Ethics of quarantine of Swine Flu cases.

[The Romulan Republic]

Just something that occurred to me today, after watching a CNN report which included, among other things, an interview of two university roommates who came down with Swine Flu and were confined to their room (also were apparently required to wear masks to meet with reporters).

Now, I don't have a source, and I might have misinterpreted the specific story, so I don't want to act alarmist. But it still made me wonder: is forcibly quarantining anyone who has Swine Flu really justified? We don't quarantine everyone who has the regular flu, do we? Certainly Swine Flu is concerning, but given its still rather low mortality rate (as in possibly 90,000 deaths expected out of half the country or so possibly getting it), is it possible that people are overreacting?

Now, if I had Swine Flu I doubt I'd go out unless I really had to, but my question is: at what point does a flu become serious enough that depriving people of their liberty via forced quarantine is morally/ethically justifiable? We don't lock people up for the common cold, nor for regular flues.

[loomer]

I see nothing wrong with forcibly quarantining people with ANY illness that spreads easily and has heightened fatality rates amongst those individuals communities (like the university students, seeing as - though since the news stopped flowing and the rivers turned to blood after the sky caught fire, I might now be wrong - it hits young adults harder than it should) until such a time as they are no longer infectious or even home to the disease.

Of course, I also keep a bug out bag and plan to rule the world once the sky stops burning, so take that with a grain of salt.

[The Romulan Republic]

and has heightened fatality rates amongst those individuals communities (like the university students, seeing as - though since the news stopped flowing and the rivers turned to blood after the sky caught fire, I might now be wrong - it hits young adults harder than it should)

I'm not saying you're wrong about it hitting young adults worse, but a reliable source would be welcome.

[loomer]

A quick check via, of all places, Wikipedia brings this up. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/conten ... um-jw.html

[The Romulan Republic]

Ouch. Didn't realize it hit young people that much more.

If I were the alarmist type, I'd probably stay in doors all autumn and winter.

[Nephtys]

I have personally had Swine Flu confirmed by hospital tests.

It's nothing. It's just a Flu. It is the exact. Same. As a flu. The only vague worry is if it has a particularly nasty mutation in the future. It's just like Quarantine on any other flu.

[Edi]

I have personally had Swine Flu confirmed by hospital tests.

It's nothing. It's just a Flu. It is the exact. Same. As a flu. The only vague worry is if it has a particularly nasty mutation in the future. It's just like Quarantine on any other flu.

Yay for personal anecdotes. Hint: The plural of anecdote is NOT data, especially from a sample size of one.

For most people who have good nutrition and good health, it will probably be like a bout of normal flu, but for those who are more susceptible to it (even if in good health and having good nutrition), it has a significantly higher rate of fatality than a normal flu, which does justify quarantine measures in environments that are conducive to a wildfire spread of infection (university dorms, military barracks etc etc).

For an example of just how quickly a flu infection can spread in crowded conditions, back when I was in the army, we had almost the entire company of 150 men down with flu within four or five days, and it was the kind that had people running 39+ C fevers and hospitalized, except the military hospital that served us stopped admitting people because they had no room. The same bloody strain took down most garrisons in the country like dominoes that winter and they just couldn't fit the people anywhere. I was one of the few that didn't get the flu, but it had an infection rate of between 75 and 90 percent of the company and similar rates elsewhere.

[Nephtys]

I have personally had Swine Flu confirmed by hospital tests.

It's nothing. It's just a Flu. It is the exact. Same. As a flu. The only vague worry is if it has a particularly nasty mutation in the future. It's just like Quarantine on any other flu.

Yay for personal anecdotes. Hint: The plural of anecdote is NOT data, especially from a sample size of one.

For most people who have good nutrition and good health, it will probably be like a bout of normal flu, but for those who are more susceptible to it (even if in good health and having good nutrition), it has a significantly higher rate of fatality than a normal flu, which does justify quarantine measures in environments that are conducive to a wildfire spread of infection (university dorms, military barracks etc etc).

For an example of just how quickly a flu infection can spread in crowded conditions, back when I was in the army, we had almost the entire company of 150 men down with flu within four or five days, and it was the kind that had people running 39+ C fevers and hospitalized, except the military hospital that served us stopped admitting people because they had no room. The same bloody strain took down most garrisons in the country like dominoes that winter and they just couldn't fit the people anywhere. I was one of the few that didn't get the flu, but it had an infection rate of between 75 and 90 percent of the company and similar rates elsewhere.

Heavens forbid that a statement about how you quarantine ANY flu require quantified data to be bloody obvious. -.-

Anyway, here's some. Signifigantly higher rate of fatality? What? The fact that a few thousand people have died? With the number infected, there's less than a 0.05% Fatality Rate, even with bad medical care in places such as rural mexico. Something on the order of thousands were infected in the Southern California region, but there's been what? Two deaths?

Normal flus have a comparable or higher fatality rate by contrast, approaching 0.1 percent.

[Nephtys]

Update: Looks like my info on SoCal is a bit dated, that's from around May or some such. Anyway, in the WHOLE US, There's been 520-odd Deaths, out of an estimated 1 million Cases. It is a seasonal flu, and those numbers are comparable.