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WENDY on Australians killing dugongs and turtles I want turtles and Dugongs protected. Not slaughtered by senseless ppl who need a "chicken" fix? more
David jones on Australians killing dugongs and turtles sea turtle i see the sea turtle, as tears flow from his eyes, it sees the pain and suffering, as for freedom tries,its breed ... more
David jones on Australians killing dugongs and turtles dugongs see the gentle dugong, as tears flow from his eyes, if you would know the reason, that the dugong cries, it would be ... more
janet page on Killer cab driver So we can now Sue V.Cat if this bloke re-offends. more
colin riddell on Australians killing dugongs and turtles The dugongs and sea turtles, also need your voteAs the illegal hunting.All of you should note.Check upon the website, and ... more
colin riddell on Australians killing dugongs and turtles The whole reason I AM RUNNING THIS CAMPAIGN is because 1. we are total hypocrites in relation to japan killing whales.And 2 ... more
vili on Australia's first bloke HI DONT BELIVE ANY POLITICIAN , AND WHO CARES , WHOS GONNA WIN NOTHING GONNA CHANGE , ALL THE PROMISERS GONNA GO EVERYTHING ... more
shane on Australia's first bloke I have no issue with Joolya being single or married or as the old saying is ''living in sin'' who cares. My concern is that ... more
Wondering on Australia's first bloke Looking at Gillard's house, a double front brick veneer and the intrusion of cameras into her house it seemed a house that ... more
Pat on Australia's first bloke So when the Labor Premiers and Labor Pardy heavyweights including the Canberra press gallery hang it on Tiger Woods about ... more
Lenny on Australians killing dugongs and turtles Come on FEDERAL TAX OFFICE BOYS - this is totally illegal & would be undeclared income (CASH IN HAND). This is the black ... more
Mark.creighton on Australia's first bloke I looked up the term "dog whistle" and yes it does suit the Liberal party. more
paul on Australia's first bloke Was good interview until she showed her true colors with the "dog whistle" remark. Its the word of the month with labor . ... more
Mike O on Australia's first bloke Tony Abbot has every right to emphasise family values and way of life. Gillard is becoming painful as each day goes by. ... more
army mom on Wikileaks releases secret war documents If your leak of important documents , puts my son or any of our soldiers in danger in any way or shape. you had better ... more
Choco sanderson on Australians killing dugongs and turtles justine you whining moaning woman get a life animals die for food every day ,just because you are not allowed to kill them ... more
David on Wikileaks releases secret war documents Way to go WIKILEAKS, we should never have been there in the first place. To destroy BinLaden, to destroy the Talaban, to ... more
Rock Gock on Wikileaks releases secret war documents Who gets credit from the White House for leaking this information ? The FBI & CIA need to know who to arrest for treason. As ... more
Lenny on Wikileaks releases secret war documents Milton, the leaked 92,000 pages (originally reported as 200,000) provided by whistle blowing site Wikileaks & published by ... more
neil on Julian Knight seeks secret prison files he has served his time under our laws, if you don't like it go back to where you came from, this is a democracy. more

Are you taking Swine Flu seriously?

Posted by: Derryn Hinch for 3AW.com.au | 28 May, 2009 - 4:28 PM

Your level of panic or depression over the seemingly inexorable spread of Swine Flu could be influenced by which newspaper you read or which news broadcast you believe.

According to the Herald Sun today an estimated 600,000 Victorians will get the flu virus in the next 12 months.

But, according to the Page One headline in The Age, Swine Flu is now expected to infect one in five Australians. That's more than four million people. That would be the worst outbreak in this country in ninety years.

Nobody is doubting it is serious. Already we've got schools closed. People in quarantined homes and hotels in Melbourne and Sydney. Twenty Qantas crew have been quarantined. A cruise ship, the Pacific Sun, is wandering around the seas off Queensland flying a yellow quarantine flag after three crew members became flu suspects. It's not allowed to dock or unload passengers.

They're obviously not going to repeat the disastrous decision to let passengers disembark from the infected Pacific Dawn in Sydney and disseminate all over the country. Including nearly fifty back to Melbourne.

The Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, now says Swine Flu, now also known as H1N1 has 'taken hold'. Especially in children.

And Robert Booy, from the University of Sydney says although the number of confirmed cases is around 70 it could be as high as 1000 and that could climb to 'tens of thousands' within weeks.

'Once it starts to infect hundreds of thousands we will see deaths' he says.

And of course Australia is still days away from our official winter flu season. What we are not hearing much about is what is happening overseas. Especially in Mexico where it started and the United States which proved to be a fertile jumping off stage.

Recent reports were that the mutating virus was not as virulent, not as deadly as the original, but people aren't making that claim much any more.

Premier Brumby has warned Year 12 students with exams coming up not to get up close and personal. 'I wouldn't have them out at weekends in too many embraces with other people and bodily contact and things like that'.

Yeah sure. And I wonder how many people the threat will keep away from the football?

Blog comments

Why the hype, there are 800 a week die of the normal flu which has the posibility of mutating further (so they tell us) yet there is no quarentine of these people, shopping air conditioners would be breeding grounds for such viruses surely, imagine them mutating in there. But I also have to wonder just how three or four of these viruses from different parts of the world, just happened to get together in one mutated virus, sure sounds like deliberate to me.. and how did the drug companies know to start making the immunisation before it was announced that there was suck a virus, besides I have read that it is not doing any good..

Gaye Sunday 12 July, 2009 - 9:15 PM
It would be interesting if you published how many people in the last month were infected with swine flu and how many with normal flu.
How many have died from swine flu and how many from normal flu.

Peter from Rosanna Thursday 18 June, 2009 - 5:46 PM
The mercury in the vaccines is much more dangerous than the swine flu. Me and my family have never and will never get ANY vaccinations. We rarely get sick and rarely visit the doctor.

But more importantly
"Tamiflu is made and patented by Gilead Sciences and Donald Rumsfeld was the chairman of this company before he joined the Bush administration"

Coincidence?

aleithea Thursday 11 June, 2009 - 1:09 AM
As the number of infected people is multiplying everyday , isn't the time to take extra simple precautions in our daily life like : Stop 'Hand Shakes' or 'Greeting Kissing' for ladies , since washing hands and the DHS are not doing enough.

adam rifai Friday 29 May, 2009 - 10:22 AM
Hi, are we supposed to wear a mask when we go out to crowded areas like shopping centres, supermarkets, etc? I went to a few pharmacy in Box Hill and they all told me that they went out of stock for masks.

Joanna Friday 29 May, 2009 - 8:47 AM