Comments on: Get Swine Flu Updates Via Text Message On Your Phone http://gigaom.com/mobile/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:29:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: arthritisremedy http://gigaom.com/mobile/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417252 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:43:45 +0000 http://jkontherun.com/2009/05/01/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417252 i always advice my kids to wear face masks when going into crowded areas. swine flu is really scary and i dont want my kids getting infected by it.

]]> By: MelatoninEffects http://gigaom.com/mobile/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417251 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:58:12 +0000 http://jkontherun.com/2009/05/01/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417251 the use of face masks and boosting your immune system by taking lots of vitamin-C is still an effective way of preventing the spread of the Swine Flu virus.

]]> By: oliver http://gigaom.com/mobile/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417250 Sat, 02 May 2009 18:22:33 +0000 http://jkontherun.com/2009/05/01/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417250 I think I am going to hack together a greasemonkey script that blocks all web pages that contain the word swine flu. Jeez!

]]> By: Lava http://gigaom.com/mobile/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417249 Fri, 01 May 2009 16:42:05 +0000 http://jkontherun.com/2009/05/01/get-swine-flu-updates-via-text-messages-on-your-phone/#comment-417249 Please don’t contribute to the hype. Swine flu hasn’t shown itself to be deadly like SARS or the bird flu. Cases are quite mild? So there are now 330+ cases around the world? Take a look at the CDC Influenza page for March 1 to March 9 (a typical week, long before swine flu tracking became a national obsession).

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2008-2009/weekly09.htm

* 1252 confirmed cases of influenza out of 5446 samples tested (a small fraction of all the flu cases in the U.S. at the time).

* 5 pediatric deaths resulting from normal influenza, for a total of 26 pediatric deaths in the U.S. by week 9 of the 2008-2009 flu season (again, a small fraction of the total number of flu deaths).

Here’s some “Perspsective Statistics”

* 15 million to 60 million Americans come down with influenza each and every year

* Each and every year in the U.S. influenza (the garden variety) kills 36,000 people

(Source: http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-reality30-2009apr30,0,3606923.story)

So in a normal year, tens of thousands of people die from the flu. Yet do you see people obsessively creating iPhone apps tracking every flu infection and death, closing entire schools, with Vice Presidents warning the population of the horrors of public transportation become some kid got sick?

People need to get real. Swine flu deserves concern because it’s a “novel” virus but the level of panic and fear is ridiculous. Please don’t contribute to it in the interest of a “public service announcement.”

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