Hong Kong Man Ill With Swine Flu After Phuket Holiday

[kaotang]

Who cares? This swine flu is one of the least harmful, and least dangerous flus that the world has seen in the last 100 years. So far

only a tiny fraction of people have been infected, and have died, as happens with the "normal" flus that are more common. There

is absolutely nothing to fear. This flu will subside within a couple more months, and alot of embarrassed people will be running around

wondering why they got so excited about nothing.

Yes you are right! I feel it was the World Health Organization that caused this panic, just to see how the world would react to a viral pandemic, just a test run to see if all was efficient around the world, it is all a bunch of BS.

I totally agreed with both of you!!

[waza]

Although the H1n1 virus isnt too leathal at the moment, the more it spreads the more it comes into contact with other flu viruses and the greater the potential for it to mutate into something much more deadly.

[groovyc]

I am not sure this is the right place for this, but I have been informed that there is a sudden outburst of flu-like symptoms in Pattaya....I know the official news will take ages, but if I were in Pattaya, I would play it safe for now. Of course, those who aren't too concerned about catching the flu can go party--

[sungate]

Great - of all the headlines they could have chosen they had to go and use this one - searches for Phuket are going to bring this one up fast because of the "Swine Flu" searches elsewhere.

If he did not get it here, he is no longer here, and there are no related cases how is this news?

Does the Gazette not get that we are in an economic downturn and we need every advantage we can to survive it - such irresponsible reporting only harms the island.

If people were being infected here for sure report it if you must but this is just an attempt at sensation journalism at its worst - only good thing to come from it is that the Gazette will probably get an increase in their hits on their website. No doubt another news story next week to say they hit XYZ number of visitors this month

There are so many nails going into the coffin wood is now the minor part

Love it. "...we are in an economic downturn and we need every advantage we can [get] to survive it." So I guess the lesson for newspapers is that they should ignore this inconvenient little public health threat so we can all focus exclusively on the business of making money. Brilliant!

[elcent]

Get some interesting fast updates from this site. Faster than any online news. It shows clear patterns. http://www.ubalert.com/. I have bookmarked it.

[moe666]

The original reason WHO was concerned about this new flu is that it didn't act like most flues. The original deaths in Mexico were in the 20 to 50 age group as most flues kill the old and young the WHO saw this as a real issue. It is now flu season in South America any major out breaks there.

At least the guy wasn't tird up when he got off the airplane.

[Aqualogic]

I am not sure this is the right place for this, but I have been informed that there is a sudden outburst of flu-like symptoms in Pattaya....I know the official news will take ages, but if I were in Pattaya, I would play it safe for now. Of course, those who aren't too concerned about catching the flu can go party--

I heard the same thing and I live just outside pattaya. Apparently 2 Taiwanese showed up back in their home country as H1N1 positive. The head of the Thai Health Department is on the way down here to survey Banglamung hospital's pandemic readiness. Can you imagine if this gets loose in Pattaya, it will be a huge mess.

Look at what's going on in Australia at the moment, they let a few people off a cruise ship who had been in contact with a positive person(s) and a few weeks latter they have 1200 cases around the country. Here you'd probably send the decimal point a few places to the right.

[MisterMan]

Great - of all the headlines they could have chosen they had to go and use this one - searches for Phuket are going to bring this one up fast because of the "Swine Flu" searches elsewhere.

If he did not get it here, he is no longer here, and there are no related cases how is this news?

Does the Gazette not get that we are in an economic downturn and we need every advantage we can to survive it - such irresponsible reporting only harms the island.

If people were being infected here for sure report it if you must but this is just an attempt at sensation journalism at its worst - only good thing to come from it is that the Gazette will probably get an increase in their hits on their website. No doubt another news story next week to say they hit XYZ number of visitors this month

There are so many nails going into the coffin wood is now the minor part

Do you believe everything the public health office tells you? Just because some guy says the Hong Kong guy definitely didn't get swine flu here, doesn't mean he's right. If he started showing symptoms while on the island, it's possible he caught it here.

Besides, the Thai authorities have an obvious interest in playing down reports of swine flu in Phuket.

The Gazette's job is to report what is of interest to its readers. If someone may have caught swine flu in Phuket, people have a right to know.

Should be:

The Gazette's job is to report what is of interest fact to its readers. If someone may have definitely caught swine flu in Phuket, people have a right to know.

They are so desperate for news they are even posting stuff that happened in KHON KAEN

[Sumittra]

Still not as dangerous as Songkran in Thailand - approx. 350 in 1 week.

Agreed, accidents is the most dangerous flue that happen all the time. This is kind of like human being, always finding something to be panic of. Anyway I feel sorry for the people and the family who got this flue. Didn't mean it's not dangerous but if we're really worry about losing the population this case is no need to be fear of.

[erobando]

Sorry, you are not quite correct about the H1N1 flu virus. The reason all the experts and the WHO are so concerned about it is because H1N1 was exactly the format of the 1918 Spanish flu which killed more than 50 million people around the world in 6 months in its 3rd & 4th waves. That is indeed the other point of concern from almost every expert on this matter; we are only at the start of the 1st wave now with this H1N1 strain. This is definitely not something to be joking or complacent about and indeed the authorities are not, so with the right communication and responses we'll probably not have as high a death toll as 1918, but it is expected that this rapidly mutating virus (originating as H5N1) will get very deadly within the next 6-12 months. This is a nasty pathogen, it hits the young and strong people the hardest in the form of a cytokine storm (hypercytokinemia) look it up on Wikipedia before you start joking about it. Very Nasty - I'd rather be embarrassed than dead any day.

Expected is too strong.

There's concerns that it could mutate into something more dangerous, which is why governments have taken steps to control it.

The more it spreads, the more possible variations of mutations.

But there is certainly no inevitability that it will mutate into something more deadly. Spreadability is more advantageous to an organism than deadliness.

[bkkbrad]

Apparently he was enjoying the sun, sea and sand so much in Phuket that he was as sick as a pig when his holiday ended....boom boom.

[marsu]

The Thai Government Has admited responsibility for a new strane of the virus in Phuket, it is said to be a mix of bird flu and swine flu and they are calling it ..........................................................

Pigs might fly flu !

[onni4me]

NEWBIES..!!!

I seems so odd that his topic has suddenly so many concerned NEWBIES...don't you think?

The guy was carrying that virus and that's it. Maybe spread it her?

Dangerous, I think. We should be concerned.

[erobando]

Still not as dangerous as Songkran in Thailand - approx. 350 in 1 week.

Agreed, accidents is the most dangerous flue that happen all the time. This is kind of like human being, always finding something to be panic of. Anyway I feel sorry for the people and the family who got this flue. Didn't mean it's not dangerous but if we're really worry about losing the population this case is no need to be fear of.

All joking aside, the worst case, absolute nightmare scenario would be to crash your car into a pig farm.

[ScubaBuddha]

Great - of all the headlines they could have chosen they had to go and use this one - searches for Phuket are going to bring this one up fast because of the "Swine Flu" searches elsewhere.

If he did not get it here, he is no longer here, and there are no related cases how is this news?

Does the Gazette not get that we are in an economic downturn and we need every advantage we can to survive it - such irresponsible reporting only harms the island.

If people were being infected here for sure report it if you must but this is just an attempt at sensation journalism at its worst - only good thing to come from it is that the Gazette will probably get an increase in their hits on their website. No doubt another news story next week to say they hit XYZ number of visitors this month

There are so many nails going into the coffin wood is now the minor part

Sensationalist headlines by PG, or any other media for that matter, is not new. (Rupert Murdoch makes millions because of it) Look at last week the headline about the police being the most currupt, then you read the study and learn that the Land Dept. is #1 and the Popo were like 3rd of 4th. Editors always do this, usually out of greed, but often out of ignorance, like the annoying preference to incorrectly use a more attention grabbing word like "robbery" when it's actually a burglury or theft.

As far as the swine flu, (er..Mexican-human flu I guess Thailand wants us to call it) remember there is more at stake here than the deaths. Even though the virus isn't as deadly as first thought, hospitals getting over run with sick and the ensuing effects on economies etc. can be a very very bad thing. Look what happened to Mexico City when this first came out. The city came to a stand still. See here: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-29-voa15.cfm

Edited June 10, 2009 by Scubabuddha

[frogz]

Who cares? This swine flu is one of the least harmful, and least dangerous flus that the world has seen in the last 100 years. So far

only a tiny fraction of people have been infected, and have died, as happens with the "normal" flus that are more common. There

is absolutely nothing to fear. This flu will subside within a couple more months, and alot of embarrassed people will be running around

wondering why they got so excited about nothing.

Yes you are right! I feel it was the World Health Organization that caused this panic, just to see how the world would react to a viral pandemic, just a test run to see if all was efficient around the world, it is all a bunch of BS.

Who cares? I guess those people have lost family and friends because of the virus. The point is that this flu - and other strains of flu - have the potential to wipe out thousands of people. I know it seems like a case of cry wolf, but what's the alternative? Sit back and let a potentially lethal virus spread around the globe? Better to be safe than sorry and I think the WHO have done an excellent job at keeping the general public informed of the situation. It's the media who have blown everything out of proportion. There the ones spreading the BS.

[jdwphuket]

The article doesn't suggest the man caught swine flu in Phuket, it just says he came down with it while here. It leaves the possibility that he caught it here open, and why not? Are you saying that's impossible? The public health official quoted doesn't seem to have any evidence that the guy didn't catch it in Phuket. He's just saying "we don't have swine flu here so he couldn't have caught it here". That just sounds like fire fighting talk to me.

I'm sure the government would much prefer the Gazette to keep quiet about news like this. If the Gazette fell into line and didn't bother reporting a possible swine flu case in Phuket, there'd be people complaining that the Gazette was just some censored rag (as many already do).

Great - of all the headlines they could have chosen they had to go and use this one - searches for Phuket are going to bring this one up fast because of the "Swine Flu" searches elsewhere.

If he did not get it here, he is no longer here, and there are no related cases how is this news?

Does the Gazette not get that we are in an economic downturn and we need every advantage we can to survive it - such irresponsible reporting only harms the island.

If people were being infected here for sure report it if you must but this is just an attempt at sensation journalism at its worst - only good thing to come from it is that the Gazette will probably get an increase in their hits on their website. No doubt another news story next week to say they hit XYZ number of visitors this month

There are so many nails going into the coffin wood is now the minor part

Do you believe everything the public health office tells you? Just because some guy says the Hong Kong guy definitely didn't get swine flu here, doesn't mean he's right. If he started showing symptoms while on the island, it's possible he caught it here.

Besides, the Thai authorities have an obvious interest in playing down reports of swine flu in Phuket.

The Gazette's job is to report what is of interest to its readers. If someone may have caught swine flu in Phuket, people have a right to know.

Newspapers have a duty of care to their readers to be sure of the facts - the story stated that "officials" said that it had not been caught in Thailand yet there was no evidence to suggest the opposite - so why the sensationalist headline? Could it be because of a headline "Confirmed man did not contract Swine Flu in Phuket" is not going to get any visitors to their website.

If a person starts showing the systems of Malaria after visiting Iceland do you want to suggest he could have caught it there?

Do you have evidence of Swine Flu in Phuket? If not why jump to the conclusion that officials are playing it down - could it not be the simple case that there are not any cases on the island? There are after all thousands of places around the world that have no reported cases.

As a reader of the gazette i am interested in them getting facts right - not making mileage about a worldwide scare for their own benefit

[boggzzy]

Who cares? This swine flu is one of the least harmful, and least dangerous flus that the world has seen in the last 100 years. So far

only a tiny fraction of people have been infected, and have died, as happens with the "normal" flus that are more common. There

is absolutely nothing to fear. This flu will subside within a couple more months, and alot of embarrassed people will be running around

wondering why they got so excited about nothing.

if this flu turned into a pandemic would you be saying the same thing. the last Pandemic killed hundreds of thousands and was at a time when travel was not as common and fast as it is today.The threat is very real any Bug can be around the world very quickly which is why governments treat any out break as life threatening.

[aussiecollin]

Who cares? This swine flu is one of the least harmful, and least dangerous flus that the world has seen in the last 100 years. So far

only a tiny fraction of people have been infected, and have died, as happens with the "normal" flus that are more common. There

is absolutely nothing to fear. This flu will subside within a couple more months, and alot of embarrassed people will be running around

wondering why they got so excited about nothing.

Sorry, you are not quite correct about the H1N1 flu virus. The reason all the experts and the WHO are so concerned about it is because H1N1 was exactly the format of the 1918 Spanish flu which killed more than 50 million people around the world in 6 months in its 3rd & 4th waves. That is indeed the other point of concern from almost every expert on this matter; we are only at the start of the 1st wave now with this H1N1 strain. This is definitely not something to be joking or complacent about and indeed the authorities are not, so with the right communication and responses we'll probably not have as high a death toll as 1918, but it is expected that this rapidly mutating virus (originating as H5N1) will get very deadly within the next 6-12 months. This is a nasty pathogen, it hits the young and strong people the hardest in the form of a cytokine storm (hypercytokinemia) look it up on Wikipedia before you start joking about it. Very Nasty - I'd rather be embarrassed than dead any day.

1918: No antibiotics. Large movement of people (troops) around the globe. That's why so many died.

[hEaDy]

Who cares? This swine flu is one of the least harmful, and least dangerous flus that the world has seen in the last 100 years. So far

only a tiny fraction of people have been infected, and have died, as happens with the "normal" flus that are more common. There

is absolutely nothing to fear. This flu will subside within a couple more months, and alot of embarrassed people will be running around

wondering why they got so excited about nothing.

Written by AetherOre, on 04-27-2009

The cure for Swine Flu! Do the math :-)

Everyday on the news the top story has been about the looming swine flu epidemic. Phrases like “governments in panic!”, “state of emergency”, “could kill millions” are tossed out like maple syrup at the waffle house. The media appears to be actually trying to make it look dire and certain that there will be a world wide health crisis coming to your doorstep any minute. They seem to be trying to cause a panic!

Yet the figures don’t add up to anything like an emergency. There have been 20 cases of flu in the US since the story broke (not all of them confirm as flu, much less swine flu). That’s 20 out of 300 million people. In other words it is more like a statistical insignificance than an epidemic. You have a better chance of being struck by lightening while being mauled by a bear in Antarctica than getting the swine flu.

Even if one considers the case in Mexico city (population 20 million), there were only 1,200 or so confirmed cases and 83 deaths attributed to the flu. Even in crowded squalid conditions the odds are still remarkably low of getting the flu.

The cure for the epidemic is simple, there IS NO epidemic. The real question is, who is paying these news guys to try to incite panic?

[handydog]

What the W.H.O fears is the mutations...a bit like the drug resistant strains of malaria that are evolving along the Thai/Cambodian border at the present. The fact that some people die and some recover might suggest to W.H.O. that this virus will mutate beyond the scope of drugs that are able to deal with it. Why? Carriers. How many times have you had a flu and the anti-biotics were changed? Because the virus mutated around the anti-biotic you took before. A lot of healthy young people died in Mexico, but the virus has been less of a threat elsewhere. Viruses think! They want to

survive...just like we do. W.H.O knows this. Hence their precautions on a global scale.

Just an uneducated guess....:-P

Yes your uneducated.......

Flu is viral....... this is why antibiotics are innefective in treating them. Only reason to perscribe them is they reduce some of the symtoms.

Treat every little germ you ever get with antibiotics and all you do is weaken the bodies ability to deal with infections itself and give the pathagens a chance to build an immunity to every antibiotic that is available.

[markinoc]

“He definitely wasn’t infected in Phuket,” Dr Phagungkiat insisted.

How can he be so sure ??? It's seems to me all they want is to look like a safe country and don't lose any tourism.

Funny! Form over Content again in Thailand. "He definitely wasn't infected in Phuket" Where did this definitive knowledge come from? Maybe he caught it from a ghost?

[buddyholly1]

Yet the figures don’t add up to anything like an emergency. There have been 20 cases of flu in the US since the story broke (not all of them confirm as flu, much less swine flu). That’s 20 out of 300 million people.

The cure for the epidemic is simple, there IS NO epidemic. The real question is, who is paying these news guys to try to incite panic?

If by ''since the story broke'' you mean ''since swine flu was first recognized'', then the US has had 13,217 confirmed or suspected cases and 27 deaths.

The real question is who is paying you to make 13,197 cases disappear?

[Valentine]

I feel this whole issue needs to be taken seriously given what appears to be exponential rise in the number of cases which can be seen in places like Australia. Up until a couple of weeks ago there were more than 13,000 confirmed & probable cases in the US with 27 deaths. For one poster to infer it is not such a big deal as only the young & elderly are more vulnerable is callous to say the least & may not necessarily be true because when it first appeared it seemed that those with strong immune systems were more at risk.

The Spanish flu ravaged the world for two years, so the swine flu is still in its infancy.

Thai officials stating the Hong Kong man could not possibly have caught the flu in Phuket may or may not be true but there are already confirmed cases in Thailand of human to human transmission which can make their statement seem suspect. There are already accusations against the Domincan Republic of covering up the real numbers so as not to damage their tourist industry. Sound familiar? There is a long line of cover ups in this country including the recent deaths on Phi Phi.

[PTYstefan]

ohhh wow,

most people that die are people with a low imune system. meaning that there will be less hiv, aids infected people around, because they all have a low imune system.

i fell sorry for them because first they have to look out that the immune system dose not drop and now they have to take care not to get the swine flu.

[IMA_FARANG]

from what i've heard only old or very young people have died from this disease. basically, people with a very low immune system. so the general population doesn't have much to worry about. the main concern would be the mutation of the disease.

If that is what you've heard, you heard it wrong. Normal flu, the type you see every year tends to have the worst effect on very young or the elderly. This type of flu, mistakenly called "swine flu" by the general public although it is not a flu that affects pigs, but humans; is similar to the 1918 flu in that it seems to have its peak in the 20 to 40 age range with nearly 1/3 of the known cases being in that age range.

There are at least two variants. The one that occured in Mexico is more deadly, but still treatable, and many did survive it when they got treatment in time. The version that appered in the U.S. was not as deadly...apparenly a variant of the same flu virus...which mutates rapidly anyhow.

What concerns many is the apparent human to human contact causing infection. Unlike the bird flu, which was caused by handling poultry, this flu seems to be easlt passed from infected humans to other humans.

But you're right, it isn't something to be paniced about.

[harry]

Yes uneducated on one point:

viruses cannot be fought with antibiotics!

What the W.H.O fears is the mutations...a bit like the drug resistant strains of malaria that are evolving along the Thai/Cambodian border at the present. The fact that some people die and some recover might suggest to W.H.O. that this virus will mutate beyond the scope of drugs that are able to deal with it. Why? Carriers. How many times have you had a flu and the anti-biotics were changed? Because the virus mutated around the anti-biotic you took before. A lot of healthy young people died in Mexico, but the virus has been less of a threat elsewhere. Viruses think! They want to

survive...just like we do. W.H.O knows this. Hence their precautions on a global scale.

Just an uneducated guess....:-P

[Skajd]

Great - of all the headlines they could have chosen they had to go and use this one - searches for Phuket are going to bring this one up fast because of the "Swine Flu" searches elsewhere.

If he did not get it here, he is no longer here, and there are no related cases how is this news?

Does the Gazette not get that we are in an economic downturn and we need every advantage we can to survive it - such irresponsible reporting only harms the island.

If people were being infected here for sure report it if you must but this is just an attempt at sensation journalism at its worst - only good thing to come from it is that the Gazette will probably get an increase in their hits on their website. No doubt another news story next week to say they hit XYZ number of visitors this month

There are so many nails going into the coffin wood is now the minor part

Firstly ... this is a very "blinkered view" you are expressing (im being polite). You are looking at this from only your personal gain perspective. This makes me think maybe you are a Thai person.

People have a right to know about any potential risks and dangers about where they will be travelling to. where there is a possibility of health risks. People have a right to know. It is disgustingly idiotic that the location and name of the Pattaya Swine Flu Disco is being withheld. Done purely through selfish, self-minded greed and lack of care for the visitors. They should have made a big noise when the first case was discovered and now there wouldnt be over 100 cases in the very same freaking establishment for gods sake.

[vanalli]

Swine Flu: Phuket facing further downturns in tourism

Thursday, Jun 11, 2009

BANGKOK / PHUKET: A Bangkok school will today be partially closed for three days after an 11-year-old boy came down with type-A (H1N1) influenza in what is the second known case of local infection in Thailand. Thirteen of his classmates have also developed a fever.

Confused.

[MaiChai]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but could you get flu from the aircraft aircon? I mean it does not matter where you go, if the virus is floating round the aircon system in the plane then its going to infect anyone who flies in the plane. What are the airlines doing about this? Anyone know?