What is your personal experience of the current 'flu pandemic?
ViktoriaG Canada Local time: 07:20 Member (2005) English to French + ...
Oh yeah?
Nov 13, 2009
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Sheila Wilson wrote:
I know it isn't a popular thing to say, but there's actually something built into evolution that we are trying, at our peril IMO, to ignore:- natural selection and survival of the fittest. I'm sorry, but nature's a hard master and an even harder enemy.
It is not that it is not a popular idea... it is just that it is not applicable to mankind.
Have you seen polar bears throwing grenades? Neither have I. Have you heard of genocides in trout populations? Nope. How about cruelty against dogs in elephant populations? Ditto.
Any way you look at it, the fact that humans are "wiser" than other species doesn't make humans any better or fitter, just different.
Just as this vaccine campaign could save our lives, it could also destroy us. And please don't believe humans are smart enough to foretell. They only think they are.
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Jenny Forbes United Kingdom Local time: 12:20 Member (2006) French to English + ...
Apologies by politicians
Nov 14, 2009
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Sheila Wilson wrote:
Still, all this hype to vaccinate people when it seems that most find it unwelcome ...?
Well, quite basically politicians need to make us believe that it makes sense to keep feeding them with big bucks. Now that we can all see that the death toll in swine flu is so far even lower than in seasonal flu, they are in an uncomfortable situation: all the spending of our money in this matter is completely useless, so they must keep walking ahead at a brisk pace and act as if nothing happened.
Politicians never stop when they are wrong. They must be stopped. And they very rarely apologise (literally never in the case of Spain)!
Politicians are quite keen on apologising for things for which they were not responsible - for instance, Tony Blair apologising for the slave trade. Alas, they virtually never apologise for the things they actually did and are continuing to do themselves. And they practically never answer the question. They just say and keep repeating what they wanted to say, ignoring the question. To hell with them!
Jenny
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
If Michael, our own ProZ doctor:-), is still out there, I'd value his (or another medical doctor's) opinion of whether we are perhaps in danger of fighting nature a little too hard, or whether we should be doing everything in our power to destroy all known germs, bacteria, viruses, etc.
Let's look at the case of smallpox.
Smallpox is an viral infectious disease that in the 20th century caused an estimated 300-500 million deaths. Thanks to a successful vaccination campaign that ran through the 19th and 20th centuries, smallpox was completely eradicated in December 1979. It now exists only in the vaults of medical research laboratories. We no longer vaccinate people against smallpox because it is no longer a threat.
While measles and rubella still exist, I have not seen a case in my personal practice in over 15 years. These were diseases that virtually all children used to get, some with devastating consequences. I don't see them now because of public health vaccination campaigns.
I have not personally ever seen a fresh case of polio. That is because of vaccination.
On the other hand, before Varicella vaccine came into common use in Canada, I would see multiple cases in a day of chickenpox.
I continue to see roseola infantum regularly; there is no vaccine for it.
Has the government overreacted to the swine flu? Time will tell.
Is Big Pharma our enemy? That some have alluded to that, is, to put it mildly, ironic.
BTW, no doctor is trying to destroy all germs, and we know well the value of challenging the immune system.
Michael
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Sheila Wilson Spain Local time: 12:20 Member (2007) English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
Childhood diseases etc
Nov 15, 2009
I absolutely agree, Michael, I certainly wouldn't refuse to have some vaccinations - my son was given all the most usual vaccines, but we refused one or two that I considered unnecessary or too dangerous. I certainly wouldn't want to see polio come back - my elder brother contracted that in the last big wave and had to wear a leg support for several years.
Michael Barnett wrote:
before Varicella vaccine came into common use in Canada, I would see multiple cases in a day of chickenpox.
I had measles, mumps, chickenpox when I was a kid. I know that measles can be dangerous, but is chickenpox really so bad? I didn't even know that there was a vaccine around (I remember my son getting chickenpox).
I continue to see roseola infantum regularly; there is no vaccine for it.
?? Is that scarlet fever?
BTW, no doctor is trying to destroy all germs, and we know well the value of challenging the immune system.
Do you, then, think that it could be unwise to overuse the cleaning sprays and fluids that are supposed to kill all known germs?
Also, perhaps you could throw some light on what exactly is in this gel we're seeing in every shop (not just chemists) - is it really such a good idea and indespensible for continued good health, or is that just marketing?
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Yaotl Altan Mexico Local time: 06:20 Member English to Spanish + ...
AH1N1
Nov 15, 2009
Sheila Wilson wrote:
...
As a practising socialist, I fully agree that the most able should protect and help the least able - I agree with taxes, which enable each person to contribute according to his/her means towards a general health system to which every citizen has access. However, using my money to line the pockets of certain pharmaceutical companies does not please me - there are very many better causes that are deserving of my contributions.
...
Right! Indeed that should be the purpose of every single government on Earth but most of the times it seems they don't want or are not able to hold a stock enough to protect their populations...or worse yet, they deal these negotiations with the transnational pharmaceutical firms. Just look the bills of those who own the patent of this AH1N1!
I think the vaccine MUST be free, unless these firms want to control this new market. AIDS wasn't enough? What's next? Let's take a look on the shareholders of some of these firms...
UN, WHO and WIPO can help in the patent field. What do we want? Rich firms? or healthy populations?
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
I think the vaccine MUST be free, unless these firms want to control this new market. AIDS wasn't enough? What's next? Let's take a look on the shareholders of some of these firms...
UN, WHO and WIPO can help in the patent field. What do we want? Rich firms? or healthy populations?
Big Pharma has the scientific talent, the research facilities and the financial resources to develop advances in knowledge and new products that contribute to a healthy population. The question is not "Do we want rich firms or healthy populations?" it is "How can we best achieve a healthy population?"
The truth is, the biggest advances in public health come not from new pharmaceuticals but from advances in things like sewage systems, environmental improvement, draining swamps that promote mosquitoes, etc.
That said, new pharmaceuticals also have an important role to play. I agree with a publicly funded health system that provides the meds and vaccines free to those who can benefit from them, but don't forget that these products never are, and never were "free". Someone pays for them, either directly or indirectly. In a completely socialist system, the means of research and production are owned by the state.
I am sitting here trying to think of any major advance in medicine or new pharmaceutical product that was developed or discovered in a communist state since 1917. I have just reviewed all the Nobel Prize winners in medicine since 1918. I don't think even one worked in a completely socialist environment.
So, in answer to your question, I want healthy populations and rich pharma enterprises with the resources to explore new frontiers in medicine. Remember, for each new successful discovery there were hundreds of dead-ends that never reached production. The profits finance the failures, for the ultimate benefit of all.
Subject:
Comment:
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
SDL provides market-leading translation software to over 185,000 users
SDL offers leading translation management solutions to meet LSPs needs throughout the whole translation supply chain.
With over 185,000 licenses being used by translators and organizations worldwide, our products will help you to connect to a supply chain that guarantees compatibility, making it easier to work with your customers and other users.
DVX2 Professional is the most popular version of Déjà Vu X2 and with good reason. Fast and flexible, Déjà Vu X2 Professional combines Atril’s Intelligent Quality technology with an array of powerful, customisable productivity and quality assurance
The translation workplace 
