Recommended Readings May 7, 2009 – the Swine Flu Edition

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-05-07 10:15:00 UTC
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(photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com)

NPR article on evolution and emergence of this new mutation of the swine flu virus. It's a nice piece both on swine flu itself and on how we investigate these things. (and if you're wondering exactly when this new strain emerged, it looks like last fall.)

Crofs blog wonders why we pay so much attention to the fairly low-mortality swine flu, and not to the greater killers in the world. His conclusions are ugly:

If a thousand people died in the US tomorrow from swine flu, the country would go beyond a mere war footing. Three hundred million people would turn all their efforts to preventing death #1001, while ignoring routine deaths from cancer, heart disease, auto accidents, and gunshots.

Is it a North-South problem? Maybe a black-white problem? That's probably part of it. As La Rochefoucauld cynically observed 300 years ago, "We always find the strength to bear the misfortunes of others." If the others aren't our colour, or religion, or class, or nationality, their misfortunes are very bearable indeed.

Alertnet reports that a second strain of the flu may complicate both illnesses and their diagnosis. It also looks like MRSA and/or bacterial pneumonia may have helped to cause the high swine flu death rate we saw in Mexico. The bacteria link is a good thing, because it means that better control of hospital infections can help reduce the mortality rate. The second strain of the flu is worrisome.

Why we haven't overreacted to swine flu. In short - because there may well be another wave coming, just as there was in previous pandemics, and because prompt action is what keeps these things from getting bad.

And, lastly, a detailed discussion of the economic impact of swine flu. The post looks back at older pandemics for economic patterns.

Alanna Shaikh
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