Swine Flu
Posted by mike on April 28th, 2009
If you’ve picked up a newspaper, turned on the t.v., or browsed the ‘net at any point in the past week, then the odds are that you’ve read or heard something about the “Swine Flu“. Now, amid the myriad of stores, headlines such as “Many hundreds’ of kids may have swine flu“. For you parents, if that’s not enough to make you want to lock your kids in the basement and seal the doors, what is?
The truth of the matter is that the media has been bubbling for a pandemic for a few years now. First it was SARS, then the avian flu, then the possibility of TB or polio or some other threat to public health emerging. So why the sudden panic and attention to this outbreak? Foremost, I believe, it’s because the epicenter (Mexico) is close to home. Secondly, there is a LOT of travel in and out of Mexico by US citizens. And third, there have been a high number of deaths relative to the virus in Mexico.
So is it time to panic? Time to batten the hatches and bar the doors? Personally, I don’t think so. Much is still very unknown about this strain of the flu, and it IS unrelated to the “annual” strain that has usually made its rounds by now. However, thus far the information being provided by public health officials seems to indicate that for the most part, the symptoms and course are much like any other bout with the flu.
So why ARE people fretting so much over this? Aside from the constant reminders that the virus is “mutating” (that alone conjures some scary imagery), I think the deaths in Mexico are what have people rattled. And the media is constantly telling us that “no-one knows why” so many people there are so heavily impacted. If I had to guess, I think it has more to do with a high number of people, living in close quarters, with lower overall nutrition and a general lack of good public health. That has allowed the virus to go from being “just another strain” to being something much more threatening.
Certainly everyone should stay tuned, and follow the guidelines for good health and common courtesy (cover your mouth, wash your hands, etc.). It’s possible this could get really bad, or it’s just AS possible that a lot of people could just end up with the flu. I’m sure it will have a bigger impact on those with weakened immune systems, though, so everyone should pay attention to their bodies and seek help if they think they’ve come down with something.
In fact, I hear someone coughing now. I think I’m turning him in… =)
April 29th, 2009 at 8:37 am
As a follow up to this post, I found the following article on CNN:
CNN) — There had been no confirmed deaths in the United States related to swine flu as of Tuesday afternoon. But another virus had killed thousands of people since January and is expected to keep killing hundreds of people every week for the rest of the year.
That one? The regular flu.
An outbreak of swine flu that is suspected in more than 150 deaths in Mexico and has sickened dozens of people in the United States and elsewhere has grabbed the attention of a nervous public and of medical officials worried the strain will continue to mutate and spread.
Experts are nervous that, as a new strain, the swine flu will be harder to stop because there aren’t any vaccines to fight it.
But even if there are swine-flu deaths outside Mexico — and medical experts say there very well may be — the virus would have a long way to go to match the roughly 36,000 deaths that seasonal influenza causes in the United States each year.
“That happens on an annual basis,” Dr. Brian Currie said Tuesday. Currie is vice president and medical director at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York.
Since January, more than 13,000 Americans have died of complications from seasonal flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly report on the causes of death in the nation.
No fewer than 800 flu-related deaths were reported in any week between January 1 and April 18, the most recent week for which figures were available.
The report looks at deaths in the 122 largest cities in the United States.
Worldwide, the annual death toll from the flu is estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000.