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Monthly Archives: April 2009

NHS pandemic flu leaflet misses the mark on mask protection

The following is a quote from Important Information About Swine Flu an NHS pandemic flu leaflet which should be coming through your door one day soon. DO I NEED A FACE MASK? You may have seen face masks being given out to the public in other countries on the news. However, the available scientific evidence [...]

Flu masks work and you can make them at home

In a world-first clinical trial of the efficacy of masks, researchers found adult mask wearers* in the home were four times more likely than non-wearers to be protected against respiratory viruses, including the common cold. The findings – published recently in Emerging Infectious Diseases, the journal of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention [...]

Swine Flu is now at Stage 5 on the WHO pandemic scale

You’ve read the articles by now I’m sure. I’m about to find that sixth gear I’ve been sitting on all this time that I’ve been idling in 5th gear at 120 mph in the dark on iced over roads. Enjoy.

Wired notes the Flu Code

And though it’s far too soon to panic, people who wish to take precautions against infection should see the CDC’s recommendations and Vinay Gupta’s Flu Code. From Wired’s swine flu primer. I was really pleased they covered the Flu Code.

Getting perspective on the risk

New York City metro area has a population of about 18 million people. The 1918 flu infected something like a third of the population globally. CAR (Case Attack Rate) = 33%. Something like 2% to 5% of those infected died. For our calculation we will use 2%. CFR (Case Fatality Rate) = 2% 18 million [...]

On Black Elephants

The Black Elephant is a combination of two common phrases. The “elephant sitting in the room” is the thing which everybody knows is important but nobody will talk about. It is a taboo. The “black swan” is an extreme or unlikely event which shreds prior risk management strategies. A “black elephant” – the phrase came [...]

Swine Flu: waiting for data

So here’s the basic situation as I understand it, as of Monday morning, April 27th London time. It’s mainly defined by questions, as you might expect this early in the situation. Here are the questions and the data we have so far. 1> What’s the CFR? The lethality of a flu is known as its [...]

The Flu Code

Flu Code 0.1Beta English – A Public Service from The Institute for Collapsonomics. 1) If I have any signs of possible flu infection I will stay at home. 2) I will stay away from crowds whenever possible and always wear a mask while in public places. 3) I will cleanse my hands at the doorway [...]

Pandemic Flu / Swine Flu Orientation and Action Guide

Swine Flu 2009 on Wikipedia. Here’s the skinny. 1> The Mexican Cluster has (as of Saturday April 25 AM) about 1000 cases and about 70 people have died so far. This gives us two pieces of data. It’s not likely to be more than about 7% fatal, which is bad, but basically within the planning [...]

Raven’s Ait – a social / conference center in Surbiton

Click to Play A beautiful social center in Surbiton, on an island rich with history.  http://ravensait.org.uk/  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Ait