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**SeftyJokipl** · 04-27-2009, 08:18 PM

One thing we have to keep in mind with all of this.
IT IS THE FLU!

This is not Malaria, or smallpox, or Polio.

You're exactly right. This isn't some slowly spreading disease. This is much worse. This is a disease that spreads quickly, and every few generations mutates into a form that instead of killing infants and the elderly by overwhelming their immune system, instead kills HEALTHY adults by triggering an overreaction of the immune system.

Will it end civilization? No. Does it have a 99.9% mortality rate like (untreated) HIV? No. But I'm personally frightened by the idea of a disease that in 1918 infected 1/4 the US, and killed 2.5% of all adults. Lets see - 2.5% of NYC is ~250,000 people. See a lot of spare hospital beds? Ventilators? I'm not curious to see how our medical system, which has baked out all of its spare capacity in the name of "efficiency" will do in a crisis.

04-27-2009, 08:18 PM	#1
SeftyJokipl Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 501 Senior Member	One thing we have to keep in mind with all of this. IT IS THE FLU! This is not Malaria, or smallpox, or Polio. You're exactly right. This isn't some slowly spreading disease. This is much worse. This is a disease that spreads quickly, and every few generations mutates into a form that instead of killing infants and the elderly by overwhelming their immune system, instead kills HEALTHY adults by triggering an overreaction of the immune system. Will it end civilization? No. Does it have a 99.9% mortality rate like (untreated) HIV? No. But I'm personally frightened by the idea of a disease that in 1918 infected 1/4 the US, and killed 2.5% of all adults. Lets see - 2.5% of NYC is ~250,000 people. See a lot of spare hospital beds? Ventilators? I'm not curious to see how our medical system, which has baked out all of its spare capacity in the name of "efficiency" will do in a crisis.
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