Posted on 11/09/2009 7:02:09 PM PST by ventanax5
The boogeyman will get you!" parents sometimes tell misbehaving children. With about 40% of parents saying "no!" to vaccinating their kids for swine flu, apparently health officials think turnabout is fair play. And the media seem happy to help.
You see it in such headlines as "CDC Shocker: Swine Flu Killing Young People at Record Rate!" And in lines of panicked parents queued outside vaccine clinics like fans trying to score tickets to a Paul McCartney concert. And in schools closing willy-nilly, which could cost the nation tens of billions, according to a recent Brookings Institute study.
Which is so sad, because this boogeyman is not much more substantial than the legendary one. And adding the proverbial insult to injury, parents are told they must get their children vaccines that--because of the shortage and despite Obama administration promises--they can't get.
As told, the tale does sound scary. Almost a quarter of deaths from swine flu since Sept. 1 have occurred "in young people under the age of 25," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official Anne Schuchat declared at a press conference. Among cases of seasonal flu, those over 65 account for about 90% of deaths.
What Schuchat didn't say is that, as tragic as any child's death always is, in this case they merely represent a disproportionately larger slice of a very small pie. Very few people are dying of swine flu in any age category. Put another way, it's not that younger people are being slammed but that older ones are catching a break.
Hence among 65,000 college students afflicted with CDC-defined "flu-like illness" seriously enough to seek medical help, according to an American College Health Association running survey, there have been only 123 hospitalizations and zero deaths.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
You see it in such headlines as "CDC Shocker: Swine Flu Killing Young People at Record Rate!" And in lines of panicked parents queued outside vaccine clinics like fans trying to score tickets to a Paul McCartney concert. And in schools closing willy-nilly, which could cost the nation tens of billions, according to a recent Brookings Institute study.
Which is so sad, because this boogeyman is not much more substantial than the legendary one. And adding the proverbial insult to injury, parents are told they must get their children vaccines that--because of the shortage and despite Obama administration promises--they can't get.
As told, the tale does sound scary. Almost a quarter of deaths from swine flu since Sept. 1 have occurred "in young people under the age of 25," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official Anne Schuchat declared at a press conference. Among cases of seasonal flu, those over 65 account for about 90% of deaths.
What Schuchat didn't say is that, as tragic as any child's death always is, in this case they merely represent a disproportionately larger slice of a very small pie. Very few people are dying of swine flu in any age category. Put another way, it's not that younger people are being slammed but that older ones are catching a break.
Hence among 65,000 college students afflicted with CDC-defined "flu-like illness" seriously enough to seek medical help, according to an American College Health Association running survey, there have been only 123 hospitalizations and zero deaths. That in turn reflects swine flu as a whole, which in the seven months since the outbreak began has apparently killed fewer Americans than normally die every two weeks from "ordinary" flu during the season.
But the CDC claims to have scary numbers as well as percentages, with 85 attributed swine flu fatalities under age 18 in the last two months, as of Oct. 30. By comparison, in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons there were 78 and 88 such deaths reported, respectively. Although it appears the epidemic has peaked, attributed child swine flu fatalities this season will eclipse them. But it probably won't mean much according to James Chin, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and former World Health Organization epidemiologist.
That's because, he says, the deaths attributed to swine flu both now and in the future will reflect the rule that "the more you look, the more you find."
Understand first that neither the seasonal nor the swine flu death figures are supposed to represent total numbers, but rather what the CDC surveillance system nets. Causes of death are determined not by computers but by human beings who are sensitive to what Chin calls "media hype."
True, to be labeled a swine flu fatality you have to have the virus. But after that it gets tricky. According to the CDC, "Many millions" of Americans have been symptomatic with swine flu and, therefore, says Chin, many people "will be dying of any number of things but just happen to be infected."
The CDC says about 30% of the cases classified as swine flu fatalities had chronic medical conditions such as asthma, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy. These could be contributing causes, but they can also kill on their own. The more swine flu is in the news, the more likely it will be listed as the primary cause of death.
Such a phenomenon, Chin says, occurred during the early 1980s media blitz over the tampon-related "toxic shock syndrome epidemic." According to Chin, "Every time there was a headline, toxic shock cases shot up. It turns out it was occurring in small numbers. It was blown out of proportion." A later CDC analysis showed that through 1986 fewer than 200 women died, including those who never used tampons.
Chin says a bonafide apples-to-apples comparison might still show swine flu claiming more children's lives than does seasonal flu typically, but based on his observations "It still can't be that much more severe."
It's also necessary to view childhood flu deaths in perspective to all childhood deaths.
Annually, about 50,000 Americans perish before their 18th year. Unintentional injuries alone kill about 5,000 children below age 15, according to the National Safety Council. Of these, 1,100 are drownings and an additional 600 are from suffocation. These occur each year and yet could be prevented without quarantining Johnny or Jane at the South Pole.
Specifically regarding infectious diseases, there are probably few Americans who fear methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA--indeed many probably haven't heard of it. Yet each year it kills about 19,000 Americans, including an estimated 150 below the age of 18.
It's sad that public health officials seem to believe that getting people to do "the right thing" requires presenting a modern version of the Slaughter of the Innocents. It's also ironic in that surely some vaccination antipathy reflects the constant cries of "Wolf!" since the swine flu outbreak began.
There was the first declaration of a public health emergency in late April, with almost no U.S. deaths at the time. Then came the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology "plausible scenario" of 30,000 to 90,000 deaths with a "mid-October" peak. It came up rather short--though the latest CDC weekly FluView report may indeed indicate the peak of hospitalizations and deaths came in mid-October.
For that matter, consider five years of scary promulgations and headlines about avian flu such as "Flu Pandemic Could Kill 150 Million, U.N. Warns." Remember avian flu?
It's folly to think you can solve a problem caused partly by crying wolf simply by crying wolf even louder. That just squanders the credibility among public health officials--credibility which should be their most precious asset.
It seems I have read in years past that regular flu kills thousands each year.
It looks like my mom has it, and she is not doing well. She didn’t heed my advice and go to the doctor early.
I’m in California, and she’s in Texas, and I’m a bit worried about her. My sister-in-law was saying they were debating taking her to the emergency room yesterday.
I’ve been worried about my daughters who are high risk having a hard time with it, but I wasn’t too worried about my parents.
Well they are including numbers from back in the summer. This is completely misleading.
Flu kills 40,000 a year in the U.S. And doesn’t usually even make headlines.
I will pray she gets better.
Is a culture being sent for a confirmation?
May God watch over your mom and may she make a full recovery, and soon. God bless you and her.
Get this. I got four letters earlier in the year when the swine flu thing was freaking everyone out saying if your child has ANY sign of cold or flu to keep them home please.
So I did. They missed five days over the course of three months, three of those days with the actual flu! Got a phone call from the board of education this morning saying that they are turning me in to the juvenile authorities for not sending my kids to school.
I’m still so mad I can’t think straight to know how to handle this situation.
any chance you still have their letters stating children were to be kept home if showing any signs ofcolds or flu ?
and even if you don’t,somebodyDOES — or get a copy directly from the school and ask them why are you reported ,
and then get right back to the bd of ed and tell them you followed their issued directives ,so why are you being turned over to juvie ?
put a witness on an extension or sharing the phone with you and of course tell them there is another on the line-
maybe they made a clerical error ?
Get this. I got four letters earlier in the year when the swine flu thing was freaking everyone out saying if your child has ANY sign of cold or flu to keep them home please.
So I did. They missed five days over the course of three months, three of those days with the actual flu! Got a phone call from the board of education this morning saying that they are turning me in to the juvenile authorities for not sending my kids to school.
I’m still so mad I can’t think straight to know how to handle this situation.
I’m beginning to hate this country. We have too many stupid people. I feel for you.
I just went to the county website and downloaded the actual letters sent home. One stating that if they DO have the flu, to keep them home an ADDITIONAL seven days. And they are complaining about FIVE?
I’m getting worked up all over again. Of course they picked the worst day to call me because I had just gotten a call from my daughter’s principle to tell me that unless I had a letter in my daughter’s file (which I turned in two years ago, and THEY lost) stating that she can’t do weight lifting and jogging, she was going to fail and it would be MY FAULT. He actually yelled at me. When my daughter got in the car this afternoon the first thing she said was she had to control herself to keep from hitting her principle for yelling at her mom (she was in the office after being written up for not jogging as I told her to NOT do). I had spoken with the VP and it was supposed to be settled. The little prick (forgive my language) even insinuated I was exagerating her condition. I posted a concern the other day because we are being sent to a neurosurgeon for a steel rod due to severe kyphoscoliosis and spina bifida. I can’t wait to bring him the paperwork on her and he WILL apologize to my daughter and the gym teacher who called my daughter lazy in front of the class for walking her laps instead of joggin as her doctor instructed WILL apologize to her IN FRONT OF THE CLASS.
So this little schmuck from the BOE picked the wrong day to mess with me.
Get a lawyer. Now.
Your daughter needs a 504 plan, like way before yesterday.
Get all your paperwork together, then request a 504 hearing with the school authorities. Have part of her 504 her physical limitations and what the doctor recommends
The best part of a 504? It’s under the civil rights code. So the next time a PE teacher says something about her walking her laps, it is on the same line of calling her a racial slur and he can be sued personally. Not the school, the person.
Yes, it’s true, I work in this area. Since 504’s are part of the same code that handles racial issues, it’s a huge hammer to have in your hand
Freep mail me if you want more info
Also, call the local media. Get a story done. Email Rush, Glenn, et al. Escalate, in spades. Best defense is a good offense.
As a bonus, it will ruin any political aspirations these idiots might have.
GREAT advice! 504’s can be a real hammer, esp when dealing with the idiots who run too many of our our schools.
Find the letters and have an lawyer write them a very nasty letter.
I had this happen to me when the school forced my daughter to use the schools headphones instead of her own and she caught lice from using them .
Of course I kept her home until it was completely cleared up and it took a long time since she had really long straight hair which is the hardest type of hair to get rid of the little devils . She was in middle school at the time and the school new that there was a break out of lice .
I wrote them a very nasty letter that included threats of a law suit and they shut right up.
I had it. It’s some nasty dam stuff!
Hadn’t been that sick since 94, when I was in bed for 8 days straight with Bejing? flu, another H1N1 variant.
I told her last week to go to the doctor to see if it was flu in case she needed tamiflu. She didn’t. When it got worse, I told her again to go get tested because if it was flu my dad who has congenital heart failure could get on tamiflu. She didn’t. She keeps on getting worse. I’m mad and worried all at the same time. She is going to the doctor tomorrow, assuming she makes it through the night okay.
I told her last week to go to the doctor to see if it was flu in case she needed tamiflu. She didn’t. When it got worse, I told her again to go get tested because if it was flu my dad who has congenital heart failure could get on tamiflu. She didn’t. She keeps on getting worse. I’m mad and worried all at the same time. She is going to the doctor tomorrow, assuming she makes it through the night okay.
My heart goes out to you. Try to keep your cool, so failure to do so isn’t used against you. I suggest you first request an appointment with the Superintendent of Schools. Tell his secretary it is an urgent compliance issue. Be prepared to show him how you tried to solve this problem at lower levels. Being ready with 504 paperwork is a good idea, but don’t wait if it will take you a long time to do. I can’t tell from your letter if you’ve met with the chairperson of the committee on special education. That person could be helpful, too.
I’m a former teacher, school administrator, and grandma of a precious 16 mo. old grandson with spina bifida. We are keeping a scrapbook of our darling’s various challenges and triumphs, in anticipation of having to explain his issues to teachers and admins. every year. For us, a triumph was his beginning to roll to where he wanted to go, at 14 months. Today, he stood up for the first time in his foot/ankle orthotics and teeny tiny little walker, then collapsed in a tearful heap. It may be weeks or months before he actually can take a step. By the time he enters school, he will have overcome so much already that I just dare anybody in the schools to give him a rough time. I can’t even imagine what you and your daughter have been through.
If the calm, reasoned meeting with the Superintendent doesn’t work out, call the President of the School Board. If that fails, knock yourself out with the media and the lawyers.
Good luck and [[hugs]] to you and your daughter.
I feel for you with your grandchild and am proud for him too!
My daughter hasn’t had develop issues until the age of five. The worst part has been the curviture of the spine. But just in the past year of hitting puberty, she has had a significant change in the degree. I guess because she can walk, and they can’t physically see the problem (not with clothes on anyway), they think it’s not there.
Thanks for the advice. I didn’t think about the 504 possibility.
I feel for you, also. I cant tell you how I celebrated when my last kid graduated high school. I was so glad to be done with the whole friggen school system. They do nothing but antagonize parents. They should put as much effort into teaching the kids, as they do into busting balls on the parents. Maybe then we wouldnt have an idiot work force in this country.
you now have enough ammo to deal with them but never ever let them see how THEY can aggravate you or raise your voice to their level. Any so-called professional raising their voice to another adult/parent should be reported via a complaint and talking quietly to them puts them in their place quickly and makes them look like the miserable %$%!(*&^%s they are.
i went through 4 years of pure bs with the nyc bd of ed/special ed and had them bolloxed as unlike some others that would GO OFF ,i just sat there and replied when asked a question and when they were finished,put in my 2 cents and there were a few that got in my face but may gawd forgive me ...i knew that one day they will do it to the wrong person and get what their unprofessional behaviour deserved.
try and relax as they’re not worth it and this situation will get straightened out correctly once and for allwith the 504plan -
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11090903/Ukraine_Lungs.html
This is exactly what happened in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. But this is all just a "boogeyman"!
The WHO appears to be stalling in the release of the following:
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11090906/Ukraine_WHO_SS.html
But we can all "relax", there is nothing to see here folks, move along, move along.... NOT! What is happening in the Ukraine, Belarus etc... is deadly serious and people of FR need to stay informed:
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Hot+Topics/Flu+Pandemics/Swine+Flu?type=ts
http://fluboard.rhizalabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2474
One more serious thing to mention; Just like 1918, multitudes of health care workers who are fighting the H1N1 in the Ukraine have been infected and are getting sick:
Over 2000 HEALTH CARE WORKIERS are Ill in Ukraine:
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11090904/Ukraine_HCW_2K.html
“As on 06.11.2009, in Ukraine sick 687 physicians and more than 1500 young specialists. In quarantine areas the incidence ranges from 0.5% to 1.3% of the total number of doctors and from 0.5% to 1.2% of younger professionals. In addition, 4 physicians and 2 junior personnel DIED as a result of their professional duties.”
Doctors starting to die from pneumonia (hemorrhagic pneumonia caused by H1N1):
11/9/1009 13:54
http://www.charter97.org/en/news/2009/11/9/23525/
“A worker of the scientific and practical centre of radiation medicine in Homel has died from pneumonia.
This fact has been confirmed to BelaPAN by the head of the Health Care directorate of Homel regional executive committee Mikalai Vasilkou.
As said by him, the worker of the centre was taken to the emergency hospital with acute respiratory failure. “On Friday we received confirmation from anatomical pathologists that the woman died of HARD TOTAL PNEUMONIA,” the head of the directorate stated.
As the BelaPAN has found out, the deceased was about 30, she had a maternity leave recently. She worked in the ultrasonography diagnostics department of the centre.
Mikalai Vasilkou added that there are THERE ARE OTHER CASES OF DEATH FROM PNEUMONIA, but they are to be confirmed by anatomical pathology centers still…”
Hemorrhagic pneumonia caused by H1N1 is deadly (liquefied lungs filled with blood are incurable) and it may be spreading throughout the Ukraine and the entire area (Belarus is a Stalinist closed society which has rudimentary healthcare at best.) There are wide spread reports of H1N1 throughout Belarus but the Stalinist regime there has been keeping its people (along with the rest of the world) in the dark as to the dire seriousness of the situation (just like the communists did with Chernobyl) . If hemorrhagic pneumonia caused by H1N1 is spreading throughout Belarus without adequate government action adequately fight its spread. We could have a disaster in the making on our hands because this virus is not limited by a countries borders.
We will know more IF the WHO decides to release the no-spin version of the Ukraine sequencing results to the public. They may refuse to do so in order to avoid the world wide panic that would result if they just state the facts and IF the results prove the virus has mutated resulting in hemorrhagic pneumonia caused by H1N1.
This is not a "boogeyman", the H1N1 is very serious.
“Yes, it is a “boogeyman” alright, just ask the people of the Ukraine where people are dying of hemorrhagic pneumonia (liquified lungs filled with blood) caused by H1N1 swine flu has been verified with the symptoms being: “Coughing up blood followed by the “total destruction” of lungs. “
What is happening in the Ukraine does not sound like any swine flu cases around here. Just saying.
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