes days to get “official” results – a hospital in Providence, RI over the weekend refused to put a suspect case returned from Mexio into isolation, left them sick in the croweded ER two hours, then, did the test incorrectly the first time, and released the sick person,(so, I can I trust their second test results? Was he on Tamiflu by then?) hospital claimed they hadn’t seen the memo/test protocol when he cmae to the ER!

“Official” counts are like watching an invasion on tv that has a time-delay of several days
(how backlogged is the CDC; where all tests has to be re-tested to be “offically confirmed”?
It does not reflect facts on the ground.

Remember what happens when untruths or coverup by members of a group is “unthinkable” by the public. Catholic church, Financial investment sector, well: take a look at Public Health. They been trying to increase MRC and other volunteers numbers for panflu but, the media isn’t covering each weeks H5N1 cases, the “panflu planning “worst”-case AR/CFR numbers were made up by the WHO/CDC looking at “1968″, or 1918 (even Spanish Flu killed 20% to 70% of pregnant women infected! “2.5% was an after-pandemic US average) instead of the H5N1 virus that put us into Pandemic Alert!

Influenza is contagious 1 to 2 days before symptoms.

Some at HHS and DHS though this was, “too hard” for planning purposes so they deny reality and say it doesn’t count! But, Nature says it does!

We need entry quarantines- give time to see if someone will come down sick before you let them in.

Some people in high-risk jobs are already shielding their families from infection as of last weekend; by removing clothes outside, coming in to wash, and then wearing a respirator in the house; no point bringing virus in to your family.

You are already in a Pandemic – and how is H5N1 surveillance and Containment going to be effective; the economy was already cutting funding – Indonesia says it “will use its bird flu budget to counter swine flu” (but, it can’t test for it and doesn’t know how to treat it if its there, now they ‘worry’ about “pigs” – when, because of H5N1, they should have all this time -and cats, and dogs, and other carnivores) – but, H5N1 isn’t just about birds anymore in Indoensia -hasn’t been for years, and so-called “swine “flu isn’t just about pigs, either.

Pre-symptomatic people, and sick people – that’s our first risk – or, maybe, it’s “misinformation that encourages complacency”, spin which may not all originate from our nation.

Christine, soap and water does kill influenza viruses on hands and surfaces.

Better also to get into the habit of never touching your face at all when out in public (if I need to rub my eye, I use the inside of my cuff or my upper arm), dont eat or smoke without washing or using alcohol gel first.
(what’s going to happen if nicotine deliveries get impacted? And what about Rx psych meds? Bet no lawmakers had us stock those locally, nor “palliative care meds; liquid opiates for people impacted by panflu or staff losses, or long-forseen disruptions to our “JIT” globalized supply chain. Got food? Food you can cook/eat if the power is out? Got water?).

Communities never really had the “all-stakeholder, Pandemic-specific Preparedness Coordinating Committees they were supposed to form at least 4 years ago; to make workable local contingency plans (Panflu prep got hidden in the existing, “all-hazards” priorities; instead of including community groups and the public and having panflu as only priority.

Even after someone from NYC flew to an undisclosed human-to-human clsuter in NWFP Pakistan and back, in late 2007, later found, to have been infected but not, obviusly, infectious. But no one wanted to have travel warnings, nor alarm the citizens so we could prepare to be more resilient (would have helped for those ice storms, and even the ecnomic downturns- especially if the public had been working towards preparedness, and having mortuary drills (they’ll need workable mortuary surge long before any effective vac becomes available – no “mass graves” plans please – “collective burial’ deputize who can make death certs, bury bodies separate and identify spot)
since the state panflu summits with HHS in 2006.

The govt does not expect the electrical grid to be able to stay up if too many people are allowed to fall sick. Cyberhackers, likely the PRC, can also take our grid down, whenever it will do us the most damage.

Tea-party groups (and any community groups) should read “PFI Pandemic Flu Information Forum”, and the April 2007, DHS “Best Practices and Model Protocols” pandemic document.

Denise, go to pandemicflu.gov, left sidebar in “Plan & Prepare”, “Community ” tab, page down to link to “Managing Mass Medical Care with Scarce Commnity Resources” check the date on that, too.

Asia, your questions:
1) possibly both
2) too late; WHO and CDC waited too long – hard to explain why, but, many nations now have it, and they will soon need what, “scarce resources” they have “”on hand”, because the airports weren’t closed.

Sheltering in place, at least until communities could take stock and see how much the stealth virus has already impacted us, would help flatten the peak of number of new infections and people needing care each day. We are only beginning; haven’t even hit the peak of firstwave yet.

Jemimah, many people are deciding the risk isn’t worth it; existing medical systems cannot take any surge – lets try not to be part of the problem, and give govt time to find out where this virus came from (and make sure it is the only virus that was under our radar.

See also the (up since July, 2006) “US State Dept H5N1 factsheet” – policy, not publicized, is that you may be stranded by Pandemic, and, will be given,
“No food, water, nor medical care” at US embassies.
Not very fair for the govt to know that since summer 2006, but not the taxpayers and school students.

Jeremy Baker the virus is being discussed on the “PFI Forum,” “Pandemic Flu 2009 Sequences” thread.

Do what you can to be better prepared at home.
Can’t do it all at once; pick something that would help you most first, from GetPandemicReady.org

-but, before N.America could close its borders, and keep H5N1 out if it breaks out, up pops this new virus in Mexico where it won’t be noticed and woudl enter the US. Now the WHO and CDC say don’t close the borders”, don’t have Entry Quarantines and “don’t do social distancing yet”.
Who benefits? Not US families nor national security.

Go get ready; you were already supposed to be,
see Planning link on pandemic flu.gov

but there was no political will to be honest with you.

The WHO kept the Alert Phase from being raised, and now free nations venver did their Phase 4 & 5 preparedness steps. Who benefits? Even now, the situation met the criteria for Pandemic last week.

Remember what happened to the people that obeyed the message to stay in the South World Trade Center Tower; do your own homework and take steps to prepare.

One county in Idaho has better preparednes recommendations than the federal govt’s (two weeks -that isn’t enough for a hurricane, let alone Pandemic Year) you need to do more than “wash your hands”;
the feds/state/local are not planning on meeting your needs; they’ sadi that quietly since, 2005.

See GetPandemicReady.org

H5N1 has been being “Contained” only because Tamiflu still works, so far; we are not prepared nationally! What os the resistant seaonsl flus give that gene to H5N1 and/or the new Bird/Man/Swine flu?

Go see News on the PFI Forum;
where concerned netizens who care about families and nations survival, have better news coverage
– the worse the H5N1 news got, the less of it you heard on msm.

PFI Pandemic Flu Information Forum and see the list of, just since Dec. 2008. to present,
“List of H5N1 cases, clusters, events, quotes”

There is also background of this new bird/man/swine flu.

All the best to everyone – everything will be different this year-
and H5N1 may be secondwave (would we even notice it now; if there was a deliberate release in Mexico or an airport?) if we don’t get on a war footing now.

Go start getting your households and communities better prepared for anything.
See GetPandemicReady.org