But all of the alerts are a necessary process to set in motion the procedures to try to contain a pandemic- and the officials really can't act swiftly enough because you only get one chance to contain. Obviously an unfortunate side effect of making the information public is the tendency for panic and rumormongering, but that just comes with the territory and has to be tamped down as much as possible to coordinate an effective response.

I don't get it…. the mask is used short-term when you know you're being exposed to smoke, bio toxins, chemicals, etc. It's not meant as a vaccine or as a cure….

Just how did this person survive the Avian Flu with it? I'm not expert but I think Avian Flu is generally transmitted by direct contact with infected birds… If the Avian Flu was transmitted through the air and you knew you were being exposed to it you could wear the mask for 15 to 20 minutes and perhaps escape…. And the mask might be a good idea to have on hand so you can escape when you know you're under attack by airborne threats…

So what am I missing? How did this device save someone with the Avian Flu, which is primarily transmitted through direct contact?

On CStanley's health insurance comment, both of the drugs effective against swine flu (tamiflu and relenza) are expensive so insurance coverage could be a problem. I know the govt has stockpiled some Tamiflu but I don't know what they will do with it. Setting up a distribution system takes quite a bit of time.

“The use of amantadine and rimantadine should be discouraged. Because of their low effectiveness, neuraminidase inhibitors should not be used in seasonal influenza control and should only be used in a serious epidemic or pandemic alongside other public-health measures.”

This virus is already known to be resistant to those drugs. But since we bought $1 billion of Tamiflu for bird flu (against which it is also pretty ineffective), we have plenty and it will be used, probably ineffectively, against this flu. Better you should insist on something that has not already proven to have “low effectiveness.”

Actually this has the most details I've been able to find

I'm still wary of thinking we know much of anything about it. I mean SARS seemed terrible until they took very basic preventative measures and it quickly was in control.

That said, it's too early to be panicky or complacent about the differences in mortality. A CDC spokesman cited in this AP report says that the true incidence rate in Mexico may be higher than 1000, so that the mortality rate may be lower than it appears.

There's a White House briefing on this in an hour. Should be interesting.

This article also lists some other factors that may make the disease worse for Mexicans than for most of us in the US, including poor air quality in Mexico and poor nutrition which affects the immune system.

So anyone who's trying to spin one way or another about a health insurance debate is talking nonsense.

Its a vicious spin by the left to completely run the gop out of this nation. The march to fascism continues unabated. Yes I know this OP professes to be a Libertarian but it is obvious that he is also a racist by implying that only white people can afford insurance.

What a crooked crock of lyng spin the left is perpetuating on the masses, considering 40 million have no insurance. The population is 300 million and only half of America is now WHITES.

Do the math. 40 million Dont have insurance and I know a few white people who dont have insurance so thats only 39,999,998 Non Whites who dont have insurace to combat the flu and according to statistics 20 million of them are the illegals in this country illegally. With the 2 white people that I know thats putting more and more holes into the spin by the lefties who want health care for all at the expense of any and everything.

Now if we could just find a flu that killed Whites only then the world would be so much better off. Oh….more specifically WHITE REPUBLICANS who have health care.

This is why the internet is a cesspool and blogs are the armpit of that cesspool.