Some Grey Bloke on the swine ’ﬂu

Jul 20, 2009 at 12:46 AM
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Some Grey Bloke has got it right with the swine ’ﬂu: that it is the Susan Boyle of illnesses. It hasn’t done much, but everyone with an internet connection knows about it.

SWINE FLU!!!

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Jack Yan’s rating:

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What I had gathered from health professionals, disease control, etc. (some I spoke to, some I had read opinion from) was that they took the opportunity to reiterate more strongly all the things that they had already been advising many times. I remember reading that some were irked by the suggestion that concern was overblown. Perhaps they are relieved H1N1 was less than expected, but I am sure they are hoping the public does not become too lax in their habits.

Therefore I figure the SGB perspective was spot-on- it should go do what it's supposed to do-- actually, of course, viruses aren't sentient and cannot be expected to do more or less than what they do-- it is the actions of people that vary.

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Good points, Jak. I had thought that it was a ruse to drive up Tamiflu prices, since Roche seems to be benefit every time we have one of these scares (SARS, avian ’flu, swine ’flu) but I am told that there really is an active ingredient in that medication that works against them. You are right that we, the public, should not become too lax and we should guard against these illnesses—there’s nothing like observing a few common-sense sanitation rules that we have been taught all our lives.

Interesting you should mention Tamiflu. The company is starting to face pressures of litigation and possibly government regulation down the road, at least in the U.S., because Tamiflu is a homeopathic remedy not currently regulated by the FDA (I am not sure about federal drug agencies abroad). Some consumers have lost some sense of smell, and there is more scrutiny over whether the product actually works or not.

Again, sanitation practices and rules should carry a higher precedence than a product whose efficacy has been called into question, but people are not always a rational lot.

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‘People are not always a rational lot’—how very, very right you are!
I had no idea that Tamiflu is homœopathic (shows you what I know). Our government seems to be a big supporter of it, so I imagine there must be some regulation of it here.

Well I should probably cite my sources-- at least, find some to cite, but that's what I recall reading in print.

About people and irrational behavior generally, well, I think behavioral economics, for one matter, is just fascinating, really. I'm still surprised that the science of emotion and human behavior has taken this long to really permeate academic discussion much.

Some Grey Bloke on the swine ’ﬂu

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