“I am not surprised about the current rise in swine flu...Both of my children were unwell last wk,sypmtoms included high temperature,vomiting,aching joints,sore throat,cough,ear ache..My youngest son had it first then the speed in which my eldest had it prompted me to think that it just wasnt any old cold and that it could be something a bit more sinister,like normal flu..so,i rang NHS direct who re directed me to the national pandemic swine flu helpline and there my problems began. I just wanted some information on what i as a mother of 3,2 of whom were feeling rather poorly and 1 an 8 mnth old baby and a partner who works for the health service should do..I got some chap who,as the 'conversation' went on made it plainly obvious that english wasnt his first language and was reading from some computer screen in front of him,he himself not either holding a nursing registration or GMC number (i asked) had no idea either,his mantra was...your children have swine flu,here is the authorisation code to go and get tamiflu..over and over again..i argued that i certainly did not want to give them an anti viral drug if they didnt need it and could i speak to someone else..NO! Instead,in immense exasperation i rang my gp,the first question was,are they unable to get out of bed? No,was my reply,they were lounging all over my sofa with a blanket over them drinking copious amounts of sweet tea and treating me like a slave!!!!
It was also pointed out to me that this tamiflu is being given out to every tom dick and harry who has more than 2 symptoms,so that could be anything from ear ache to a sore throat..And,the only way to diagnose swine flu was if the patient was swabbed,which they are not. The authorisation code you are given goes into a national data base which is where you get your stats from,what i wonder is,how many people actually have 'proper' swine flu or just a nasty cold/normal flu and by the government scaremongering going on ring these helplines to be scared even more into taking tamiflu,which,has very nasty side effects AND if taken once,cannot be taken again..All i can say is,trust your instincts and dont be bullied into taking something you neither want or need.”

“Gaz how come you got missed by the swine flu virus?????”

“We had bird flu and they killed all the birds, we had swine flu and they killed all the pigs, I hope we get stoke flu.”

“The thing is we forget how savage nature actually is. Only a few decades ago before vaccines, antibiotics, anesthetics,and pain killers the world was a very different place. The 1918 flu pandemic killed between 55-120million people (depending what you read)

Polio ,mumps, and tetanus alone killed or damaged millions. You really could die from a cut finger.

Today everyone thinks this is how the world is, safe secure the major diseases have been banished.

Unfortunately mother nature has other ideas. MRSA has appeared and tuberculosis is on the rise again.

The fact it costs a few quid to have some sort of protection form these things is money well spent. Just remember governments hate spending money. Do you really think they'd be spending millions on vaccines, if it wasn't going to save them money in the long run?”

“The fact that summer has ended, and this is the time Flu cases rise is irrelevant.
The people supplying the vacine must be rubbing there hands together.”