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Some tips on the preventive measures. To take the necessary precautions.
Hopefully the Malaysian government is not taking things ligthly:
from: http://gary54.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/flu-prevention-preventive-measures/
Flu Prevention – Preventive Measures
Imagine scheduling a major sporting event and no one came! Apparently that is what will happen tomorrow afternoon at two Mexican soccer matches. Mexican health officials are monitoring airports, subways and other public transportation areas and pulling people who appear to be sick. Hundreds of people have already died this week in Mexico City despite reports here in the US that only 60 or so have died. My wife, who is in Mexico City now, says that the news reports in Mexico are much different.
Many in Mexico are angry that the government downplayed the inital outbreak of the flu and only after hundreds have died are beginning to take action. In the US, there has been little discussion of this issue. Remember that governments tend to be REACTIVE instead of PROACTIVE. Health officials are worried that this current flu outbreak could cause a pandemic with the power to kill millions. The reason is because this new virus appears to be a mix of human, pig and bird viruses. Humans have no defenses against pig and bird viruses. With this in mind, take it upon yourself to immediately begin taking precautions to avoid getting the flu.
1. When possible, avoid being in crowded places such as shopping malls centers of public transportation and so forth. These measures are now being taken by people in Mexico City, but perhaps it’s already too late.
2. Wash your hands often using an anti-bacterial soap. Some experts have recommended that you should wash your hands for 20 seconds to be safe.
3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. This is how bad bugs can get into our system.
4. Consider wearing a mask to cover your nose and mouth. Consider getting a supply immediately. If the flu outbreak hits the US, you may not be able to find any.
5. Cover your mouth when sneezing and/or coughing and remind others to do so.
6. Take ample quantities of Vitamin C to enhance your immune system. Vitamin C is the most cost-effective anti-oxidant you you can buy. It supports the immune system and fights viruses and bacteria. For the best protection, consider taking at least 2 grams of Vitamin C three times a day. Your body does not retain it and passes it out of your body through urine. So taking it throughout the day will ensure that you get maximum benefits.
If you start to feel sick, take precautions so that you don’t spread the virus. While most people try not to avoid work and go in even when they are sick, now is not to take chances with your life and the lives of your co-workers. Here are some other tips to help you battle the flu:
1. Stop eating and just take liquids. Your body is waging war against an enemy and needs all of the power it can muster up. The digestion process is an energy-consuming process. You need to let your body focus on the important work.
2. Consider increasing your dosage of Vitamin C. If you have concerns about taking more than the government’s minimum daily requirements, contact your physician or other health care professional. These comments are my personal opinion and are not meant to be medical advice.
3. Get rest. Take a day off from work. Try to get good sleep. When you are in a deep sleep, your body produces immune-enhancing compounds that can help you recover more quickly. Stay home. Don’t take the chance of infecting others.
Don’t trust your health and your life to governments that have proven to be reactive instead of proactive. The blame game won’t work well when you are sick. It’s up to you to take responsibility for your life and take adequate precautions against the flu outbreak.
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Additional/Similar tips from CDC http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm:
Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people. There are many things you can to do preventing getting and spreading influenza:
There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
- Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
- If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
Please take extra care. Here are some important links:
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm – Key Facts about Swine Influenza (Swine Flu)
http://edition.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/influenza/DS00081.html – MayoClinic.com: Influenza (flu)
Mexico fights swine flu with ‘pandemic potential’
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The last two days postings on the related topic:
Mexico swine flu deaths spur global epidemic fears
Swine flu cases up to 7; officials expand probe
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Two swine flus in Kan., US total 11; 8 likely in NYC from Associated Press
NEW YORK – Two cases of the human swine influenza have been confirmed in Kansas and one more in California, bringing the U.S. total to 11. At least eight students at a New York City high school probably have swine flu also, but health officials said Saturday they don’t know whether they have the same strain of the virus that has killed people in Mexico.
New York Gov. David Paterson on Saturday directed the state Department of Health to mobilize its infectious-diseases, epidemiology and disaster preparedness workers to monitor and respond to possible cases of the flu. He said 1,500 treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu had been sent to New York City.
A strain of the flu has killed as many as 81 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico, where authorities have extended school closures in the capital and two neighboring states with outbreaks. The World Health Organization chief said Saturday the strain has “pandemic potential” and it may be too late to contain a sudden outbreak.
Kansas health officials said Saturday they had confirmed swine flu in a married couple living in the central part of the state after the husband visited Mexico. The couple, who live in Dickinson County, were not hospitalized, and the state described their illnesses as mild.
Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, the state health officer, said, “Fortunately, the man and woman understand the gravity of the situation and are very willing to isolate themselves.”
The man traveled to Mexico last week for a professional conference and became ill after returning home. His wife became ill later. Their doctor suspected swine flu, but it wasn’t confirmed until flu specimens were flown to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A flu viruses, the CDC’s Web site says. Human cases of swine flu are uncommon but can happen in people who are around pigs and can be spread from person to person. Symptoms of the flu include a fever of more than 100 degrees, body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.
At least nine swine flu cases have been reported in California and Texas. The new California case, the seventh there, was a 35-year-old Imperial County woman who was hospitalized but recovered. The woman, whose illness began in early April, had no known contact with the other cases.
The 11 U.S. swine flu victims range in age from 9 to over 50. All recovered or are recovering; at least two were hospitalized.
Health officials are worried because people appear to have no immunity to the virus, a combination of bird, swine and human influenzas. Also, the virus presents itself like other swine flus, but none of the U.S. cases appears to involve direct contact with pigs, said Eberhart-Phillips, who called the strain “a completely novel virus.”
“It appears to be able to transmit easily between humans,” Eberhart-Phillips said. “It’s something that could potentially become very big, and we’re only seeing, potentially, the very beginning of a widespread outbreak.”
New York health officials said more than 100 students at the private St. Francis Preparatory School, in Queens, had come down with a fever, sore throat and other aches and pains in the past few days. Some of their relatives also have been ill.
New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said nose and throat swabs had confirmed that eight students had a non-human strain of influenza type A, indicating probable cases of swine flu, but the exact subtypes were still unknown.
Samples had been sent to the CDC for more testing. Results were expected Sunday.
Parent Elaine Caporaso’s 18-year-old son Eddie, a senior at the school, had a fever and cough and went to a hospital where a screening center had been set up.
“I don’t know if there is an incubation period, if I am contaminated,” Caporaso told the Daily News. “I don’t want my family to get sick, and I don’t want to get anybody else sick.”
The symptoms in the New York cases have been mild, Frieden said, but the illnesses have caused concern because of the deadly outbreak in Mexico, where classes in Mexico City, neighboring Mexico state and the northern state of San Luis Potosi have been canceled until May 6 and where up to 81 deaths are suspected and 20 have been confirmed.
Frieden said that if the CDC confirms that the New York students have swine flu, he will likely recommend that the school remain closed Monday “out of an abundance of caution.”
One factor, he said, is that the illness appears to be moving efficiently from person to person, affecting as many as 100 to 200 people in a student body of 2,700.
“We’re very concerned about what may happen,” he said, although he noted that the pattern of illness appeared different from in Mexico, where much larger groups of people have become much sicker. Overall, he said, flu cases have been declining in the city in recent weeks.
The school was being sanitized over the weekend but still was holding a reunion featuring cocktails, dinner and dancing for hundreds of alumni from as far back as 1939. A health department spokeswoman said the sanitization was just a precaution because it’s not really the environment that passes the flu.
Alumna Joyce Kal, of the Class of 1979, said she wasn’t worried about getting sick.
“I did think about it, but I didn’t, you know, worry, because if it’s the kids, I don’t think it’s going to linger,” said Kal, a physical therapist from the Bayside neighborhood.
The city health department has asked doctors to be extra vigilant in the coming days and test any patients who have flu-like symptoms and have traveled recently to California, Texas or Mexico.
Investigators also were testing children who fell ill at a day care center in the Bronx, Frieden said. And two families in Manhattan had contacted the city, saying they had recently returned ill from Mexico with flu-like symptoms.
Frieden said New Yorkers having trouble breathing due to an undiagnosed respiratory illness should seek treatment but shouldn’t become overly alarmed. Medical facilities in the part of Queens near St. Francis Prep, he said, had already been flooded with people overreacting to the outbreak.
sourced from © 2009 The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY – A unique strain of swine flu is the suspected killer of dozens of people in Mexico, where authorities closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in the capital on Friday to try to contain an outbreak that has spurred concerns of a global flu epidemic.
The worrisome new virus — which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before — also sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths in the U.S.
“We are very, very concerned,” World Health Organization spokesman Thomas Abraham said. “We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human … It’s all hands on deck at the moment.”
The outbreak caused alarm in Mexico, where more than 1,000 people have been sickened. Residents of the capital donned surgical masks and authorities ordered the most sweeping shutdown of public gathering places in a quarter century. President Felipe Calderon met with his Cabinet Friday to coordinate Mexico’s response.
The WHO was convening an expert panel to consider whether to raise the pandemic alert level or issue travel advisories.
There is no vaccine that specifically protects against swine flu, and it was unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer. A “seed stock” genetically matched to the new swine flu virus has been created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, said Dr. Richard Besser, the agency’s acting director. If the government decides vaccine production is necessary, manufacturers would need that stock to get started.
Authorities in Mexico urged people to avoid hospitals unless they had a medical emergency, since hospitals are centers of infection. They also said Mexicans should refrain from customary greetings such as shaking hands or kissing cheeks. At Mexico City‘s international airport, passengers were questioned to try to prevent anyone with flu symptoms from boarding airplanes and spreading the disease.
Epidemiologists are particularly concerned because the only fatalities so far were in young people and adults. It’s possible that more vulnerable populations — infants and the aged — had been vaccinated against other strains, providing some protection.
The eight U.S. victims recovered from symptoms that were like those of the regular flu, mostly fever, cough and sore throat, though some also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.
U.S. health officials announced an outbreak notice to travelers, urging caution and frequent handwashing, but stopping short of telling Americans to avoid Mexico.
Mexico’s Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordoba said 68 people have died of flu and the new swine flu strain had been confirmed in 20 of those deaths. At least 1,004 people nationwide were sick from the suspected flu, he said.
Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a worldwide pandemic of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.
Still, flu experts were concerned but not alarmed about the latest outbreak.
“We’ve seen swine influenza in humans over the past several years, and in most cases, it’s come from direct pig contact. This seems to be different,” said Dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert with the University of Michigan.
“I think we need to be careful and not apprehensive, but certainly paying attention to new developments as they proceed.”
The CDC says two flu drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, seem effective against the new strain. Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, said the company is prepared to immediately deploy a stockpile of the drug if requested.
Both drugs must be taken early, within a few days of the onset of symptoms, to be most effective.
Cordoba said Mexico has enough Tamiflu to treat 1 million people, but the medicine will be strictly controlled and handed out only by doctors.
Mexico’s government had maintained until late Thursday that there was nothing unusual about the flu cases, although this year’s flu season had been worse and longer than past years.
The sudden turnaround by public health officials angered many Mexicans.
“They could have stopped it in time,” said Araceli Cruz, 24, a university student who emerged from the subway wearing a surgical mask. “Now they’ve let it spread to other people.”
The city was handing out free surgical masks to passengers on buses and the subway system, which carries 5 million people each day. Government workers were ordered to wear the masks, and authorities urged residents to stay home from work if they felt ill.
Closing schools across Mexico’s capital of 20 million kept 6.1 million students home, as well as thousands of university students. All state and city-run cultural activities were suspended, including libraries, state-run theaters, and at least 14 museums. Private athletic clubs closed down and soccer leagues were considering canceling weekend games.
The closures were the first citywide shutdown of public gathering places since millions died in the devastating 1985 earthquake.
Mexico’s response brought to mind other major outbreaks, such as when SARS hit Asia. At its peak in 2003, Beijing shuttered schools, cinemas and restaurants, and thousands of people were quarantined at home.
In March 2008, Hong Kong ordered more than a half-million students to stay home for two weeks because of a flu outbreak. It was the first such closure in Hong Kong since the outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
“It’s great they are taking precautions,” said Lillian Molina, a teacher at the Montessori’s World preschool in Mexico City, who scrubbed down empty classrooms with Clorox, soap and Lysol between fielding calls from worried parents.
U.S. health officials said the outbreak is not yet a reason for alarm in the United States. The five people sickened in California and three in Texas have all recovered.
It’s unclear how the eight, who became ill between late March and mid-April, contracted the virus because none were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.
CDC officials described the virus as having a unique combination of gene segments not seen before in people or pigs. The bug contains human virus, avian virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.
Scientists keep a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu, said Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The virus may be something completely new, or it may have been around for a while but was only detected now because of improved lab testing and disease surveillance, CDC officials said.
The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968.
sourced from © 2009 The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) – Health officials are investigating a never-before-seen form of the flu that combines pig, bird and human viruses and which has infected seven people in California and Texas. All the victims recovered, but the cases are a growing medical mystery because it’s unclear how they caught the virus.
None of the seven people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, health officials said it’s not a cause for public alarm: The five in California and two in Texas have all recovered, and testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the virus.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said officials believe it can spread human-to-human, which is unusual for a swine flu virus.
The CDC is checking people who have been in contact with the seven confirmed cases, who all became ill between late March and mid-April.
Because of intensive searching, it’s likely health officials will find additional cases, said Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
CDC officials detected a virus with a unique combination of gene segments that have not been seen in people or pigs before. The bug contains human virus, avian virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.
Health officials have seen mixes of bird, pig and human virus before, but never such an intercontinental combination with more than one pig virus in the mix.
Scientists keep a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu, said Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The virus may be something completely new, or it may have been around for a while but was only detected now because of improved lab testing and disease surveillance, CDC officials said.
The virus was first detected in two children in southern California — a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County and a 9-year-old girl in neighboring Imperial County.
The cases were detected under unusual circumstances. One was seen at a Navy clinic that participates in a specialized disease detection network, and the other was caught through a specialized surveillance system set up in border communities, CDC officials said.
On Thursday, investigators said they had discovered five more cases. That includes a father and his teenage daughter in San Diego County, a 41-year-old woman in Imperial County (the only person hospitalized), and two 16-year-old boys who are friends and live in Guadalupe County, Texas, near San Antonio.
The Texas cases are especially puzzling. One of the California cases — the 10-year-old boy — traveled to Texas early this month, but that was to Dallas, about 270 miles northeast of San Antonio. He did not travel to the San Antonio area, Schuchat said.
The two 16-year-olds had not traveled recently, Texas health officials said.
The swine flu’s symptoms are like those of the regular flu, mostly involving fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the seven also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.
CDC are not calling it an outbreak, a term that suggests ongoing illnesses. It’s not known if anyone is getting sick from the virus right now, CDC officials said.
It’s also not known if the seasonal flu vaccine that Americans got last fall and early this year protects against this type of virus. People should wash their hands and take other customary precautions, CDC officials said.
U.S. health officials are consulting with Mexican and Canadian health officials, and the CDC is beginning to receive samples from Mexico for testing, a CDC spokesman said. The ethnicity of the seven confirmed cases was not disclosed.
Kini tercapai sudah hasrat Kerajaan Negeri Terengganu untuk mengadakan sebuah Taman Rekreasi dan Mini Zoo untuk rakyatnya. Taman yang baru dibuka pada 11 April 2009 tersebut terletak di Kampung Ibok/Bukit Takal (sesetengah mengejanya dengan Bukit Takar).
Dalam pada mengendalikan blog Alam Akademik (kedai buku tertua di Terengganu), saya dapati carian yang tertinggi yang melungsuri blog tersebut dalam beberapa hari ini ialah mencari lokasi dan peta Mini Zoo tersebut. Setelah saya sendiri membuat carian yang sama saya dapati tidak ada laman yang menyediakan panduan sedemikian dalam internet [termasuk laman rasmi dan tidak rasmi kerajaan]. Demi untuk kemudahan mereka dan orang ramai di masa kan datang, saya sediakan di bawah ini:
[klik pada peta untuk imej yang lebih besar]
Untuk ke sana, bagi mereka yang tinggal di Cukai mungkin tidak mempunyai sebarang masalah.
Bagi mereka dari luar, kalau dari utara [melalui jalan pantai – Jalan Persekutuan Laluan 3] boleh belok ke kanan [Laluan T6] di persimpangan lampu isyarat selepas pekan Titian Berayung, Kijal. Terdapat papantanda besar di tepi jalan. Terus dengan Laluan T6 melepasi Kg. Bukit Anak Dara dan Kampung Jong Berlabuh hingga ke persimpangan Laluan T13, belok kanan. Di Laluan T13, selepas ‘pekan’ Kg. Ibok terus ke Laluan T131.
Dari sini, anda tidak akan terlepas zoo tersebut yang terletak kira-kira 5km dari kawasan kelip-kelip Sungai Yak-Yah – satu lagi tempat menarik di Kemaman.
Kalau dari selatan, apabila memasuki bandar Cukai, anda akan belok ke kiri ke Jalan Air Putih [Laluan T8] di persimpangan “digital” [itu yang dipanggil oleh orang Kemamang – yang mempunyai jangkamasa digital lampu hijau/merah]. Kira-kira 2km terdapat persimpangan lampu isyarat ke kanan [Laluan T131] untuk ke Kg. Mak Chili dan Kg Ibok.
Taman Rekreasi dan Mini Zoo [sepatutnya Zoo Mini – para pakar bahasa tolong tegur!] Kemaman terletak di sebelah kanan sekitar 5-6km dari persimpangan tersebut.
Pintu masuk utama jelas menandakan tempat yang anda cari. Tempat letak kereta terletak di sebelah kiri seberang jalan. Saya tertanya juga bagaimana mereka hendak pastikan keselamatan para pengunjung yang terpaksa melintasi jalan besar yang agak sunyi dan membolehkan pemandu yang lalu memecut laju.
Pada hari perasmian terdapat deretan kereta sepanjang hampir satu kilometer di kiri kanan bahu jalan walaupun di kawasan letak kereta nampak masih kosong.
Gambar-gambar diambil sekitar pukul 12 tengahari [kami tidak singgah kerana mengejar masa untuk ke Majlis Hari Perkasa Ilmu di SMK Barul Alam Shah, Kemasek] – majlis perasmian pembukaan zoo oleh MB Dato’ Ahmad Said dikatakan bermula jam 10.30 [bermakna kami melalui kawasan tersebut sekitar satu jam setengah selepas perasmian – sepatutnya itulah waktu kemuncak bilangan pelawat].
Jangan nanti zoo ini jadi projek gajah putih – bukan kerana ada gajah putih di dalamnya tetapi kerana kekurangan pelawat dan tidak diselenggara dengan baik [sepertimana kebanyakan projek-projek yang gah pada awalnya dipenuh rumput lalang dan semak tidak sampai setahun selepas itu].
Kemaskini 23 Oktober 2011:
Oleh kerana ramai yang bertanya (ada yang telefon saya mohon maklumat lanjut – ada yang beranggapan saya bekerja di zoo) satu perturunkan di bawah ini nombor telfon yang boleh dihubungi untuk maklumat lanjut:
Puan Suraida atau Puan Wan Zaridah di talian 09-859 7777/7700 sambungan 1203
[terima kasih kepada En. Azmi dari Pejabat SUK Terengganu kerana bantu mendapatkan no. tersebut]
Here is something that was dropped in my inbox [but I do not know the original source as it was something that had been forwarded many times] recently and I would like to share with you. Have a smile by yourself …
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Dear IT Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slow down in the overall performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, but installed undesirable programs such as EPL 5.0, NBA 3.0 and ESPN 2.0. And now Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate
————————————————————————-
Reply:
Dear Desperate,
First keep in mind; Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Try entering the command C:\ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME and download Tears 6.2 to install Guilt 3.0.
If all works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
But remember, overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Late Night Teh Tarik 6.1. Late Night 6.1 is a very bad program that will create SnoringLoudly.wav files.
Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider additional software to improve memory and performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 6.9.
Good Luck,
IT Support
"The Sulaimanian" blog of
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Sulaiman, Kuala Terengganu
Sultan Sulaiman Secondary School, Kuala Terengganu
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