What Happened to Swine Flu?

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-06-06 12:04:00 UTC
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(photo credit: Sarihuella)

The panic has passed, since the mortality rate for H1N1 isn't all that bad right now; no more deal than seasonal flu. But swine flu is still spreading. We're seeing more cases, and more deaths in New York city, in the UK, and in India, among other places. Globally, we seen over  21,000 cases of H1N1 and 125 deaths.

The WHO is actually thinking about revising the pandemic alert system. The current system is based on diseases spread, and each stage triggers certain actions. In the case of an infection that's not all that deadly, some of these precautions are unnecessary and very expensive. The WHO is likely to add the severity and impact of the illness to the current definitions of pandemic levels.

Stupid rumors are still spreading, mainly about pork consumption. People still believe - wrongly - that you can get swine flu from eating pork. I've seen some fascinating conspiracy theories about Muslims. Others seem to believe that the whole scare was cooked up by drug companies. This is also not true. For one thing, if drug companies were behind this, they would have been better prepared to step up vaccine production than they are.

There is still a decent possibility that swine flu could get worse.  This could have been the first wave, with a second to come in fall or winter. That would be similar to the pattern we've seen with pandemic flu in the past.

So, to go with weather metaphors, this could have been a tempest in a teapot or this might be the eye  of the storm.

Alanna Shaikh
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