Trapped inside by the flu :(

Update: Yay, things seem to be calming down, finally. I'm sick of this whole thing.

Edit: Um, yeah, I should probably mention from the beginning that I'm in Mexico City.

Ugh. It's all going crazy. The numbers are getting scary and all the people I know who work in Health Stuff have sent e-mails or called warning that it's more serious that the government is letting on (I mean, not that anyone trusts the government anyways, but yeah). Then again, the media always makes everything as dramatic as they can, so maybe it's all exaggerated. Since all levels of school are cancelled and my Dad works at the University and my Mom works at home, we've decided to go into total lock-down. This morning we did our last bulk shopping trip at Costco and we're holing up for at least the 10 or so days there's no school. Or mass or concerts or museums or anything. Or gym.

Also, I am not enjoying being stuck here with my family. It's like Big Brother or something. I mean yeah, love the family and all, but we don't usually spend that much time squashed together. My older sister is going completely bonkers and paranoic and getting my Dad (they are one of a kind) all riled up. I'm not even going to go into all the hypocresy and drama she stirred up, single-handed, when I had to leave the house this afternoon.

Ah, well. I'm very thankful we're safe and can stay at home and aren't sick, and as far as I know my friends and family are all good, too. But with one thing and another I am slowly going crazy. Why did it have to be here in Mexico City? Right here? I'm worried and scared and bored. I'm torn between relief that my Electromagnetism exam is postponed and fear because the numbers just went up again and are we really even safe here, maybe I should wipe the door handles with alcohol again?

I dunno, I just kind of wanted to vent and see what's going on in the rest of the world. Are they talking about the flu on the international news a lot?

Yeah, it's all over the news.  They were even talking about it on Coast to Coast last night.  It reminds me of the SARS outbreak we had here.  People were acting like it was the end of the friggin' world. 

Wow. Scary. I hadn't heard anything about it till now. I'm glad you're safe and can stay home. Stay safe. :) annnd don't kill each other! j/k

So I went and read about it cause I had no idea what you're talking about and now I'm all paranoid. Damn it! >.<

I'm glad you're home and safe though! It sounds so scary. =(

Now, I need to know something. there is a lot of produce and fruit that come from Mexico. e.g. I just bought an avocado. Should I get rid of this??? 

This is really serious. there are many cases that are confirmed positive in NYC. ?? I can't imagine it did get that far. 

Yeah swine flu is all over the news here, but at present we only have two people in isolation in Scotland with suspected signs, waiting for that to be confirmed.

As sad as this is for those in Mexico, I can't say that I am very concerned about it here, our Government has stock piled vaccine in case of, and we have a good health service. Which is free of course at the point of service.

If you are healthy, this should be nothing more than just flu, it hasn't said here who has died ie young, elderly, poor or those suffering from some form medical condition such as heart disease etc but I suspect that the majority of the deaths so far fall into one or more of those categories.

It has also been reported that the cases in the USA have so far proven to be less severe than what they are in Mexico.....(for some reason the virus isn't as aggressive in it's host as it is in Mexico).

Lets not get panic stricken about it..... it as yet has not been labelled as a flu pandemic......follow the advice which is being given out, keep a mask on, limit contact with people and try and eat well to keep your immune system strong.

And I am pleased that you have not caught it, stay safe.

Edit to add: it has just come on the news that the first case has been found in Europe (Spain), we are now advised not to travel to Mexico and the USA.

Honestly, it's not something to really freak out about (in the US).  All cases in the US have been mild.  The flu vaccines we have seem to weaken the virus, and seeing that we are heading into summer which kills of these viruses off anyway the worse case scenario is that this will be a mild pandemic.  Not a big deal folks.

To the OP, I just realized you are in Mexico!  I am glad to see that you and your family are taking this seriously.  I'm sure you all will be fine.

I'm in Cabo in the Baja California Peninsula (Mexico) and I'm taking the necessary precautions as well.

Although it is still unclear why Mexico has experienced so many deaths from the swine flu, I believe that the air pollution that plagues Mexico City may be in part to blame as people may already have compromised or weak immune systems. Also, people self medicate here all the time and the virus may have been spreading for months now without anyone realizing it.

Here's to hoping it all goes away in a week.

Thanks for the replies. Sorry to alarm you guys who didn't know about it. Whoops :)

safina- About the produce issue, I hadn't actually thought of it. I really don't know, you could probably ask some health organization/official? So far I think there haven't been any fatal cases in the US.

andie- The scary bit is, all the people who have died are actually young adults, not kids or elderly. Something about how if you have a stronger inmune system it backfires? I'm not sure, I think CBC had an artivle. Of course weak defenses aren't much good either. Also, there's no vaccine yet. The one administered this flu season protects against one component of the virus, but is in essence ineffective, and so far there is no vaccine here in Mexico or anywhere. What we do have are effective drugs, at least enough for one in twenty in Mexico City. 

v-avila- Good point about the air. A friend of mine always says she's never felt the need to smoke or inhale anything funny, it's the same as walking down to Xochimilco nad breathing in the fumes :) This is in a way the ideal place for something like this to break out. 

Ah, well. Lately, as in the past couple of months, I've been really into apocalyptic fiction and read all those Susan Beth Pfeffer books where a comet or something crashes into the Moon and moves it out of it's orbit a bit and there's all these climate changes and the food runs out and there are floods and stuff. (There's two books, really good actually, anyone read them?) And I just bought some new zombie movies and stuff. It's just kind of funny... coincidences O.o

Ah, well. Everyone in the house has calmed down, thus I am feeling better. At worst I'm in for a very boring week, I hope.

Bad news- The death metal concerts I'd planned to go to in two weeks are likely to be cancelled. Godd thing I haven't bought tickets yet. Sadly, it'll probably be a while before they come back.

Good news- No work! Group fitness classes cancelled at the club, so I'm out of a job for a while. No school, no work, lots of time and zombie movies.

I've been playing too much Left for Dead on xbox360. The first thing that came to mind was:

" Scary... Oooh nu... This is like Zombie stuff. "

Lol!

I'm glad that you brought it to my atttention. It's important to be imformed about such things,imo. Thank you. :)

It's being shortly referenced to on the news now as if it's really nothing. Downplayed. o_o Quick, breezy, and over.

it's just been confirmed that the two people in isolation in Scotland have got it, but as i said above it is reported that the virus is behaving differently outside of Mexico and these two people are not VERY ill just displaying normal flu systems and the virus is responding well to treatment.

However it is now official that we are being advised not to travel to the USA and or Mexico.

I haven't gotten the flu shot in years and I've never gotten the flu... I feel... exposed. D:

NYC and New Jersey now... :/

Scary.

*trying not to panic*

it's been raised to international pandemic level 4 only 2 more levels! 

Original Post by cptbunny:

I haven't gotten the flu shot in years and I've never gotten the flu... I feel... exposed. D:

NYC and New Jersey now... :/

Scary.

*trying not to panic*

 At least 5 in NJ as of last night......they keep saying no need to panic but still, there's a little bit of panic.  I'm in NJ and my coworker has a little girl in kindergarten.  They had a meeting with all the parents that said they would be keeping an extra eye on the kids and washing hands much more then normal.  I guess that's about all you can do, still, my throat hurts today and I'm tired.....so I'm terrified

just announced that every household in the UK is to recieve a leaflet about the virus....

Morning all, well Ive come into work this morning (in Stoke on Trent) and my boss is moaning that he has a runny nose and a sore throat, I may being over paranoid but I think he should be at home or the very least seeking some kind of advice, this is how things spread - Im not amused and boy have I told him so he's sick of hearing me moaning at him so he's gone to our other branch for the day. What do you peeps think am I being paranoid?

If your boss has just returned from Mexico or one of the affected parts of North America he should go to the doctor.  If he's never left Stoke on Trent he's probably just got a cold.

Thanks gi-jane, phew, it’s difficult not to worry though with it being all over the news.

Last winter's 'normal' flu killed a few thousand people in the UK.  This is a new strain which is why everyone's a bit worried... we don't have natural immunity.  But we have a good health-care system  and they've been gearing up to cope with a new kind of flu arriving since as far back as 1997.  Keep taking the vitamins and try not to stand next to any coughing Mexicans on the bus...