Dean Koontz predicted coronavirus outbreak?

[Hammerclaw 29,538]

When I was a kid, the big, bad bugbear was the Hong Kong Flu. That Sumb**** kept mutating and coming back at us. Asian Flu Swine Flu, China's been churning viruses out for thousands of years. This is just the latest episode of a continuing drama.

[Desertrat56 22,907]

22 minutes ago, Hammerclaw said:

When I was a kid, the big, bad bugbear was the Hong Kong Flu. That Sumb**** kept mutating and coming back at us. Asian Flu Swine Flu, China's been churning viruses out for thousands of years. This is just the latest episode of a continuing drama.

My brother and I had the hong kong flu.  It was the worst flu I ever had and after it I did not get the flu as often as most people.  What is weird is that my mother, my brother and I got it, but the two younger kids, my dad, my cousins and aunt, did not get it.  My aunt had to come stay with us (and her kids had to come with her) to take care of the 3 of us who were sick so that my dad could go to work. 

[WanderingFool0 400]

Well, I will just say, that though I wasn't alive for the 1918 flu, I know my grandmother who had two sisters and three brothers, lost one of the brothers as an infant from that flu. I also remember going with her to the grave yard to visit and tend to the family graves and seeing many graves that were from around the same time. Almost every family in that community felt the loss and bite of the 1918 flu.

I agree for a very long time the media has been crying wolf, but one day they will cry wolf and the wolf is going to eat us. I a lot of doctors and scientist in that field are also concerned that a new flu epidemic like the 1918 epidemic could one day occur again.

I do find it interesting that among a lot of the stuff I saw coming out originally from china, though many of the videos were claimed to be fakes, were eerily similar to the descriptions of what happened to many people from the 1918 flu; going from barely sick to collapsing unable to breath, coughing up bloody foam and turning cynotic and even experiencing death from cytokine storms.

I personally wonder what the death numbers would have been especially in the young and healthy category, if we didn't have modern medical intervention methods to keep many of those severe cases alive long enough to make it to recovery.

Edited March 1, 2020 by WanderingFool0
correction

[Hammerclaw 29,538]

2 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

My brother and I had the hong kong flu.  It was the worst flu I ever had and after it I did not get the flu as often as most people.  What is weird is that my mother, my brother and I got it, but the two younger kids, my dad, my cousins and aunt, did not get it.  My aunt had to come stay with us (and her kids had to come with her) to take care of the 3 of us who were sick so that my dad could go to work. 

It almost killed me when I was eight. I was bed ridden, had to be helped to the bathroom. I was semi-delirious most the time. I remember overhearing dad coming home from work asking mom if I was still alive. He moved the old two channel black and white Zenith TV into my room to watch. I don't remember that I did. Then, one sunny spring morning, I woke up, completely, this time. My fever had broken in the night. I was able to get up out of bed on my own. It was a warm Spring day, the screened window was open. My friends were playing in our backyard and saw me at the window and came running up, crying my name in delight. One said they had thought I had died. I remember they brought me a huge stack of comic books to read while I convalesced. Mother opened the door behind me and I heard her cry down the hall, excitedly,  that I was up. Dad was home and they both came into the room and hugged me. You could never convince those two people there wasn't a God that didn't answer prayers.

Edited March 1, 2020 by Hammerclaw

[Desertrat56 22,907]

8 minutes ago, Hammerclaw said:

It almost killed me when I was eight. I was bed ridden, had to be helped to the bathroom. I was semi-delirious most the time. I remember overhearing dad coming home from work asking mom if I was still alive. He moved the old two channel black and white Zenith TV into my room to watch. I don't remember that I did. Then, one sunny spring morning, I woke up, completely, this time. My fever had broken in the night. I was able to get up out of bed on my own. It was a warm Spring day, the screened window was open. My friends were playing in our backyard and saw me at the window and came running up, crying my name in delight. One said they had thought I had died. I remember they brought me a huge stack of comic books to read while I convalesced. Mother opened the door behind me and I heard her cry down the hall, excitedly,  that I was up. Dad was home and they both came into the room and hugged me. You could never convince those two people there wasn't a God that didn't answer prayers.

My experience was different.  Maybe my brother and I didn't have as severe a case as you, but I remember we were put in the same room in twin beds and my cousin slept on a cot in the same room with us.  I don't know why the adults didn't worry about her getting sick.  My aunt and my 8 year old cousin took care of us and I remember waking up and finding my cousin sitting on a chair between our beds crying as she put a damp cloth on my brother's forehead.  She thought we were both going to die. All I wondered was where is my mother.  I was so sick I never knew until later that  my mother was as sick as we were.  We were in bed the whole 2 weeks of christmas vacation.  I think our fevers were high but were kept at a mostly safe level because my aunt made sure we had fresh damp cloths on our head to keep the heat from our brains.  Other than that I only remember some really weird fever dreams and my brother crying out in his delirium.

[Hammerclaw 29,538]

15 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

My experience was different.  Maybe my brother and I didn't have as severe a case as you, but I remember we were put in the same room in twin beds and my cousin slept on a cot in the same room with us.  I don't know why the adults didn't worry about her getting sick.  My aunt and my 8 year old cousin took care of us and I remember waking up and finding my cousin sitting on a chair between our beds crying as she put a damp cloth on my brother's forehead.  She thought we were both going to die. All I wondered was where is my mother.  I was so sick I never knew until later that  my mother was as sick as we were.  We were in bed the whole 2 weeks of christmas vacation.  I think our fevers were high but were kept at a mostly safe level because my aunt made sure we had fresh damp cloths on our head to keep the heat from our brains.  Other than that I only remember some really weird fever dreams and my brother crying out in his delirium.

I'm not sure what strain it was in '63 that laid me low, but the second time in the winter of '69, it was probably Hong Kong Flu. I was a teenager, then and it floored me almost as badly. I still vividly remember the smell of wood smoke from the fire dad heated the basement with where my room was. It snowed back then, a lot. There was a foot of snow on the ground that early December. There was a sort of memory loss, both times, that either slowly or never fully recovered,

Edited March 1, 2020 by Hammerclaw

[Susanc241 1,394]

I have, until now, only ever had true flu once.  In a January 1969.  I had an 18 month daughter and I think I went down with it first, followed by my daughter, then my husband.  I just remember all three if us in bed together.  I just know I would rather not catch it again.  As I never had flu again, I have sometimes wondered it was diverse enough to give long term protection.  I only started having the flu jab a couple of years ago once I was 70, as a nod to the fact my age might disadvantage me.

[Eldorado 61,448]

18 hours ago, Hammerclaw said:

I'm not sure what strain it was in '63 that laid me low, but the second time in the winter of '69, it was probably Hong Kong Flu

Hong Kong flu of 1968, also called Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968, global outbreak of influenza that originated in China in July 1968 and lasted until 1969–70.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Hong-Kong-flu-of-1968

 

[Desertrat56 22,907]

19 hours ago, Hammerclaw said:

I'm not sure what strain it was in '63 that laid me low, but the second time in the winter of '69, it was probably Hong Kong Flu. I was a teenager, then and it floored me almost as badly. I still vividly remember the smell of wood smoke from the fire dad heated the basement with where my room was. It snowed back then, a lot. There was a foot of snow on the ground that early December. There was a sort of memory loss, both times, that either slowly or never fully recovered,

I was in 5th so that would have been December of 66. 

[Xeno-Fish 109,762]

It's amazing though. All it take is one little microscopic thing to lay to waste so much. Makes me wonder if evolution is just natures way of building a better host.

[SecretSanta 3,365]

On 2/28/2020 at 6:36 PM, susieice said:

I agree. I've read a lot of books by Dean Koontz, but not this one. Watchers is still a personal favorite. Great book!

Awesome book, my favorite too. Too bad the movie was a stinker. Needs a good remake.

[Tom1200 1,453]

On 2/28/2020 at 11:42 PM, XenoFish said:

What if corvid-19 is being spread due to it being on money? 

I see what you did there!  A clever pun - suggesting it's being spread by corvids.  Or was that just a typo? 

On a serious note - what do we properly know about this virus?  We've read that it probably came from bats, or pangolins, or snakes, or a government lab, or...  I've some questions I hope someone might be able to answer:

1. It's clearly highly infectious.  Do we know how long it can survive outside of a host?  Can it survive on money?
2. Has it mutated, either at the original infection or since?  How quickly might it now mutate, and will this affect the search for a vaccine? 
3. The hotspots in Iran and South Korea have been explained by religious gatherings - is there an explanation for the Italian one?
4. Is there any research into transmission by animals?  We know they can be the major vector in many illnesses - should we start shooting the crows?
5. Do we think the Chinese authorities know more than they're letting on?

As for the health implications - I think Tatetopa phrased it well - 

On 2/29/2020 at 12:56 AM, Tatetopa said:

Low risk, dire consequences.

It appears to be under control in Hubei, thanks to draconian organisation by the state, so I'm still optimistic that most of us would be cured if it's identified early enough.  But here in the UK no one I know has been tested, so we might all have it already...  

[Golden Duck 12,857]

On 3/2/2020 at 2:09 AM, XenoFish said:

I call it Kung Flu, but that's just me.

[GlitterRose 26,643]

On 3/5/2020 at 2:14 AM, Tom1200 said:

I see what you did there!  A clever pun - suggesting it's being spread by corvids.  Or was that just a typo? 

On a serious note - what do we properly know about this virus?  We've read that it probably came from bats, or pangolins, or snakes, or a government lab, or...  I've some questions I hope someone might be able to answer:

1. It's clearly highly infectious.  Do we know how long it can survive outside of a host?  Can it survive on money?
2. Has it mutated, either at the original infection or since?  How quickly might it now mutate, and will this affect the search for a vaccine? 
3. The hotspots in Iran and South Korea have been explained by religious gatherings - is there an explanation for the Italian one?
4. Is there any research into transmission by animals?  We know they can be the major vector in many illnesses - should we start shooting the crows?
5. Do we think the Chinese authorities know more than they're letting on?

As for the health implications - I think Tatetopa phrased it well - 

It appears to be under control in Hubei, thanks to draconian organisation by the state, so I'm still optimistic that most of us would be cured if it's identified early enough.  But here in the UK no one I know has been tested, so we might all have it already...  

1. 9 days on surfaces, so yeah...money is a surface (but a lot of people don't use cash much anymore).

I need to add that they don't have a definitive on it, but they're guesstimating based on other coronaviruses. 

It depends on the surface and temperature. 

It's not the most likely way a person would get it. They would most likely be infected by inhaling droplets coughed from someone who had it.

Edited March 7, 2020 by GlitterRose