Have you bought Tamiflu and Probenecid?

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funkmasterb

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I've been researching H5N1 and the other variants of the avian flu for the past year and and considering buying a course of Tamiflu/Probenecid for my g/f and I. We live in a highly populated area, and it's become obvious they aren't prepared to treat the numbers of people around them.

Probenecid (if you're wondering) reduces the amount of Tamiflu filtered out and lost from the body. Meaning you don't have to drink your own urine to recover it. A big plus...haha...

The problem is that it would end up cost 500.00 CAD, and I'm sort of a poor student at the moment. In addition to the Tamiflu, we'd both stockpile 8 weeks of food/water/gas as soon as we heard about human to human transmission, and then cut ourselves off completely.


I'm not an alarmist, and am well aware that the media is having a field day with their scare tactics shit, but I've been receiving my information through respected medical journals and the like.



Oh - and even Tamiflu resistant H5N1 is reduced in severity when treated with Tamiflu.



EDIT: Or do you have alternate plans? (aka stockpile canned food/water/gas?)
 
funkmasterb said:
I've been researching H5N1 and the other variants of the avian flu for the past year and and considering buying a course of Tamiflu/Probenecid for my g/f and I. We live in a highly populated area, and it's become obvious they aren't prepared to treat the numbers of people around them.

Probenecid (if you're wondering) reduces the amount of Tamiflu filtered out and lost from the body. Meaning you don't have to drink your own urine to recover it. A big plus...haha...

The problem is that it would end up cost 500.00 CAD, and I'm sort of a poor student at the moment. In addition to the Tamiflu, we'd both stockpile 8 weeks of food/water/gas as soon as we heard about human to human transmission, and then cut ourselves off completely.


I'm not an alarmist, and am well aware that the media is having a field day with their scare tactics shit, but I've been receiving my information through respected medical journals and the like.



Oh - and even Tamiflu resistant H5N1 is reduced in severity when treated with Tamiflu.
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I'm more worried about a drastic mutation when it goes sustained human to human.

I think more people should be taking this seriously. When this breaks out, it will basically bring modern civilization to a halt (in most regards). If it really is as serious as they predict, the economy will probably collapse. No one will travel (doesn't really matter about government quaranteens) and the airlines will go out of business. The ultimate outcome of this is truely scary. I would say a good chunk of the population of Africa will die from it. :/

I still haven't done anything to prepare though.
 
funkmasterb said:
I'm not an alarmist, and am well aware that the media is having a field day with their scare tactics shit, but I've been receiving my information through respected medical journals and the like.
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Actually, it seems the media aren't aware of the full impact of what's been happening. It's pretty scary stuff.
 
Seems to have got worse since it hit Turkey, the country wasn't really prepared to deal with it. Tests showed it had mutated into a worse form, although they don't think it's human to human yet, and there's a case in Belgium now as well from someone who visited Turkey.

A lot of the media coverage so far has been sensationalist, but the chances of this becoming a real problem is probably quite high.

The whole Tamiflu business is just Governments wanting to be seen to be covering their arses, and companies making money off people's fears. Until we know what we are dealing with, no one knows if it will be effective at all.
 
It seems to be a much more serious threat than something like the media-hyped SARS, and it kind of bothers me that some people don't take it seriously at all. It really kinda worries me. :-/

A couple months ago the Discovery Channel or History Channel had a documentary on a worst-case scenario of the avian flu (it was aired right after that doc on the black plague), and it really freaked me out.
 
Nash said:
and there's a case in Belgium now as well from someone who visited Turkey.
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Well, they tested that man and the results came out negative, so no avian flu in Belgium yet. I guess maybe I should be worried more than I am, but I just don't think it will have much of an impact here. I believe the world as a whole is more prepared for this than they were for any other outbreak.
 
demon said:
It seems to be a much more serious threat than something like the media-hyped SARS, and it kind of bothers me that some people don't take it seriously at all. It really kinda worries me. :-/
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People don't take it seriously because the previous mediagasm over SARS didn't pay off in any entertaining or scary way.
 
GSG Flash said:
Well, they tested that man and the results came out negative, so no avian flu in Belgium yet. I guess maybe I should be worried more than I am, but I just don't think it will have much of an impact here. I believe the world as a whole is more prepared for this than they were for any other outbreak.
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Ah right, hadn't heard that.

The world is better prepared, but it all depends on if the virus mutates and how virulent that mutation is. Unfortunately that's something we have no control over.
 
One of the profs at my school said that in one of the Turkey cases, transmission occurred via gloves that had been used to carry poultry. It's the first case where transmission did not occur through direct contact with infected birds. I can't find any confirmation online, but if this is true, it's a very serious development.
 
I spent my xmas vacation in Thailand and did some research on bird flu seeing as how we were going into the hot zone as far as bird flu is concerned. We were going to be very cautious over there not eating chicken and eggs and staying away from areas with caged birds and chickens. We also got flu shots because the virus could mutate with another flu virus if you get and then you are screwed.

Those were the only concerns the health department and doctors we spoke to had but in the end we ended up overdosing on chicken curry and ended up smack in the middle of the bird section in a market. Bird flu is the new shark attacks for the media, blow it out of perportion to scare the public and have something to talk about.

Your chances of getting bird flu is extremely slim but if you are concerned, get a flu shot and practise very good hygiene. Keep a handsanitizer on you at all times like Purell and become obsesive about cleaning your hands if you are going to put them near your mouth or pick your nose.
 
pixelfish said:
I spent my xmas vacation in Thailand and did some research on bird flu seeing as how we were going into the hot zone as far as bird flu is concerned. We were going to be very cautious over there not eating chicken and eggs and staying away from areas with caged birds and chickens. We also got flu shots because the virus could mutate with another flu virus if you get and then you are screwed.

Those were the only concerns the health department and doctors we spoke to had but in the end we ended up overdosing on chicken curry and ended up smack in the middle of the bird section in a market. Bird flu is the new shark attacks for the media, blow it out of perportion to scare the public and have something to talk about.

Your chances of getting bird flu is extremely slim but if you are concerned, get a flu shot and practise very good hygiene. Keep a handsanitizer on you at all times like Purell and become obsesive about cleaning your hands if you are going to put them near your mouth or pick your nose.
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I'm not concerned about it now, in it's current form. (I've stopped having sexual relations with all chickens). I am concerned about what it WILL become in the future if it becomes possible to transmit human to human.
 
Richard Cranium said:
One of the profs at my school said that in one of the Turkey cases, transmission occurred via gloves that had been used to carry poultry. It's the first case where transmission did not occur through direct contact with infected birds. I can't find any confirmation online, but if this is true, it's a very serious development.
Click to expand...


I don't think it's a serious development at all since they have since the outbreak of avian influenza told people to stay away from raw poultry and eggs and make sure anything poultry product you are eating is well cooked. The guy most likely didn't wash his hand before he ate something and thats how he got infected. One of the easiest ways to contract bird flu is also to come in contact with the infected bird droppings and feathers and eggs that have bird poop on them.
 
funkmasterb said:
I'm not concerned about it now, in it's current form. (I've stopped having sexual relations with all chickens). I am concerned about what it WILL become in the future if it becomes possible to transmit human to human.
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Then you should be concerned about normal influenza that kills more people than any bird flu has and SARS as well.
 
pixelfish said:
Then you should be concerned about normal influenza that kills more people than any bird flu has and SARS as well.
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Again, you're thinking historically.

IF it becomes a HUMAN - TO - HUMAN transmitted virus, it could become devastating.
 
funkmasterb said:
I've been researching H5N1 and the other variants of the avian flu for the past year and and considering buying a course of Tamiflu/Probenecid for my g/f and I. We live in a highly populated area, and it's become obvious they aren't prepared to treat the numbers of people around them.
Click to expand...
How would you go about obtaining this medicine?

Vaguely related, if you're a student you should check with your school's health clinic to see if they give free or cheap flu vaccinations. I know mine did last year, and it's just a little community college.
 
pixelfish said:
I don't think it's a serious development at all since they have since the outbreak of avian influenza told people to stay away from raw poultry and eggs and make sure anything poultry product you are eating is well cooked. The guy most likely didn't wash his hand before he ate something and thats how he got infected. One of the easiest ways to contract bird flu is also to come in contact with the infected bird droppings and feathers and eggs that have bird poop on them.
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It is a serious development because if it's true, the virus may spread through any object that comes in contact with an infected bird, making it more virulent than previously thought. These were kids that supposedly played with their father's gloves and had no contact with diseased birds. Now granted, I don't know if it's true, and it may be that the prof's more concerned than most people are because he's an ER physician, but it is still a very scary prospect. If the virus does mutate, we're facing a huge problem.
 
I haven't kept up with the whole thing to be honest, but a while ago I worked out from the worst predictions that roughly 1 in 17 people could die. I guess that measn they said up to 350 million people, if the virus mutates.

Now that's obviously terrifying and horrible and stuff...but 1 in 17...94% chance of survival. If I was going in for an operation with a 94% of survival I'd be scared, sure, but optimistic. And assuming the people who came up with the figures took account of things like density of population and more and less developed countries and things, I suspect where I am is even less dangerous than that.

Of course, that's just my survival. I'm sure we all know 17 people and the idea that 1 would likely die in this worst case scenario is far from nice.

Someone's going to come in here now and tell me it's more like 1 in 5 or something and make me cry.
 
funkmasterb said:
Again, you're thinking historically.

IF it becomes a HUMAN - TO - HUMAN transmitted virus, it could become devastating.
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And it's a big IF. We've had outbreaks of bird flu now for decades. Just recently there were outbreaks in 1997, 1999, 2003. There was an outbreak in 2003 in the Netherlands that infected 80 people only killing one and there was signs of it spreading human to human. No worldwide or even European wide infection came from that. Bird Flu is nothing new but the fuss being made about it in the media is.

Getting a flu shot is very important if you are concerned of human to human contact and protecting yourself by being very vigilant with hygiene will also help. The flu shot won't protect you from avain influenza but it will help protect you from mutant strains that could be very hard to cure with the current silver bullet Tamiflu. As for getting Tamiflu, when we enquired about getting it in December, the info from the health department that we didn't need it and that there is shortage because of the French manufacturers refusing to share the patent.

You can buy Tamiflu online for around 90 euros but I would be concerned with what you are getting. If you know somebody in Asia ask them to buy it for you. In Bangkok you can buy it over the counter, well you can buy anything over the counter but we didn't feel the need to get it.
 
Richard Cranium said:
It is a serious development because if it's true, the virus may spread through any object that comes in contact with an infected bird, making it more virulent than previously thought. These were kids that supposedly played with their father's gloves and had no contact with diseased birds. Now granted, I don't know if it's true, and it may be that the prof's more concerned than most people are because he's an ER physician, but it is still a very scary prospect. If the virus does mutate, we're facing a huge problem.
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The reason I'm saying it's not a serious development is because it's been known since the outbreak of bird flu that you could become infected if you are contact with raw poultry and eggs.

If your prof is concerned about the new development of people becoming infected from poultry meat, tell him that in the beginning of last year one of the first people to die in Asia got infected with bird flu from eating raw duck blood. Infection from food is nothing new, that's why the CDC warns us to not eat undercooked poultry, eggs and if you do touch eggs wash the eggs and your hands very well because you can get infected from bird poop on the eggs.
 
pixelfish said:
And it's a big IF. We've had outbreaks of bird flu now for decades. Just recently there were outbreaks in 1997, 1999, 2003. There was an outbreak in 2003 in the Netherlands that infected 80 people only killing one and there was signs of it spreading human to human. No worldwide or even European wide infection came from that. Bird Flu is nothing new but the fuss being made about it in the media is.
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This STRAIN of bird flu is different. It resembles the strain in the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, which disproportionately killed the young and healthy by provoking a cytokine storm. (Essentially, your body's overreaction to the presence of the flu virus is what kills you.)

Although current medical technology can help a victim to some extent, our current service capacities would be quickly choked by the sheer enormity of the pandemic. In major U.S. cities, for example, current models predict THOUSANDS of new patients EVERY DAY. There aren't enough beds, respirators, or medicines to handle that load...so many will die as a result.

If H5N1 (or something similar) ever spreads, your best chance of survival would be to get it early, or get it very late after the initial outbreaks subside and hospitals have had a chance to restock. That's why stockpiling food and undergoing voluntary quarantine would be a critical step...but I have no idea how the economy would survive.
 
-jinx- said:
This STRAIN of bird flu is different. It resembles the strain in the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, which disproportionately killed the young and healthy by provoking a cytokine storm. (Essentially, your body's overreaction to the presence of the flu virus is what kills you.)

Although current medical technology can help a victim to some extent, our current service capacities would be quickly choked by the sheer enormity of the pandemic. In major U.S. cities, for example, current models predict THOUSANDS of new patients EVERY DAY. There aren't enough beds, respirators, or medicines to handle that load...so many will die as a result.

If H5N1 (or something similar) ever spreads, your best chance of survival would be to get it early, or get it very late after the initial outbreaks subside and hospitals have had a chance to restock. That's why stockpiling food and undergoing voluntary quarantine would be a critical step...but I have no idea how the economy would survive.
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People were stockpiling food for the 2k bug that was going to cripple us and nothing happened, SARS had people freaking out and nothing happened.

A person's best defense againts the scaremongering is a flu shot because to have it spread from human to human, it will have to mutate and a flu shot will help you out at mutation and practise care and hygiene.

This current strain of bird flu claimed it's first victims over a year ago, if it was going to mutate and spread from human to human, then I think we would have seen cases already.
 
avian flu?

who gives a shit?

mad cow, flesh eating virus, sars, - they're all fucking blown out of proportion by fucking alarmists.
 
NLB2 said:
I haven't gotten sick in years.

I'm immune or something.

To everything.
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Did you hear that picking your nose decreases you risk for becoming ill?

Apparently exposing yourself to the low levels of bacteria and viri that your nose filter out, you build up different levels of immunity to them.

*cough*
 
pixelfish said:
People were stockpiling food for the 2k bug that was going to cripple us and nothing happened, SARS had people freaking out and nothing happened.

A person's best defense againts the scaremongering is a flu shot because to have it spread from human to human, it will have to mutate and a flu shot will help you out at mutation and practise care and hygiene.

This current strain of bird flu claimed it's first victims over a year ago, if it was going to mutate and spread from human to human, then I think we would have seen cases already.
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So let me get this straight: Actual scientists are scared to death over this stuff, and there is scientific evidence that it is NOT like the other flu strains you've had, but you say there is nothing to worry about because other disease-related stories were overhyped by the media? Sure, yeah, I'll believe you.
 
What's the survival rate of healthy people?

I haven't been sick since I was like 6 years old. I had the cold about once a year until about 2 years ago, when I became a health nut.


Edit, I reply first then read...


Mama Smurf said:
This report http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1591332,00.html has various predictions within it. The worst cases were 150 million worldwide, 200 million worldwide, and 709,000 in the UK (where I am).

That's better than the figures I was working from. Roughly 1 in 40 (97.5% chance of survival), 1 in 30 (96.6%) and 1 in 85 (98.8%).
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In that case, I have nothing to worry about.
 
Fatghost28 said:
So what makes Avian Flu more scary than the typical flu virii that swing around every year?
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It dissolves your soul.
 
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