"What the news doesn't tell is what condition these people were in before they got crook."

Yeah they did - it's people aged 20-40 which is what alerted them to the fact that something wasn't right as they werent elderly or infants...

But I agree that this is overly hyped. Like rediculously so. At this stage only 11 are possibly infected. Only one of those is in hospital and it's only for testing - not because they are deathly ill.

Hmm, for some reason this one feels a tad different to me. Bird Flu was always a massive beatup and this has been so far too, but it just seems quicker this time.

Anyway, I did make sure I purchased my travel insurance for my trip away today, just in case the world does go nuts and quaranteens occur and I have to cancel.

Tell you what though, Ebola getting out of control, now THAT would scare me!

Curiously, you didn't mention that unlike the H5N1 bird flu, the current H1N1 swine flu seems to be easily transmissible from human to human. You also didn't mention that this swine flu is already resistant to two out of the four antiviral drugs that it can be treated with. You didn't mention the possible severe side effects of those drugs.

Sure, it might be that this epidemic is overhyped. But it's far too early to tell. Every expert I've read interviews with or talked to says there is very good reason to be seriously concerned, and the media is mostly taking them at their word. If these experts were all saying there was nothing to worry about, we'd likely see different media coverage.

Bill do you know what you are talking about? While you may be correct about airline air filters, Yes Bill this is not Ebola, if it was it would probably be less of a concern, because Ebola is so deadly it has less of a pandemic potential that we see here...

"What the news doesn't tell is what condition these people were in before they got crook. I suspect they were, for the most part probably elderly, extremely young and vulnerable to disease or already debilitated with other illnesses."

If this is like the Spanish Flu -- which it might be; they were both designated H1N1 -- then it's more deadly to the strong and healthy, because it sends the immune system into a kind of feedback-loop. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm .

"turned out to be Y2K with a cough"

Incidentally, the Y2K problem was real. The hysteria didn't pan out (but does hysteria ever?), but only because many people worked hard to track down and fix the vast majority of Y2K-related bugs. It's amazing what people can do when faced with an absolute, unmovable deadline :-)

Over the weekend 12 people died on our roads. Ten or so students developed influenza which by all accounts so far has not proved fatal and is not likely to be. Pardon me if just for the moment I worry more about getting home without being killed, rather than getting hysterical about a virus wearing a sombrero while eating a pork chop!

The health authorities are absolutely right to take all the precautions they can to stop the spread. However I am getting fed up with being told not to panic. I will panic in my own good time but just for the moment I will let the doomsday cultists forcast the end of the world. I must say it does make a pleasant change from economic Armageddon. By the time the media lose interest in virus flavoured pork sausages, the economy may have come out of recession just because everyone has stopped talking about it.

Incidentally avian flu is still killing people in the third world so don't get too complacent, although I do love your turn of phrase - Y2K with a cough! Look on the bright side. It keeps consultants employed.

I imagine that if Bill does become ill with the latest swine virus, then he will confidently get well without the need for any anti viral treatment or outside help. ()

I think that your blogg is helpful in feeding the media frenzy and for giving people like me the opportunity to participate.

A more positive way to assist would be to ask some of the harder and more relevant questions (let me help you here) such as:

1) How many of the the students that traveled to Mexico received pre-travel flu vaccinations,

2) How many of those vaccinated have become infected, and for your free tamiflu

3) Why does the government not have a vaccination program that covers the at risk groups of (say) 2 to 18 year olds that are the very group that are going to be the greatest conduit for spreading the infection through the wider community?

PerpetualScience Student: no wonder you are perpetual; you do not actually seem to learn anything!

It is not usual to obtain an influenza vaccination prior to travelling overseas. You might get it for other reasons but it is not in the same basket as diseases such Cholera, Hepatitis, Polio etc. for which vaccination is common when travelling to third world countries.

The government does have a vaccination that covers at risk groups - designated as those over 65 and those chronically ill or with compromised immune sysstem. Younger, fit people are not generally regarded as 'at risk'. I would be surprised if any of these school parties had been vaccinated. There would have been no need

How can one have a vaccination programme for an unknown threat? The strain of swine flu, or whatever you want to call it, is new; there is no vaccine available. It will take several months to develop a vaccine. For goodness sajkke, even the wonders of science cannot produce a vaccine for a disease not as yet known!

I do not understand your point about Tamiflu. However up to now it has been widely reported that anti viral medications such as Tamiflu have been effective.

Suggest you return to your studies.

Generally the "elderly, extremely young and [those] vulnerable to disease or already debilitated with other illnesses" are most at risk of influenza. However this particular strain is most viralent in fit, healthy 25-45 year olds. Yes, Influenza A kills over 400 people a year in New Zealand, however with approximately 10-20% of New Zealanders infected annually, it has a low fatality rate (0.5-1%). Swine flu has a fatality rate of 8-10%, ie. 10-20x higher. On top of this, as it is a new strain, people do not have the natural immunity they currently have to influenza. The hype around bird flu was because of the hypothetical situation that the virus would mutate to be able to transmit human to human (which it didn't). Swine flu is transmitted human to human.

Of course the media is spreading panic, unnecessarily - there are effective government strategies in place to deal with these situations and the cases that have been identified in New Zealand appear to be milder than those causing death in Mexico. In the same token however Bill, do your research before posting an article full of your own speculation.