Comments on: H1N1 FLU VIRUS

By: Salvy

Salvy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:01:18 +0000

LoL. It is a serious matter, but some people get ridiculous about it.

By: HELENA

HELENA — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:51:50 +0000

42923

By: swampdog

swampdog — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:30:08 +0000

It’s a panacaea for those who DEMAND attention, and darn good entertainment for the rest of us!

By: Healthcare Worker

Healthcare Worker — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:11:09 +0000

The caption in this picture makes no sense. These healthcare workers are being “fit tested” to ensure that the face masks (N95 respirators) they are wearing fit and do not leak. The larger mask/hood they are wearing are there to contain the atomized solution being pumped into the hood. The regular face masks are necessary for patients in isolation to prevent healthcare workers from spreading infection to other patients. Yes, it looks silly, but they do not walk around with those on after the fit test is over. Good job on the accuracy! lol

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:42:01 +0000

Fail

By: Stacy M.

Stacy M. — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:09:11 +0000

The fit test is likely for any job where a respirator is required. I work in a denim mill and we have to do these every time they decide to switch brands of respirator.

I’m puzzled as to why they are doing the test sitting down. We do it standing and have to kind of bounce around, among other things, in them to make sure they don’t let air go around rather than through.

By: Marekatt

Marekatt — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:22:08 +0000

It’s not paranoia, it’s hypochondria

By: bad fairie

bad fairie — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:14:56 +0000

my favorite co-workers were the ones who insisted on coming to work sick even though we could take limited paid sick days and we had medical insurance, but heaven forbid they missed making a sale or worse yet, didn’t get their year end bonus for not missing any time, leaving the rest of us exposed to their cr@p at work. i don’t miss retail at all!

By: Dr. Dot

Dr. Dot — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:06:57 +0000

Except for those that don’t accumulate sick leave and have others that rely on their paycheck. Ever caught the Mongolian Death Flu from a cow-orker? Happens more frequently than one might imagine.

By: Sage

Sage — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:35:53 +0000

Do be on the watch for Wine Flu however. It’s symptoms are quite odd. You feel better when you have it and worse right after it goes away.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:34:20 +0000

These are health-care workers being fit-tested for N-95 masks. I’m a nurse in a pediatric clinic and had to go through this because everyone freaked out over nothing.

By: Erica

Erica — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:52:20 +0000

Nausea/vomiting is not a symptom of the flu. Influenza is a respiratory infection. If you’re smart enough to know that you need to stay hydrated and control your fever, you should be smart enough to know the symptoms of the flu. That’s why this swine flu has gotten so out of hand. People think every little cough is going to kill them.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:35:34 +0000

This is a TB test doctors and nurses must do every year to get a properly fitting mask so no bacteria can get in. It has nothing to do with swine flu!

By: crux

crux — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:19:24 +0000

“Had a cough” is not the same as “coughed a few times”. I was assuming, from what you wrote, that the child was coughing regularly rather than just had a dry throat that resolved with a drink of water.

By: cp

cp — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:08:16 +0000

While this may look silly, this is not actually a “flu scare” these are health care professionals getting fitted for masks mainly as protection from tuberculosis. Those hats are put on and the lady without the mask in injecting an aerosol that smells unholy and you can tell your mask doesn’t fit perfectly if you can smell it. This is routinely done for health care professional every few years and doesn’t specifically have to do with teh flu.

By: Huh?no your wrong im and im left.

Huh?no your wrong im and im left. — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:02:26 +0000

Haha they’re making such a big deal of it in New Zealand we are apparently the 3rd most affected country. And our quarantine is just to stay at home, have the tv news crew come and visit, and get your family to come in and say hi. Honestly if this actually is a big disaster and it can affect our unusual climate we are screwed.

By: anniemcphee

anniemcphee — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:21:52 +0000

I wish we stayed with the “Swine Flu” – it was so retro. Now it’s the Heiny virus and that just makes me think of a bunch of assheads sneezing.

By: Villy

Villy — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:13:36 +0000

She coughed a couple of times after she woke up. After she was up for an hour or so, she was fine. There was NOTHING else. No sneezing, no fever, no ANYTHING. My house is probably just a bit dry for her.

I’m not new to this, thanks.

By: dissimilitude

dissimilitude — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:20:04 +0000

My favorite part of that was “My dad says flu vaccines are linked to autism, so to be safe from swine flu I’m trying to lick an autistic kid.”

By: crux

crux — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:19:33 +0000

He’s technically right. Flu spreads better inside, where people work closely together and share air. He’s less vulnerable to the common cold and the regular flu too. He doesn’t have much reason to worry about swine flu while there are still so few cases, though. The odds are against catching it.

By: DeathWyrmNexus

DeathWyrmNexus — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:19:09 +0000

Nah, we’re all out of West Nile and birds, you will have to get East Nile and Fish Flu.

By: froofrou

froofrou — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:18:35 +0000

Yahoo Answers.

By: crux

crux — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:18:18 +0000

What I don’t get is that the people wearing the masks also rub their eyes and forget to wash their hands. Yeah, buddy, the mask’s gonna do a great deal of good.

By: crux

crux — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:16:25 +0000

XKCD.

By: crux

crux — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:14:43 +0000

Exactly. The common cold is a pandemic, for example; and the seasonal flu is a pandemic. (The common cold can also be referred as “endemic”–that is, humans serve as the reservoir and the germs survive by being passed around among us.) “Pandemic” refers to how well a disease spreads and how many people have it, not how many it kills.

By: crux

crux — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:12:12 +0000

No, actually treatment-resistant bugs are caused by idiots not finishing their medication.

But there’s many people who get nasty things like chronic bronchitis because they didn’t take care of the original infection before it caused damage. That, and smoking. Smoking makes any respiratory infection worse.

By: crux

crux — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:10:46 +0000

Uhh… it’s a good idea not to send sick kids to school. If you do, everybody else’s kid will get it; plus, they’ll be miserable going to classes when they should be eating soup and sleeping. The paranoia was a bad idea, though.

By: crux

crux — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:09:15 +0000

Really, masks are pretty unnecessary in the first place–if you’re sick, just stay home. You get a few days off work, your friends don’t get the flu, everybody wins.

By: girlatheist

girlatheist — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:46:32 +0000

Thank you. I’m a nurse and just got done with this fit testing at work. You just have to make sure the mask fits properly when you care for anyone with TB.

By: ThinklePeep

ThinklePeep — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:14:00 +0000

Palin reference WIN!

By: Cassie

Cassie — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:09:05 +0000

glad someone else mentioned that…I go through this about twice a year for mask fit testing…it sucks but it has absolutely nothing to do with the flu.

By: bagnew

bagnew — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:45:26 +0000

Dude, it doesn’t matter what it’s about. The pictures are used to make humorous captions, not to accurately state what’s happening.

By: Miss Trauma

Miss Trauma — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:53:37 +0000

seriously, do you know how many times i have had the flu due to the fact that i get a really bad reaction to the flu shots? i have never gotten so sick that i needed to be hospitalized, if it got to the point where i was dehydrated and not holding fluids due to vomiting or something like that, i go to the local urgent care clinic, see a dr, get a prescription for the nausea, and sleep it off while drinking lots of water and making sure my temp is somewhat regulated. if you look for the signs of things that can lead to hospitalization such as dehydration, you can usually stop it in it’s tracks before it gets to that extreme. obviously, the flu has not killed me yet….

By: Seth

Seth — Wed, 06 May 2009 05:52:53 +0000

Source?

By: MLD

MLD — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:13:25 +0000

probably not. Most viruses arent actually stopped by the masks unless they’re specifically rated to do so. And most of the ones people will buy, aren’t

By: MLD

MLD — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:01:12 +0000

this is true, but going to work sick increases the duration of your own illness, your chances of getting reinfected, and has led to an increase in treatment resistant bugs, as well as superbugs.

By: t

Wed, 06 May 2009 04:00:10 +0000

Dude, that’s not even what it’s about. The picture is of a stupid test (you need it if you work in a hospital) to make sure you have the correct size TB (tuberculosis) mask.

By: delia m.

delia m. — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:49:14 +0000

Indeed. I think that if the army is handing out masks here in Mexico they should also give condoms away. I’m serious D: Really.

By: delia m.

delia m. — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:46:12 +0000

The reason some Mexicans got it (not all, read a little more) is because my government is stupid enough to let everyone in without a visa. Springbreakers and other people come here without us knowing whe the f*ck they are.
I wonder if you have ever even been to Mexico? It’s not that we have bad health care. The real reason is that here, people don’t go to the doctor when sick. We, as a country, have some bad habits. But bad healthcare? Yeah…like the US has an awsome health care. That’s why they have no new agressive TB born in the hospitals, right? *sarcasm please*
Now, I’ve never been to UK so I can’t really say you’re wrong there.
The flu is nothing? Yeah, well…you die without treatment. Nothing…yeah, right. Hope it’s nothing if you are unfortunate enough to get it.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:26:20 +0000

Well, it might prevent a few people catching colds. Overreaction to swine flu? Probably. Good practice for everyday colds? Probably.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:24:40 +0000

I happened to be on the phone to my mum while at a station where one of the escalators wasn’t running. I said, “Oh no, the escalator’s not working, how will I get off the platform?”
.
Mum: “[silence]”
.
Mum: “Oh, right, you had me thinking about it for a second.”

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:20:57 +0000

And dengue. Wait, that’s actually dangerous. My bad.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:20:15 +0000

Plagiarism!

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:17:39 +0000

H1N1 includes a bunch of strains, though, not just the currently-famous-reassortment-that-caused-some-cases-and-a-few-deaths-in-Mexico-apparently-related-to-a-pig-farm strain. I’ma keep calling it swine flu.

By: meooot

meooot — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:03:26 +0000

Remember Bird Flu? Same thing happening now.

By: catsocks

catsocks — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:48:31 +0000

All you need to know about reacting to swine flu:

http://www.doihaveswineflu.org

By: bolbec

bolbec — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:57:47 +0000

I’m so glad you said that, cause I was about to say the same thing.

By: podgirl

podgirl — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:14:39 +0000

a friend of mine was upset that krispy kreme is no longer making donut holes. I asked her, “How do they make the donuts without cutting out the holes?” She thought about it for a minute before she realized it was a joke.
To be fair, it was early on a friday morning.

By: viking gal

viking gal — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:13:15 +0000

Of course that assumes the person has paid sick leave, which a high percentage of American workers do not.

By: viking gal

viking gal — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:10:52 +0000

Yeah, the Japanese are smart, in that the sick person wears the mask, so the rest of us don’t have to!