Thread: h1n1 mark II

Oh **** - this could get serious.

Holy **** I never even heard of the spanish flu.....So I went and looked it up.

OMFG......50 to 100 million people died world wide....5000 people died in phillidephia alone in one week.

Gee this H1N1 is amazing, it has created huge workloads on Public Health Nurses now working at every point of entry to the country.

It has also created millions of dollars of profit for the makers of N24 "duck bill" masks and this week alone I know no one who has died of the disease or even has acquired the disease. Although that said my niece had her holiday on the Pacific Dawn ruined as it sailed aimlessly around off the Queensland Coast with as we know not one confirmed case of the disease or even a positive swab on anyone who wasn't already in quarantine before the ship left Sydney.

Diana

Originally Posted by dullbird

Holy **** I never even heard of the spanish flu.....So I went and looked it up.

OMFG......50 to 100 million people died world wide....5000 people died in phillidephia alone in one week.

Gday Dullbird
Just a reminder but look when it happened, pretty much straight after WWI A lot of communities (people, prisioners, soldiers etc) were in very close proximity, poor hygiene, poor nutrition, poor standard of living (we had just torn ourselves in two) and one thing homo sapiens have excelled at is virus transimission, we are wonderful hosts.

Not saying it wasnt absolutely disasterous after the massive loss of life in WWI but the environmental conditions are not repeatable in 2009. We have other things to concern ourselves with this time, eg transmission via air craft travel and the swiftness with which this can evolve once its established.

One of the more interesting is flu tend to knock off the very weak/frail usually the very old and very young. There is less instance of the oldies dropping off their perch because there is some (some not total) genetic material from the Spanish flu in their DNA that has given them some (some not total) resistance to this verions of H1. Those of us who are Gen X probably and younger wont have it where our parents may have had some of it genetically passed on by our grandparents who lived through Spanish 1918

cheers
Mat

Originally Posted by Jedimastermat

One of the more interesting is flu tend to knock off the very weak/frail usually the very old and very young. There is less instance of the oldies dropping off their perch because there is some (some not total) genetic material from the Spanish flu in their DNA that has given them some (some not total) resistance to this verions of H1. Those of us who are Gen X probably and younger wont have it where our parents may have had some of it genetically passed on by our grandparents who lived through Spanish 1918

second time someone has said this... it is an irrelevance from what i have read.

h1n1 mutates that quickly and widely that no one gets a chance to develop any level of immunity, thats one of the major differences between it and the influenza a based flu that does the rounds a couple of times a year....

it not only kills the very young, old and frail and those with other health concerns like diabetes, it also kills healthy young adults as well...

Originally Posted by incisor

second time someone has said this... it is an irrelevance from what i have read.

h1n1 mutates that quickly and widely ..

far from irrelevant actualy thats why its called H1N1 genetic reality. The current strain is the grand son (crude analogy) of the 1918 H1N1

Any influnza strain that is a H1 and any variant of the strain is the same protein. The mutations are variations of a theme or sub types a base pair here and a base pair there. the problem is if the base pair change allows the little sucker to get a foot hold in some other DNA through base pair splitting (crude analagy of base pair translocation) and the host cant recognise the "new " DNA as bad infection the hosts immume system doesnt fight. or the complete opposite as in 1918 where most death were cause by overactivity of the immune system

H1N1 has one recorded mutation in the 2009 strain however the first 2009 version has spread quickly and the debate is unlike th 1918 version that is attributable to a small population getting it, getting on a plane and dispersing around the world and infecting their satellite locals. Compare if you will against 1918 when it spread and killed 100 million through mostly (generalisation) transmisson. The 2009A verion has yet to be genetically mapped. But the very nomenclature of H1N1 2009 A suggests same protein.

i said some genetic material and specifically mentioned (not total) I stand by that statement there is some evidence of the 1918 (Spanish) flu in the genetic material of those of the 20-30s generation (my great grand parents) and their offspring (my grand parents). It is probably not present in mine (b1969) or my offspring (2002). it is hypothesised that there is in this instance a statistacial signifigance in the difference due again to suggested genetic exposure in the 1918 event.

and yes i was generalising when said very old or very young are mostly affected.
normal fit health adults can get run over by buses. They can also be susceptable to influenza A and its sub types.
cheers
mat

hope your right,

but like i said my reading leads me to believe otherwise....

Originally Posted by dullbird

....OMFG......50 to 100 million people died world wide....5000 people died in phillidephia alone in one week.

OMFG if 5000 people died in 1/52 at some place I've never heard of what was it like in places like Philadelphia Pa, USA?