Biology/Ecology: Swine Flu

LedZeppelin8906

Well-Known Member
I know what you're thinking, not another Swine flu thread, but hopefully mine is a little different, I'll attempt to explain why I think this has happened in Mexico from a biological and ecological point of view. If you hate scientific jargon then this thread will be boring lol bongsmilie so light up your bong and let's take a stroll down Biology lane.


The first thing i'll have to explain, is what a carrying capacity is, wikipedia's definition is:

The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the population size of a species that the environment can sustain in the long term, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment. For the human population, more complex variables such as sanitation and medical care are sometimes considered as part of the necessary infrastructure.

You're probably thinking WTF?? Well basically that means, the maximum population an environment can sustain for long periods of time given the necessary resources.

As an example, Mexico City is Mexico's most populous city and also the Industrial center for the country. At a population of 8,836,045 people in an area of 1,485 km2 (573.36 sq mi) that makes the Density 5,950/km2 (15,410.4/sq mi), that's almost 6000 people per square kilometre. Combine that with pollution, poor living conditions and a poor healthcare system and thus a Regulating Factor is born.


In population ecology, a regulating factor is something that keeps a population at equilibrium (neither increasing nor decreasing in size over time). All regulating factors are density-dependent, meaning they keep populations at equilibrium by counteracting fluctuations in population size.
Examples are Food supply, water supply, prevalence of communicable diseases etc

From my point of view, Swine Flu or Influenze A virus subtype H1N1 is just a regulating factor born out of the need for the environment to restore the balance and maintain it's carrying capacity.

Edit: By no means am I saying you should worry about this flu, this flu is very mild, Im merely expressing why I think it started in Mexico
 

flatrider

Well-Known Member
LOL people are getting paranoid and freakin out about this flu, there has been some crazy bugs that have killed millions of people back in the day, we have learned from the recent sars outbreak and its nothing to worry about...
 

tnrtinr

Well-Known Member
There are like twenty thousand people that die in America from the flu every year. I could care less about the swine flu, or bird flu, or any other flu for that matter.
 

LedZeppelin8906

Well-Known Member
LOL people are getting paranoid and freakin out about this flu, there has been some crazy bugs that have killed millions of people back in the day, we have learned from the recent sars outbreak and its nothing to worry about...
I completely agree that there is nothing to worry about, theres been alot of conspiracy theories being thrown around, so I thought i'd throw a more practical reason for it. influenza A virus subtype H1N1 is a descendant of the Spanish Influenze virus, and we all now what happened with that one lol but I agree, nothing to worry about, our (Canada and the US)'s healthcare system is infintely better than that of Mexico's
 

BackDoorMan

Well-Known Member
plus rep.. I was just thinking the same thing.. but whats got me thinking is that there's this "recession" and problems with the economy.. and now all of the sudden this swine flu hits.. i'm not into conspiracy theories.. but it seems like they tried the war, which is a great way to keep an eye on popullation control.. but as we've seen, not awhole lot of americans or, well, anybody else for that matter is or ever was too excited about this war.. and unlike vietnam, they really cant just up and start drafting people and shipping 'em off.. so whats the next best thing.. a virus?

Again, i'm not oen fo those crazy people that think the government is hiding big foot or aliens who have a hardon for sticking probes in simple southern types... but in times of desperation... which we are in.. you do what you have to do for the better of everyone else.. so why not?

I mean, we're using up our resources, ice caps are melting, THE FUCKIN BANK IS OUT OF MONEY.. I mean really.. the bank... how does the bank run out of money?? Car companies are going bankrupt, hard working families are being put out on the street.. you cant find a job scooping shit from the local truckstop bathrooms anymore.. and most of it, if not all of it.. can be attributed to the fact that there's just too many fuckin people in the world.. somethings gotta give eventually.. either us, or the fuckin world..

I dunno.. as I was typing it I realized how crazy that really sounds.. but ya know, just because I'm paranoid doesnt mean the world isn't really out ta get me..
 

flatrider

Well-Known Member
I completely agree that there is nothing to worry about, theres been alot of conspiracy theories being thrown around, so I thought i'd throw a more practical reason for it. influenza A virus subtype H1N1 is a descendant of the Spanish Influenze virus, and we all now what happened with that one lol but I agree, nothing to worry about, our (Canada and the US)'s healthcare system is infintely better than that of Mexico's

I enjoyed what you siad, our healthcare is very good and I feel fortunite I live in canada, but if this flu got over to africa.. it would be another spanish flu,
 

BackDoorMan

Well-Known Member
Don;t get me wrong.. I don;t think the pig flu will be population control... but i'm just syaing, a virus is a great way of doing it.. I mean, aslong as you know you have teh cure.. but then again you run risk of the resident evil affect.. no.. not zombies.. but it getting out of control, mutating and the vaccine not being readily available in the numbers it would be needed.. I don;t know.. lately i've just been thinking about that and all the ways that population control could be covertley used to pull us all out of this funk.. and just today I read somewhere, just briefly.. didn't pay it all too much mind, but the feds, say they see signs of it starting to roll back.. i dunno..
 

LedZeppelin8906

Well-Known Member
I think at the end of the day, everyone is going to realize this flu isnt a big deal, life will go on as normal, I just think its interesting all the hype this is getting, rhe WHO raising pandemic alerts, Egypt slaughtering 300,000 pigs just because they are scared (It's been confirmed you can't get the Swine virus by eating Pork) but I'm just merely stating a Biological theory because Biology is one of my passions, not trying to bring everyone into debate over how you should feel about this.
 
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