More Children Than Estimated Could Have Swine Flu

Up to a third of children in some areas may already have had swine flu, even if they were not sick and showed no symptoms.
The Health Protection Agency of the United Kingdom has found that there may be more cases of swine flu in children than originally thought.
No matter what type of flu it is, the flu always affects more people while only a small percentage get sick.
Out of 10 children, a third will have the swine flu but only another third of those children will get sick.


The National Health Agency has been carrying out blood tests as part of its surveillance program to catch individuals who may have come in contact with swine flu and then come down with it.
An extraordinary finding has been that once an individual comes down with the swine flu, they cannot get it again unless they catch a mutation of the virus. The immunity built against swine flu is very stable.
The National Health Agency explains that this may be the reason why the virus hasn't become a giant pandemic as expected.

'Symptoms'

Common symptoms of swine flu are, a strong cough, sore throat, fever, chills, and muscle aches.
There is also a chance of suffering from vomiting or diarrhea.
The National Health Agency says that even with these common symptoms, a number of children may have had the virus already.

Source List

Any and all of the material that has been borrowed from other sources must be credited, and this post will be used to do that. If you were wondering what my sources are for further research on the topic, then look no further.

BBC News (Tamiflu Resistant Strain):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8370859.stm

Let's Get Real (Swine Flu Propaganda):
http://www.nidokidos.org/lets-get-real-t37642.html

Center for Disease Control and Prevention:
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm

Fight Flu:
http://www.fightflu.ca/

Flu Tracker:
http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/

Flu.gov:
http://www.flu.gov/

Canadian H1N1 Information:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/

World Health Organization:
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/

BRC’s First Event of the Year ‘Successful’

Entertainment and food come alive! The Brantford Residence Council (BRC) holds their first event of the year with the aim to provide a fun-filled environment for all first-year students on residence. On Wednesday, November 11, 2009, a Coffee House was held in the Grand River Hall lounge. The event was organized by the BRC, a council consisting of a representative from each residence that holds the sole aim of reuniting residence students with each other through events and activities.
This first event had the theme of a Coffee House with a special addition of a Talent Show. Free food consisting of cookies, pies and cakes, with refreshments such as coffee and tea were provided, exclusive only to first year students living on residence.
The talent provided consisted of volunteers from the various residences that had a wide range of talent. The opening act was a sketch performed by the BRC. Bianca Ferris did a freestyle dance, and Keigan played an acoustic version of ‘What a Wonderful World’ on his guitar.
Other talents included singing, spoken word, and the closing act was a cover of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ performed by the residence Dons.
Meaghan Smith attended the event and had this to say, “The event was fun and exciting, and the talent for the most part was really great! I would love to see events like the Coffee House in the future.”
Carla Egesi, president of the BRC calls the event ‘successful’ as it brought out more than 90 students to the event. As for the attendance of students at the event, Carla had this to say, “Honestly, I expected around 50 at most [students] despite the alleged 180 odd students who were supposed to be in attendance. I was certainly proven wrong when I counted 200 odd students before I and my fellow emcee did the opening address. Suffice it to say, the turnout did exceed my expectations.”
The BRC understands how difficult it is for first year students to come together due to exams and assignments, and so this event was created to form a lively and classy environment for them to relieve stress from school and make new friends.
Carla plans to create similar events in the future with the rest of the BRC and hopes that they will bring the various residence communities’ closer together: “With such positive feedback, BRC will definitely be taking on more projects like the Coffee House in the future. We will be having a banquet in March 2010, so please look forward to that.”

Tamiflu Resistant Swine Flu Spreads Among Patients

Health officials at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff report of a Tamiflu resistant strain of swine flu that has spread among five patients. This is thought by the health officials to be the first case of person-to-person transmission of the swine flu.
Other cases of individuals who have built resistance to Tamiflu have been reported around the world, but they have never spread it among others. The health officials report that there is no further risk to other patients.
Two of the patients have recovered and have been discharged from the hospital. Two are being treated in a separate ward and one patient is in critical care.
Tamiflu, also known as 'Oseltamivir' is an antiviral drug that is used to treat the various influenza viruses. It is used as a treatment for the seasonal flu, Avian flu, and even the H1N1 virus.
The virus has been stable since its emergence in April, and this resistant strain of the swine flu does not seem any more dangerous than the already prevalent strain of swine flu.
Dr. Roland Salmon, the director of the National Public Health Service for Wale's Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, emphasizes that "Treatment with Tamiflu is still appropriate for swine flu and people should continue to take Tamiflu when they are prescribed it."
"It's also important that good hygiene practices are followed to further prevent the spread of the virus."

This Year It's A Different Flu Season

The flu is changing, and this season, it's completely different. The normal influenza virus is meek compared to the H1N1 influenza virus. Ontario has set up a website in order to help protect people against the flu. The website offers daily updates on vaccines and research on the virus.
There is plenty of information on how to prevent and protect oneself from the virus. If you are worried about taking the vaccination feeling that it may not be safe, there is a link provided that provides in-depth information on the vaccine.
Another link is provided for individuals who are having a hard time looking for a clinic that is offering the vaccination. The link helps to find the location of a clinic close by and provides the hours of operation to drop by.
There is information for all sorts of groups, and telephone numbers are provided to talk to a registered nurse about any health issues.
The website link is:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/

Flu Tracker

Get out of the way Mantracker, everyone is worried about swine flu now. If you ever wanted to know where the swine flu is ocurring around the world, and how many confirmed cases there are, then head over to http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/
This website is created by Dr. Henry Niman, using the technology offered by Rhiza Labs and Google. He has then created the Flu Tracker website, that provides detailed and credible information showing how many cases of swine flu have been reported from each country around the world. The number of cases has been highlighted in various colours, from white describing the cases as non-fatal, to red being fatal cases.
For someone who may be traveling on vacation, this is vital information to know so one can avoid places where contracting fatal cases of the swine flu are a high probability.
At the bottom of the website is a forum that contains excellent information. This website is an excellent site that I visit to learn which areas around the world are most dangerous.

Public Health Agency of Canada

Fight the flu! How, do you ask? By getting the information you need! The last few links posted were either partly or fully owned and maintained by the American government, but this link is all Canadian.
The Public Health Agency of Canada has created a website to provide Canadians with detailed information on the H1N1 influenza virus. There are two specific sections made, one for individuals seeking general information on H1N1, and another for specific groups such as pregnant or breastfeeding women or senior citizens.
The website also offers updates through various resources if getting online is a problem. Users can get updates on their Twitter page, Facebook page, or on their mobile phones. Users can also subscribe to RSS feeds.
This is one of the few websites that is created by Canadians providing information for Canadians. To access the website, point your favourite browser towards http://www.fightflu.ca/

Flu.gov

Did you ever want to know about the difference between H1N1 and the Avian flu, but couldn't find the information anywhere on the Internet? You're in luck, because the answer you seek has been right under your nose. Flu.gov is a website that is aimed at providing individuals seeking information on the various kinds of influenza viruses.
Two things that make this site more unique and essential than other similar websites is an option to do a self-evaluation to check if you have caught the swine flu, and a "Myths "& Facts" section.
A search bar is provided at the top right hand corner of the website to make searching for information a very simple task. There is a gigantic FAQ section and all the answers provided are answered by experts on the flu - such as doctors and nurses.
So if you're ever looking for frequently updated information on any type of influenza virus, then head over to http://www.flu.gov/ and search away!

World Health Organization

"How many people have died from H1N1?" I don't know. But I know where you can find the answer to that question! The website for the World Health Organization has the responsibility to follow various health issues around the world. A specific section of the website has been dedicated to tackle issues and host countless information on the H1N1 Pandemic.
The H1N1 situation is updated often in order to provide information to any who come across the site. At the moment, the website is focusing on how to prevent H1N1 and have released a full document with diagnosis and treatment (http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/swineflu/clinical_management/en/index.html).

The website is not just limited to H1N1, there are various other links and articles on the website pertaining to other diseases and health issues.
To access the website, please copy and paste the following URL into your address bar:
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/

Center For Disease Control And Prevention

The famous quote, "Knowledge is power" was given to us by Sir Francis Bacon. If there's one site I'm following closely in order to obtain knowledge on H1N1, it would be the website of the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This website gives a day to day detailed update on the number of deaths from H1N1 and the number of reported cases.
The website also gives fair warnings on how to avoid the disease and tips on how to keep oneself clean in order to prevent catching infection.
The CDC website is maintained by the National Center for Health Marketing, Coordinating Center for Health Information and Service.
The website also lists which countries have had an outbreak of H1N1, and has a link on the left hand side of the website on treatments for the H1N1 flu. If you are unable to visit the site for daily updates, on the right side of the website, there is an option to receive email updates which may be more convenient.

To those who would like to visit the website and also get updates on H1N1, please copy and paste the following URL into your address bar:
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm

Swine Flu - Should We Be Afraid?

The year of 2009 brings a relatively new pandemic into the scene, swine flu a.k.a. H1N1. The first outbreak of swine flu occurred in 1976, during the Presidency of Gerald Ford. A recruit in the United States army at Fort Dix, New Jersey reported that he felt tired and dazed. The next day he died and four men were hospitalized. The virus that caused such illness in the five men was found to be a strain of swine flu. Mass panic took hold of public health officials and they pressured Ford to have everyone in the U.S. to be vaccinated for this epidemic.

The 1976 outbreak of swine flu was expected to infect 50 million Americans, but only 200 cases were reported with one death (there were more deaths caused by the vaccination than the virus itself). The epidemic was called a political farce by the public. Swine flu is back again and we seem to fear it as a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide, but it may not be the case. Consider the following examples. SARS was considered to kill millions but only 774 people died by the time the World Health Organization (WHO) called the outbreak to be over. SARS is not the only example; bird flu was also expected to be a virus that could not be stopped, yet only 170-200 people died of bird flu worldwide. To better put this in perspective, you have a higher chance of killing yourself before SARS, bird flu, or even swine flu kills you.

The only known treatment for swine flu is Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), the same treatment for bird flu. Tamiflu has been licensed by Gilead Sciences Inc. with Hoffman-La Roche manufacturing it until 2016. Now this makes me think... Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of State under the Bush Administration; the same man that led the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq was the former chairman of Gilead Sciences Inc. and held major stocks in the company. That just doesn’t seem right.

George Bush authorized $1.7 billion to fight bird flu, 14% of which went to Gilead Sciences Inc. and 10% of the cost of every vaccine went to Rumsfeld. This leads me to a conclusion; we’re living everyday of our lives trying to stay clean and clamming to rub hand sanitizer every moment we see it, when there could be a possibility that we’re forced to be scared. And by who? Corporate giants no less! This is occurring once again and swine flu is the excuse. We need to look at the bigger picture, more people die from AIDS and malnutrition worldwide than the different kinds of influenza viruses. We can’t be forced to focus on H1N1 just because the corporate pharmaceutical companies don’t make money treating other fatal diseases.

Yes, we should attempt to keep ourselves clear of swine flu’s way, but we should not be forced to lock ourselves in our homes and expect to ride out the epidemic. Rather, we should carry on with our everyday lives and not feed into everything on the news.

The Pitch

Politics. It is not only a word; it is an ideology, with a massive following. Whether one would like to be part of the political world or not, they are going to be a part of it. Politics are all around us - it is a wide expanse that covers the four corners of the world. The discussions and arguments that are created are broadcasted to all of us through the various forms of journalism. It is undeniably, the one ruling component in our everyday lives.
So what do we do with politics? We use it! To our advantage. This is why democracy exists; through politics and democracy, to create a reality that we have chosen for ourselves. Those who are politically informed are smarter and make wiser choices and are not easily swayed by media influence.
Yet this blog is not going to be concentrating on just politics itself. It is going to take a narrower view and currently, it will take on tackling Swine Flu (H1N1 virus), that runs rampant in our society and yet people are still uninformed about the virus. We call it a pandemic, one that could kill millions, but could it really?
Posts henceforth will include specific details of what is going on at home and around the world about Swine Flu and various other infectious and deadly diseases. References will be from credible news outlets and sources.
In turn, articles posted here at The Journalism Projekt will critically look at issues that are clear, concise, and to the point. Following a proper report, my own opinion will follow or separate posts will be made with my opinion on certain issues.

The Aboriginal Story: A History

A brief history of the aboriginal peoples was given by Darren Thomas, an aboriginal from the Six Nations Bear Clan. To a student audience, Thomas makes it clear that “unless you want to learn about aboriginals, you will learn nothing.” To learn about them, an opportunity must come forth where you know an aboriginal personally such as an old friend, or a neighbour.
Thomas continues the lecture by going back to the late 1700s and explains the various laws enacted against the aboriginal peoples. One such law is the Indian Act. This act gave way to a status for aboriginals and rules that come with the status. To hold the status and be granted residence on reserves, aboriginals were not allowed to have an education.
Having an education meant that an aboriginal was civilized, and no longer a “savage Indian.” One may have also lost status by joining the army. Thomas describes one such moment in history, that when aboriginals went to fight overseas for Canada, they came home to find that they no longer had their status.
Violations of the Indian Act were met with tough consequences such as a jail term from six months to two years. The act could be violated when an aboriginal was found with alcohol on the reserve, or if an aboriginal did not have their status card with them when venturing out of the reserve.
To obtain more information in an effort for better understanding of the aboriginals, one can read the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP).

Landscapes of Learning

Michael Apple, a renowned educator that thinks outside the box. He has visited Laurier Brantford to give a lecture on the program called “Landscapes of Learning” and how to fix education. He refuses to be indifferent and insists to confront the pessimism of the intellect and attempts to move beyond abstract criticism.

Dr. Apple originates from Patterson, New Jersey; a city that today is the second largest Arabic speaking city in the U.S.A. Much of the money he makes from lectures and book profits is donated to social and religious movements that are towards democracy.

Apple points out that education is both political and even ethical. The act of teaching is a political act due to how we treat it and how have feminized it. At the same time he comments on important and unimportant knowledge. If they are to be compared, then important knowledge must be compared to unimportant knowledge in order to understand a simple concept.

Apple states that our vision of education is being transformed – revolutions can go backwards and forwards. Education is worsening due to the fact that everyday costs are going up and salaries are not improving coherently. “It is raining in education.” says Apple. He makes an interesting comment during his lecture. He says that more money is being spent on prisons than of all higher education combined.

Apple has a very philosophical approach to his teaching method as he says that we should not assume that we can teach the world, when the world can teach us.

Zombies

Last week I interviewed a fellow student by the name of Bridget Parker. Her topic of interest and expertise was 'zombies'. Quite an exciting topic, I thought! It was a tad bit ironic though, as during Orientation Week, she ended up on the Vampire team rather than the Zombie team. The folklore of zombies originated in Haiti in the 1800's due to voodoo practices. There are many different types of zombies, and they include but are not limited to zombies in religion, and zombies that are infectious.
The only way to kill a zombie completely is to dismember the head or to damage the brain so that it no longer functions. The sure-fire way that one transforms into a zombie is to be infected by an already existing zombie - through the format of exchanging bodily fluids. The virus then moves through the body and readily attacks the nervous system taking over the body. If one is to be infected by a zombie, one must immediately quarantine them. If there is no cure for a zombie infection - death is the only release. To prevent from being infected by a zombie, one must wear protective armour that a zombie cannot bite through. Any skin that is 'naked' is in risk of being attacked and infected.
After being infected, the transformation can take from two minutes to two days - it depends wholly on the virus.
The conventional view of zombies eating brains is stereotypical - zombies simply eat flesh. Zombies are not smart. They rely on instinct for survival. When encountering a zombie or attempting to survive a zombie apocalypse - do not carry guns. Carry knives instead. Guns run out of ammo, while a knife you can use multiple times without fail. At the same time, do not wear loose clothing that a zombie can grab hold of.

Introduction

Hello, hello, hello! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ahmed S. Minhas and I am the gentleman that is running this blog. The specifics for this blog will be discussed later.

As for myself, I am a Journalism student at Wilfrid Laurier university, currently studying for my undergrad in Honours Bachelor of Journalism and Contemporary Studies.
The purpose of this blog is solely for educational purposes. I am running this blog for multiple assignments I get from my labs in Journalism.

I am not new to the blogging scene, as I also run another blog at www.masernaut.wordpress.com - unfortunately I will be MIA for a little bit over there so I can perform my work here.
I hope that whoever comes across this blog finds it pleasant and easy to read - any complaints and comments can be redirected to my email at L.Dheam@gmail.com

Thank you,
Ahmed S. Minhas