Flu Pandemic This Way Cometh?
April 24, 2009 / 3:33 pm • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierHuman to human transmission of swine flu causes alarm via Reuters:
A strain of flu never seen before has killed as many as 61 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where eight people have been infected but recovered, health officials said on Friday.
Mexico’s government said at least 16 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 45 other deaths.
The World Health Organization said tests showed the virus in 12 of the Mexican patients had the same genetic structure as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas.
Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico’s government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.
“Our concern has grown as of yesterday,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing.
You know how you read this stuff and then wonder if it’s happened to you? A month ago, the flu struck my family and it was bad. It was a weird, clingy virus with a cyclical fever for five days, body-wracking cough and a fatigue that rivaled mono. And it has persisted. The kids still get a rumbling cough when they don’t get enough sleep.
This flu is a huge concern. I’m wondering if it’s more of a problem than even the CDC knows.
5 Responses to “Flu Pandemic This Way Cometh?”
April 24 2009 / 8:05 pm
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Did the CDC ever reveal the type of flu that seemed to be prevalent in Feb-March in the Midwest?
I’m in my 70’s and I was slipping into pneumonia with it — and the cough did linger and linger and linger. However, it may not be the type killing people in Mexico now.
April 25 2009 / 7:34 am
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If you go to the CDC website, they report very different numbers and “facts” from Reuters. They report just a few confirmed cases. And they report it as an old, known virus. The truth, I suspect, lies somewhere in between.
April 27 2009 / 1:21 am
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I’m just not sure that the handful of people who have contracted and subsequently died from this illness is really cause for widespread concern at this point. It certainly deserves to be on the “radar” so to speak, but is it truly time to plastic the house and stockpile supplies?
I use hyperbole in a joking fashion here, but I guess ultimately I’m just not that much of an alarmist. I’d be interested in the opinion of an Epidemiologist concerning this compared to other lesser known causes of widespread death in the US and surrounding countries.
Off the top of one’s head you could conjure up much more likely ways to “go”…
April 27 2009 / 6:30 am
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The CDC finally updated their site yesterday. It isn’t alarming but it does show a growing problem.
April 27 2009 / 8:22 pm
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Found this at Instapundit.
SHANNON LOVE: Swine Flu Shows How We Live In Good Times “Being able to fret about just one serious communicable disease is a luxury beyond price.”
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