Swine flu

[spike]

Sure. Why not? Thirty-seventh, three-thousand seventy-eighth, nine-hundred fifty-fifth, who cares?

I for one am glad were working towards improving that ranking.

 

[valkyrie]

I should head over to the Slick Pig (best barbecue in town), stand outside coughing and sneezing and see if they'll bribe me in ribs to go away.
<<snippety snip>>>

LOL!!! Get me a pulled pork sandwich while you're there!

 

[valkyrie]

A more true statement has never been spoken. We are all going to die...eventually. Some of us more dramatically than others, but the end results will be the same.

BTW...Dog doesn't taste all that bad. I'd stay away from cats, though...

Hell no... we've got all sorts of wildlife to eat out here where I'm at. The squirrels alone would keep me fed in meat for a year. (Though squirrel is said to be very stringy and not much meat on them, but I'm sure they'd cook up nice in a stew.)

Now, the city is where you'll have trouble.

 

[jimpeel]

This "pandemic" is a great example on how easy it is to panic the population of an entire planet with false and misleading information.

Now ...

Think Global Warming.

 

[spike]

Think Iraq WMDs

Your point isn't rational Jim.

 

[valkyrie]

This "pandemic" is a great example on how easy it is to panic the population of an entire planet with false and misleading information.

Now ...

Think Global Warming.

Did WHO label this a pandemic already? Damn? Where have I been the last couple of days?

 

[jimpeel]

Think Iraq WMDs

Your point isn't rational Jim.

WMDs did not cause a worldwide panic.

WMDs did not cause nationwide mobilization of vast government bureaucracies.

So what's your point?

 

[jimpeel]

Did WHO label this a pandemic already? Damn? Where have I been the last couple of days?

Note: "pandemic" in "quotes".

Imagine me with both hands up with the two index and middle fingers making quote gestures while I say "pandemic".

Get it?

 

[spike]

WMDs did not cause a worldwide panic.

WMDs did not cause nationwide mobilization of vast government bureaucracies.

Really? No "coalition of the willing"

 

[jimpeel]

I for one am glad were working towards improving that ranking.

I'll see your thirty-seventh and raise you THIS:

10 Surprising Facts about American Health Care

* Posted March 25th, 2009 at 11.14am in Health Care.

Via the National Center for Policy Analysis, Hoover Institution senior fellow Scott Atlas identifies 10 things you probably did not know about health care:

Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.

Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States.

Fact No. 3: Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries. Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease. By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them.

Fact No. 4: Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians. Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate and colon cancer:

* Nine of 10 middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to less than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
* Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a pap smear, compared to less than 90 percent of Canadians.
* More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a PSA test, compared to less than 1 in 6 Canadians (16 percent).
* Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with less than 1 in 20 Canadians (5 percent).

Fact No. 5: Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians. Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report “excellent” health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent). Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as “fair or poor.”

Fact No. 6: Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K. Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long - sometimes more than a year - to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer. All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada. In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.

Fact No. 7: People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed. More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either “fundamental change” or “complete rebuilding.”

Fact No. 8: Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the “health care system,” more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).

Fact No. 9: Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K. Maligned as a waste by economists and policymakers naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade. The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain.

Fact No. 10: Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations. The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other single developed country. Since the mid-1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to American residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined. In only five of the past 34 years did a scientist living in America not win or share in the prize. Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.

 

[spike]

Why would you post 10 random facts? are you going somewhere with it?

 

[jimpeel]

And then there's this from the Cato Institute.

The World Health Report 2000, prepared by the World Health Organization, presented performance rankings of 191 nations' health care systems. These rankings have been widely cited in public debates about health care, particularly by those interested in reforming the U.S. health care system to resemble more closely those of other countries. Michael Moore, for instance, famously stated in his film SiCKO that the United States placed only 37th in the WHO report. CNN.com, in verifying Moore's claim, noted that France and Canada both placed in the top 10. (Then why are they not able to keep up with number 37 per the post above? -- j)

Those who cite the WHO rankings typically present them as an objective measure of the relative performance of national health care systems. They are not. The WHO rankings depend crucially on a number of underlying assumptions— some of them logically incoherent, some characterized by substantial uncertainty, and some rooted in ideological beliefs and values that not everyone shares.

The analysts behind the WHO rankings express the hope that their framework "will lay the basis for a shift from ideological discourse on health policy to a more empirical one." Yet the WHO rankings themselves have a strong ideological component. They include factors that are arguably unrelated to actual health performance, some of which could even improve in response to worse health performance. Even setting those concerns aside, the rankings are still highly sensitive to both measurement error and assumptions about the relative importance of the components. And finally, the WHO rankings reflect implicit value judgments and lifestyle preferences that differ among individuals and across countries.

It seems that they weren't able to stick to the medical issues.

Download the PDF of Briefing Paper no. 101 (216 KB)

View this Briefing Paper in HTML

The WHO press release which I am sure you have never read ... and the report itself which can be read HERE. You COULD actually read it or you can continue to use Michael Moore as a professional reference.

 

[jimpeel]

Why would you post 10 random facts? are you going somewhere with it?

Ah, yes, "random". There is nothing specific there except statistics and integers which show that the United States has better access to your "better" healthcare in other countries.

As to where I'm going ... What good is being ranked #1 if the patients cannot access that "better" healthcare; or the "better" healthcare cannot sopport that care because of a lack of facilities or equipment?

What you are saying, in essence, is that of those who can actually access the healthcare, France is number one. Number thirty-seven, however, can treat more patients.

 

[spike]

Ah, yes, "random". There is nothing specific there except statistics and integers which show that the United States has better access to your "better" healthcare in other countries.

I didn't say they weren't specific Jim, I said they were random. You understand the difference right?

They are miscellaneous cherry picked facts chosen often compared to one or two other countries and not compared to the whole. Often only comparing to Canada whis is only ranked 30th.

So I'd imagine you can see that there's no logical point to these assembled facts. I could point out that the US has very high mortality from heart disease compared with many of the countries with better healthcare but it is meaningless without a comprehensive look at things.

For example one of your facts is that US citizens have better access to preventative cancer screenings than Canada. A completely misleading fact if you consider the fact that the US actually has a much higher mortality rate from cancer than Canada.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_dea_fro_can-health-death-from-cancer

As to where I'm going ... What good is being ranked #1 if the patients cannot access that "better" healthcare; or the "better" healthcare cannot sopport that care because of a lack of facilities or equipment?

What you are saying, in essence, is that of those who can actually access the healthcare, France is number one. Number thirty-seven, however, can treat more patients.

No, actually #1 has better access and can treat more of their patients. That's certainly one reason they have lower mortality rates, healthier people, and a better ranking.

These random facts give you no point at all.

 

[MrBishop]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems_compared

Rather extensive article comparing the two...

 

[valkyrie]

Note: "pandemic" in "quotes".

Imagine me with both hands up with the two index and middle fingers making quote gestures while I say "pandemic".

Get it?

Damn... I thought something happened while I was asleep.

I see... you were being sarcastic regarding the big scare. Gotcha.

"Current situation

5 May 2009 -- As of 16:00 GMT, 5 May 2009, 21 countries have officially reported 1490 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. "

Influenza A(H1N1) - current situation

 

[valkyrie]

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 16 - May 5, 2009

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 16

5 May 2009 -- As of 16:00 GMT, 5 May 2009, 21 countries have officially reported 1490 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.

Mexico has reported 822 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 29 deaths. The United States has reported 403 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (140), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Colombia (1), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (1), El Salvador (2), France (4), Germany (9), Ireland (1), Israel (4), Italy (5), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (6), Portugal (1), Republic of Korea (2), Spain (57), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (27).

It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders.

There is no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products.

Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.

 

[jimpeel]

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 16 - May 5, 2009

ie: 1.3433333333333333333333333333333e-6 or .000134 of one percent of the entire United States population (calculated at 300 million) has contracted the disease and 3.3333333333333333333333333333333e-9 or .0000003 of one percent of the entire United States population (calculated at 300 million) has died of the disease.

I say we panic now lest we miss the opportunity later.

 

[Luis G]

Quick summary of the way things are over here:
- The schools opening date was delayed until the 7th.
- Most commercial activity will resume tomorrow.
- People are more calmed and informed about the disease.

Other things related to Mexico and the disease:
- The mexicans quarantined in China should be coming back soon.
- Haiti just refused 70tons of rice, beans, sugar and other non perishable food sent by our country to help them. The ship was not even allowed to approach the sea shore and is now back in Veracruz.

And in US news:
- Now there are two deaths related to the swine flu in the US.

 

[jimpeel]

UPDATE:

6.6666666666666666666666666666667e-9 or .00000067 of one percent of the entire United States population (calculated at 300 million) has died of the disease.