3 May 2009

Swine flu morons strike Canberra

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times reports that Canberra is not immune to the swine flu idiocy sweeping the world.

    Chemists are struggling to keep up with demand for masks and anti-bacterial handwash as Canberrans become increasingly nervous about swine flu.

Good luck with your anti-bacterial treatments on a virus you cretins.

For avoiding the spread of all flus in general (which are killing a lot more people every hour than Mexican pig flu) we’re asked to wash our hands (normal soap is fine) and cover our mouthes when we cough. Which we should be doing anyway.

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For what it’s worth Australia can now join in the global palooza that is the Swine Flu outbreak with our very own confirmed case
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSSP42762020090509

Must be about time for Today Tonight and A Current Affair to let us know that the sky is indeed falling and see if we can whip up some truly world-class hysteria.

Look out people, a mysterious new illness called “influenza” is on its way. Smoke ’em if you got ’em!

neanderthalsis said :

WHO has reported that the symptoms of the swine flu are easy to spot.

One of the early signs is that you break out in rashers…

LOL!

I heard yesterday it’s all Obama’s fault: Some one said that a black man will become President of the US when pigs fly, sure enough 100 days after being elected, ‘Swine Flu’!

neanderthalsis10:03 am 05 May 09

WHO has reported that the symptoms of the swine flu are easy to spot.

One of the early signs is that you break out in rashers…

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:38 am 05 May 09

I had the flu once, bugger me I was crook! I used to get a lot of colds, too, but since going on a weight loss kick a few years ago get remarkably fewer than I used to.

I think the swine flu thing is a real beat up. Use basic hygiene and the chance of catching it is bugger all. Today I’m even more protected than usual, set up for a day of typing up a report at my dining room table with a nice autumny view, cups of tea and the brilliance of Satriani in the background.

eyeLikeCarrots said :

I have some ‘oinkment’ that will protect me from swine flu aporkalypse

God, you’re skirting the ragged edge of The Offal Thread.

jessieduck said :

MRJ could you be sexynotsmart’s Goddess? I would like something good to come from all this.

Doubting this. I’m a god.

barking toad said :

mexican babe flu is the new gorebull warming

LOL! Excellent comparisom

It’d have to be FOB’s buying up all the face masks.. Or old mate chippy needing a dust filter while he sands to back patio at Mrs Old Matey’s place

eyeLikeCarrots said :

I have some ‘oinkment’ that will protect me from swine flu aporkalypse

just get some pork on your fork! when will it be the lamb flu? I want the price to be driven down by panic…

eyeLikeCarrots1:09 pm 04 May 09

I have some ‘oinkment’ that will protect me from swine flu aporkalypse

Estimates I’ve read place the carbon cost of one round with the hand dryer as equivalent to 2 paper towels.

It really is 6 of one, half-dozen of the other.

article i have received prior to the swine flu outbreak:

Hand washing and Hand drying
The key to hygienic hand washing is not just the use of soap and water but more importantly effective hand drying.

There are generally three methods of hand drying, they include hot air blowers, cloth cabinet roll towels and single sheet disposable paper towels.

Surprisingly, hot air blowers actually increase bacteria levels by up to 500%. It is the least effective hand drying solution. It’s unhygienic and unproductive to use a hot air blower in a food preparation environment.2

Most people do not dry their hands for long enough under a hot air blower. Damp, warm hands provide the perfect environment for bacteria to multiply. What’s more, bacteria can be found in and around the inlet and outlet nozzle, turning the blower into a “germ incubator”.1, 2

A fresh cabinet towel however, does reduce the level of bacteria from hands. But, once the towel is in use, bacteria is accumulated from other users. Cabinet towels can become ‘community towels’. Cross infection may occur when a portion of the towel is reused thus spreading bacteria to the hands and face. Cabinet towels operate on a ‘shared stock system’ therefore towel customers will be unaware as to who or what industry previously used the towel they currently have.1

Quite simply, the most effective hand drying method is the use of a single sheet disposable paper towel.

The rubbing or abrasive action of a paper towel actually removes high concentrations of bacteria from hands after washing. A paper towel is disposable and never shared. It allows you to dry the tips of your fingers, the web, palm and back of your hand with ease. Paper towels are easy to store and easily maintained. They remain the preferred method of effective hand drying in the food business.1, 2

Sources:
“Hand Drying Hygiene Facts” – University of Westminster.
“Evaluation of Risks Related to Microbiological Contamination of Ready-to-eat Food by Food Preparation Workers and the Effectiveness of Interventions to Minimise Those Risks”.
Jack Guzewich, RS, MPH. Marianne P. Ross, DVM, MPH. (1-29).

peterh said :

has anyone else wondered why they put warm air blowers in toilets to dry your hands and recontaminate them?

Because the warm air blowers don’t contaminate you and don’t result in piles of soggy paper that need to be cleaned up regularly?

Nothing like a bit of mass hysteria to validate the germophobes

I am a big believer in letting your immune system do it’s own thing

Deadmandrinking said :

Next we’ll be burning pigs. Did Egypt’s actions sound dramatically biblical to anyone.

According to a few articles I have read on Egypt’s pig slaughter is that it is actually a flimsy excuse for religious persecution of the Christian minority there, though re-enforced by the squalid conditions the pigs are raised in.

peterh said :

has anyone else wondered why they put warm air blowers in toilets to dry your hands and recontaminate them?

Dry your hands?! Surley they’re there so I can turn the nozzle around to make sure my hair continues to look all wavy and natural…

peterh said :

has anyone else wondered why they put warm air blowers in toilets to dry your hands and recontaminate them?

Lower cost to property manager\owner (having someone march through the toilets and empty the bins would probably require more manhours on a cleaning roster, as compared to the bihourly scrubout) but they mask it behind hygeine\environmental pseudologic.

If you fall for ‘saving trees’ or ‘reducing chemicals in landfill’ or ‘reducing carbon footprint’ logic…

1) Yes, while it may involve preventing the deaths of a few specific trees, trees are the most straightfoward example of renewable biotic resources.
IE: We plant more trees to grow more trees to use those trees as cheap paper.

2) Your bleaches\dye\softener chemicals reaching landfill aren’t all that much of an issue when the paper towels are unbleached, uncoloured, coarse, and absorbent.

3) They are made from carbon dioxide, reconfigured into solid carbon, and break down into useful soil-carbon forms a ridiculously short amount of time, when compared to the electricity to produce the heat and blow the air coming less-than-environmentally friendly sources, which is a net airborne carbon dioxide producer, and geosequestration is still just “store a massive bubble of it underground for someone else to deal with”.
</rant>

has anyone else wondered why they put warm air blowers in toilets to dry your hands and recontaminate them?

Handwashing is great, so long as you don’t come in contact with a surface that was touched _prior_ to washing your hands, or by any people who don’t.
So the inside handle of the toilet door or turning the tap off are recontamination points.
But still a good start.

Then door handles, shaking hands, computer keyboards, bus tickets, etc all come into play.

washing your hands is a great way to combat sickness. Except in a public toilet, where the door has to be pulled to open it from the inside. urgh. or the warm air blowers to dry your hands – where exactly does the air come from? the toilet?

I use a brand of alcohol antibacterial gel. I have it in my home, and at work. The fact that i have 2 kids in nappies means that i would be doing this washing my hands business anyway…

MRJ could you be sexynotsmart’s Goddess? I would like something good to come from all this.

neanderthalsis10:21 am 04 May 09

Is there some specific rating for masks by the WHO? I have a stash of P2 respirators at home that filter down to .3 of a micron, used to filter asbestos dust and chemical mist. Bought them when I was renovating, not as part of the mass hysteria over the pig cold. Probably better than cheapo paper ones for keeping pork fumes out.

Relenza is one of only a handful of pharmaceutical drugs developed in Australia ever to get to market, so if you are going to needlessly stockpile anti-flu drugs at least you could buy the product which gives a royalty to an Australian company, and leave the tamiflu alone!

I work in a reasonably busy pharmacy and we sold all ~250 units of Aqium handwash in about 2 days. And every second customer is asking for facial masks. Those masks though, they won’t do shit, the filters aren’t fine enough to filter out the contaminents. Not only that, they are only effective for a short time (around 4hrs).

So far, swine flu isn’t that serious. People need to be informed but not alarmed.

sexynotsmart said :

On Friday, a pre-budget headache

Work for Treasury do you sexynotsmart?

bd84 said :

swine flu syndrome: anyone who now displays symptoms or a runny nose and a cough, I need to go to the doctor because i’m going to infect everyone and we’re all going to die.

similar to bushfire syndrome: anytime any smoke is seen in the sky, the bushfire is coming and we’re all going to die.

It would be preferable if people who were obviously sick and ridden with any kind of germ/virus/whatever stayed at home so as not to make the rest of us sick. We are at the start of the GFC. For some people, getting sick will mean they get sacked.

Snotbags and sick people should just stay at home, regardless. Swine flu, a bad cold, anything manky, keep it to your frikken self.

swine flu syndrome: anyone who now displays symptoms or a runny nose and a cough, I need to go to the doctor because i’m going to infect everyone and we’re all going to die.

similar to bushfire syndrome: anytime any smoke is seen in the sky, the bushfire is coming and we’re all going to die.

see also 9/11 syndrome: any low flying aircraft is a terrorist attempting to fly a plane into your house, and we’re all going to die.

sexynotsmart8:16 pm 03 May 09

On Friday, a pre-budget headache had me strolling to the Manuka chemist. I’m generally the healthy type, and I don’t normally hang out in chemists. So I have no idea what the “normal” lunchtime customer volume is. But it seemed a little busier than the queuing space allowed for.

I chalked it down to “swine flu hysteria” until casting eyes on the Brunette Angel that served me. Goddess! In that instant I knew everyone else was there just to pay homage to this divine being.

Goddess! You face was so pretty I forgot to look at your name badge.

Please accept this post as my online shrine in lust of you.

Clown Killer said :

I love all the people in masks. Here’s a tip I got from a Doctor. A mask will not protect you from getting the flu. It may have some impact on reducing infection rates where people who already have the flu wear masks.

Apparently (acording to same doctor) the primary way that all these things are spread is from hand to mouth. That’s why washing your hands regularly, and especially before eating, is so important in reducing the risk of contracting the virus.

That sounds like excellent advice !

Some bastard has given me a cold. I’m betting it’s the snotty 15 year old who was as snotty as hell leaning over my shoulder. I could almost feel the germs dripping off him. I asked him if he had a cold and, if so, to get out of my personal space. He replied :”Yeah I have a cold but everyone else does but”.

Yeah now I have a cold just like you did snotface.

taninaus said :

I am not sure if it is the chemist or the wholesaler profiteering here but someone sure is – my mum is going OS next week and wanted a stack of masks to keep her virus free on the plane and trip – she got the 10 masks they had in stock for 80c, the chemist after getting snooty that she took all his stock then said that the next batch that was arriving in the week would cost $2 each!

What does she do with 10 masks?

Clown Killer6:40 pm 03 May 09

I love all the people in masks. Here’s a tip I got from a Doctor. A mask will not protect you from getting the flu. It may have some impact on reducing infection rates where people who already have the flu wear masks.

Apparently (acording to same doctor) the primary way that all these things are spread is from hand to mouth. That’s why washing your hands regularly, and especially before eating, is so important in reducing the risk of contracting the virus.

I am not sure if it is the chemist or the wholesaler profiteering here but someone sure is – my mum is going OS next week and wanted a stack of masks to keep her virus free on the plane and trip – she got the 10 masks they had in stock for 80c, the chemist after getting snooty that she took all his stock then said that the next batch that was arriving in the week would cost $2 each! You have to love a bit of hysteria it cetainly is good for business!

And I had to laugh at the QLD chief doctor creating panic and having to be hosed down by the CWTH health minister when all the possible cases in Aus so far are people coming back from Mexico! good to be cautious but she took it a bit far.

Mr_Shab said :

FYI Johnboy – “antibacterial” handwash is (usually) an alcohol-based gel. It’s good for killing viruses as well.

Jessieduck – don’t bother with the hand sanitiser on the bus. You have an immune system. It’s very good at stopping you from getting sick. Believe it or not, you’re constantly covered in pathogens every minute of every day. Keep up with the fastidious hand cleaning and you’ll just end up with an anaemic immune system that doesn’t deal with a serious pathogen when one turns up.

.

I’m sure I read somewhere that using anti-bacterial stuff (handwash/household cleansers etc…) and overly sanitising your home/self actually decreases immunity, because your body doesn’t get every-day exposure to the germs required to build immunity. Not sure how true this is though.

FYI Johnboy – “antibacterial” handwash is (usually) an alcohol-based gel. It’s good for killing viruses as well.

Jessieduck – don’t bother with the hand sanitiser on the bus. You have an immune system. It’s very good at stopping you from getting sick. Believe it or not, you’re constantly covered in pathogens every minute of every day. Keep up with the fastidious hand cleaning and you’ll just end up with an anaemic immune system that doesn’t deal with a serious pathogen when one turns up.

My favourite cartoon about the whole thing is of a guy standing at a dispensary asking not for tamiflu but for “something for hysteria”.

Much as it pains me to say it; the government has this one under control. Everyone be calm.

Hells_Bells743:41 pm 03 May 09

baueran said :

I guess, the real question for me now is, should I cancel my upcoming trip to GERM-any in a few weeks time?

Hehehehehe!

I guess, the real question for me now is, should I cancel my upcoming trip to GERM-any in a few weeks time?

Hells_Bells743:07 pm 03 May 09

Oh, I was joking! To my knowledge I made no one sick at work. I cover my mouth, I washed my hands frequent enough, I stay home when I know I’m catchy or too sick, I eat better when I feel myself going down, drink more water and juice and tell people if they do come into contact with me if I’m feeling off to stay away. I wiped down the shared surface areas as much as I could too. This was all when I didn’t even have the flu. Because I was home then!

Hells_Bells74 said :

Yep, that’s right. I went and made everyone sick. Happy now?

Very odd attitude…

Hells_Bells74 said :

Yep, that’s right. I went and made everyone sick. Happy now?

A simple “I’m selfish and make no apologies for it” would suffice 🙂

I’ve never had the flu.

Ever.

Well I was a flu-virgin too until the age of 39 … but never say never Thumper (remain a flu-virgin … get your vaccinations!).

Hells_Bells742:21 pm 03 May 09

Yep, that’s right. I went and made everyone sick. Happy now?

Hells_Bells742:17 pm 03 May 09

Although, having had the last 6 months off work, it’s just not an issue anymore. Pity help my system again when it’s forced to do things it hates.

Hells_Bells74 said :

I smoke, I get colds easy, I have kids round me lots, I have always been a little prone to bronchititis too throughout the years and since thirty have had a somewhat big disposition to hayfever. When I was working at CIT if I wanted a day off to nurse my common cold it would cost me dearly as a casual and my bank wouldn’t have enough in it that fortnight to cover the bills and living expenses, simple as that, now had I have got the proper flu, which I did once and took over a week off to recover and put up with no money at all, with the thoughts of if this keeps up one more week I’m going to have to claim sickness benefits, not pretty though, but would to keep the killer flu to myself. But please stop whinging and bitching and making the poor sick person’s life a living HELL cause you won’t stop having a go at that person for being at work and comtaminating them with a little old cold or hayfever or such and constantly telling me I need to go to the doctors when I feel no need to whatsoever and they won’t let up in their tones. Made me quit sooner than I’d wanted to, I had had enough, and the one who complained the most that had her desk next to mine, not once ever got sick from sitting next to me.

So because you can’t manage your finances better than living week to week, other people have to run the risk of getting sick.

Hells_Bells742:00 pm 03 May 09

deezagood said :

That is rough hellsbells, but really, if you are genuinely sick and contagious, you shouldn’t be at work … and sick and contagious kids shouldn’t be at school either. Hayfever isn’t contagious, so that doesn’t count.

Maybe, just maybe, you get colds and bronchitis easily because you smoke?

Yeah, agreed if you’re properly sick and you generally know yourself the best, work/school/daycare is the last place to be at and you just work round that as you have to. But in the off time how bout a little let up. I agree of course I get colds and coughs more than most non-smokers, that’s why I said that I smoked. Although, as a child is was probably more to do with my mother’s smoke, as I didn’t. I pretty much only smoke in my own bedroom now and my kids are good but I’m probably worse. I think to work with your comments of keep your colds at home, I would’ve had everyday off because it seems I am spreading disease where is I know that’s just me and I had an x-ray of my lungs when the doctor thought I may have had a chest infection done not too long ago really and it was all clear, couldn’t believe it myself.

Deadmandrinking1:36 pm 03 May 09

Next they’ll be asking us to wipe our arses.

It is a bit overblown. The only reason I suspect the swine flu has claimed so many lives, is because Mexico has a poorer health-care than we or even the US (for the insured) do. People haven’t died anywhere else, as of yet, save the baby in Texas, which I hear was actually from Mexico and crossed the border to receive better health care (although, I haven’t seen the news articles pertaining to that).

Why doesn’t the government stop sending the media into a scaring frenzy and actually work towards preparing for a pandemic in a calm, professional manner? How stupid does Rudd think we really are? Wash our Hands? Cover mouths when we cough? There was no need to go on about the bleeding obvious unless you wanted to scare people.

Next we’ll be burning pigs. Did Egypt’s actions sound dramatically biblical to anyone.

barking toad1:30 pm 03 May 09

mexican babe flu is the new gorebull warming

That is rough hellsbells, but really, if you are genuinely sick and contagious, you shouldn’t be at work … and sick and contagious kids shouldn’t be at school either. Hayfever isn’t contagious, so that doesn’t count.

Maybe, just maybe, you get colds and bronchitis easily because you smoke?

No sympathy from me if you’re happy to keep spreading it around – I get colds easy too.

Hells_Bells7412:38 pm 03 May 09

I smoke, I get colds easy, I have kids round me lots, I have always been a little prone to bronchititis too throughout the years and since thirty have had a somewhat big disposition to hayfever. When I was working at CIT if I wanted a day off to nurse my common cold it would cost me dearly as a casual and my bank wouldn’t have enough in it that fortnight to cover the bills and living expenses, simple as that, now had I have got the proper flu, which I did once and took over a week off to recover and put up with no money at all, with the thoughts of if this keeps up one more week I’m going to have to claim sickness benefits, not pretty though, but would to keep the killer flu to myself. But please stop whinging and bitching and making the poor sick person’s life a living HELL cause you won’t stop having a go at that person for being at work and comtaminating them with a little old cold or hayfever or such and constantly telling me I need to go to the doctors when I feel no need to whatsoever and they won’t let up in their tones. Made me quit sooner than I’d wanted to, I had had enough, and the one who complained the most that had her desk next to mine, not once ever got sick from sitting next to me.

I agree with Ant- it may have something to do with working in an area related to this type of thing… The WHO has suggested we be prepared for a pandemic and that’s what people are doing… it’s not stupid. I don’t think people should panic though. I am following WHO’s suggestions and am very happy that they aren’t restricting travel or anything too over the top.

I will fess up to buying hand sanitizer because I catch buses and, let’s face it, there are a lot of germy people on buses. I use it as soon as I get off the bus just as an extra measure- who knows when I’ll next be near a hot tap and soap?

That really annoys me too ant – when people come to work with a sniffle and say ‘I have the flu’! No you don’t love, if you did, you bloody well wouldn’t be at work! And take your stinking cold home, away from me, too!

Unfortunately, many people think the cold they get every winter is the flu. The real flu is the ‘hit by a truck’ thing, with less public symptoms at the early stage, which is when they should be staying in bed.

And ever since we all caught the flu, we now all go and vaccinated every year (not much good against weird flu strains, but I feel better being at least partially protected against Influenza A) and we haven’t had it since, thank goodness. Vaccinate people, vaccinate … because the regular flu is an absolute shocker.

I only have my own experience with Tamiflu; my daughter had Influenza A two years ago, but by the time we realised what it was, both myself and other child also had the virus. My husband started taking Tamiflu as soon as my results came back and although he was a bit sick, his symptoms were far, far less severe than the rest of us; fevers weren’t as high, aches not as bad, lungs not as congested etc… and he remained functional (where the rest of us couldn’t get out of bed for a week and had fevers in the 40s). His version of the flu was more like a bad cold. Of course, we can’t be sure if this was the Tamiflu or other factors (maybe it was a bad cold and he didn’t actually get the flu … although after nursing the rest of us, I would find that unlikely). I suppose the stockpiling of Tamiflu has been orchestrated to help reduce the severity of affected citizen’s families/carers and others exposed to the patients – it apparently doesn’t really work if you already have the virus though.

The whole shebang is being driven by WHO, who is following a series of pre-set protocols. Most nations developed pandemic plans when the bird flu scare hit. The underlying driver for this is that a pandemic is inevitable, some time.

We set up our plan in 2005 and what the media hasn’t mentioned is that it was developed by the national security people, and health were consulted. Some of the plan is public. And some of it is not.

If we ever get to the stages that are not publicised, I’ll have stocked up on tins, fuel and bullets, and locked the gate.

It’s a very comprehensive plan, aimed at primarily preventing the spread of a disease in the population, and if that fails, dealing with widespread illness and death, and the gradual collapse of utilities and public institutions.

If the WHO tells us there’s danger, we implement the plan, as we’re doing now.

gun street girl10:59 am 03 May 09

In short, antivirals such as Tamiflu are given to lessen the effect of the disease in an affected individual. It is not a cure; it just stands a chance of lessening the severity of the disease, and to make the patient feel better, faster. The current virus has been shown to be resistant to two antivirals thus far; Tamiflu (AKA oseltamivir) is not one of them (neither is zanamivir, which markets as Relenza).

Trunking symbols10:46 am 03 May 09

I can’t understand this Tamiflu business. We are told the government has stockpiled it and will distribute it if the epidemic gets out of control, yet there is no cure for swine flu and a vaccine is at least six months away. So what is the use of Tamiflu? What effect will it have (if any)?

I think the reference to “anti-bacterial” was simply that it’s the generic term for portable handwash in a bottle. “Anti-bacterial” handwash is probably better to carry around with you than a bar of soap … and will do the same job removing viruses from your skin (if that’s what’s the need. I guess the handwashing could have to do with keeping your immune system uncompromised, in which case the antibacterial angle would be justified, no?).

Hells_Bells749:35 am 03 May 09

Just all makes sense when you hear that Donald Rumsfield and Dick Cheney are on the boards of the makers of Tamiflu. Sold in a panic to the world over the Bird flu etc. Tamiflu is useless anyhow. They probably have hands in the masks and quarantine centres too. If this was a real threat, they wouldn’t be telling us sh*t.

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