2 U.S. citizens in Japan confirmed as having new flu

Tuesday 26th May, 01:55 PM JST

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Richard_III at 04:15 PM JST - 26th May

Typically a big panic about this in Japan.

MHLW even make you fill out a stupid questionnaire form when you land here.
sharky1 at 05:12 PM JST - 26th May

Just kind of curious what the rate of H1N1 influenza infections is as compared to the number of aids infections?
biglittleman at 05:46 PM JST - 26th May

Man, this will be a pain when I visit the States this summer.
hakujinsensei at 06:27 PM JST - 26th May

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
hakujinsensei at 07:05 PM JST - 26th May

the link above shows the current flu situation with the various types listed as to number of cases. As I suspected, it shows that H1N1 is a small subset with normal flu cases of various types far outpacing it.

In otherwords, H1N1 is a non issue to anyone other than drug companies that stand to make zillions next year by pushing double and triple inoculations with the government sponsored panic driving sales.

comparisons and reports for recent years can be found here; http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm

Given the egregious actions of such multi nationals such as Ford: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/true-conspiracy-the-ford-pinto-memorandum.html

Mitsubishi: http://www.autosafety.org/safety-scandal-shames-mitsubishi

being unmasked in their conspiratorial activities covering up deaths and taking courses of action sure to lead to more deaths, professor may be right.

Can we trust pfizer and its cohorts?

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/nigeria-sues-pfizer-over-drug-trial-scandal.html
noirgaijin at 09:57 PM JST - 26th May

I feel sick! Oh my, here they come in white smocks, gloves, mask, rubber boots, hairnet, goggles, body armor, large butterfly net, tranquilizer gun... Narita Airport
gogogo at 10:44 PM JST - 26th May

So are they stopping the Narita screening or not? Seems like they still should.
Freddy5 at 11:16 PM JST - 26th May

Well, as I've never met anyone with Swine Flu I tend to believe that it doesn't exist and is all a figment of the media and the drug companies collusion to defraud the taxpayer. I mean, come on, people dying from disease? A new disease? Pigs will fly first.
Momotarou at 11:19 PM JST - 26th May

So are they stopping the Narita screening or not? Seems like they still should.

LOL why? It is being spread through Japan by Japanese. That is as pointless as the other guy stating no one should be able to travel to the US or Mexico to stop it. If they prohibited all travel to those countries that means they need to stop all imports and exports from those countries, as crews working on the planes and ships would have been over there. I wish people would understand facts before they become panicky. There is no stopping the flu, you can not stop a flu. Even people who get vaccines can still get the seasonal flu. Saying you can do things to stop the flu from spreading is about as true as people thinking you can prevent ignorance and bigotry.
hakujinsensei at 11:21 PM JST - 26th May

my wife's exact words from this mornings 'conversation'.

Well after all, Everyone that has come back from America had the swine flu....

How much of that is from being female, and how much of it is from her nationality.....
pathat at 11:41 PM JST - 26th May

This whole issue has been blown completely out of proportion because it plays on the deeply-ingrained fears of the Japanese and anything "foreign" that could be construed as contaminating their "purity."

It also fits in nicely with a national government at wit's end in Japan with intractable economic, political, and social problems. Distract the public's attention away from problems you can't solve by exaggerating a "foreign threat" to an absurd degree.

Japan never ceases to entertain with its puerile responses to threats-real and imagined-from the rest of the world.
Fadamor at 11:51 PM JST - 26th May

Hakujinsensei, probably neither. It's probably just exageration on her part because of all the "tabloid journalism" surrounding the H1N1 pandemic. There's a ton of speculation but not much in the way of facts that have been reported. Eventually people cave in to what they're hearing and expand on it to make their point.

We won't know for sure how this virus ranks amongst the "regular" flu outbreaks until it's had a year to percolate. Right now it seems a bit mild but remember it IS the off-season for influenza outbreaks. Until something changes its virility, however, I'm not really sure how detailing every new case in the press helps the general public other than to foment unneccessary panic.
amerijap at 01:38 AM JST - 27th May

I agree. This seems like another speculative report that has a sparkle but no substance. The article says that the two US citizens flew from LA, but it assumes that they already contracted the swine flu before the plane took off. How so? Did they travel to Mexico or the US-Mexico border before they landed on Japan?
EUgirl at 08:39 AM JST - 30th May

amerijap: They did not need, as there is more swine flu in the U.S. now than in Mexico. It seems it is very easy to catch it on a normal tourist trip to the U.S.
Moondog at 11:53 AM JST - 1st June

According to the World Health Organization: "... annual [influenza] epidemics are thought to result in between three and five million cases of severe illness and between 250 000 and 500 000 deaths every year around the world." http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/2003/fs211/en/

Every year!! Now, will someone please tell me why all the excitement over this 'New' flu which, last I heard, had killed about a hundred people?