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Not from swine flu, though. Got your attention though, didn’t I. The fact is that over 43,000 die before their time in the U.S. each year… not from swine flu, but from car accidents. If you think I am trying to make a point, I am.
I woke up this morning to breaking news that reveals that over 100 people have died in Mexico from a recent outbreak of swine flu, with a 1,000 known cases total, turning Mexico City into a ghost town as people stay at home to avoid contagion, with those on the streets all wearing masks.
Mexico City became a ghost town as swine flu spread.
This morning it was reported that there are currently 20 cases in the US, including New York and California. However Mayor Bloomberg of NYC held a news conference to state that 28 cases were reported from one school in NYC alone. The strain is H1N1 and so far in Mexico it is primarily a pig to human transfer only, not human to human. Although there is some news that the US cases may be transmittable human to human, they probably are less severe cases. The Europeans are recommending travelers to cancel trips to Mexico and the US. Hong Kong is putting everyone coming from Mexico with a fever in quarantine.
Map of distribution of swine flu cases as of April 27, 2009.
The virus does not make it unsafe to eat pork. That does not stop those brilliant promoters of rational thought, the Russians, from telling people not to eat pork.
I'm still safe to eat, and tasty as ever!
I have been writing about bird flu and other topics literally for years (see “Bird Flu Drugs are for Bird Brains“), even since former Chief Weasel in Charge of War Crimes Donald Rumsfeld made a bundle by hyping the bird flu epidemic and then watching the profits from the bird flu drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) soar (since he was the former CEO of the company that developed Tamiflu he made over a million dollars profit in just a few months). Once the bird flu (type A H5N1) mutated and became transmittable from humans to humans Tamiflu probably wouldn’t work any more. Sure enough, last year there were cases of A H1N1, a form that was transmittable to humans, for which Tamiflu didn’t work anymore. Tamiflu works against type A H3N2 and type B but not against some forms of type A H1N1. Type A H1N1 can be treated with Relenza (zanamivir), an inhaled drug. For people who can’t tolerate inhaled drugs, they can take rimantidine or amantidine, which work against H1N1 but not H3N2 or type B flu. The only place that can test for the flu strain in the US is the Centers for Disease Control, in Atlanta GA.
I guess we are all transfixed with fears of pandemics of the flu because of the 1918 flu epidemic which killed ten million people worldwide, about 10% of those who became infected.
- The 1918 flu epidemic killed 10 million world wide
However with modern supportive medicine it is unlikely that so many people will die. Not all forms of H1N1 are Tamiflu resistant and it is unclear what swine flu is best treated with at this point or how deadly it is. You are infectious for one day before getting symptoms and seven days after the onset of flu symptoms so it is possible to infect people before you have symptoms. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a slew of face masks spreading across the country in the next few days. Stay tuned!
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Swine Flu Spreads in Mexico. Over 43,000 Die in US (from car accidents that is) http://tinyurl.com/cw5n3g
comments working now, sorry.
Hi!
I wanted to ask how you felt about the “collateral damage” of people
rushing to the ER now because they are worried. You surely follow your
colleague Dr Art Kellermann’s work about US emergency care being
chronically stressed to its limits — isn’t that the real danger to all of
us?
Luckily, the latest “I need a CT because I bumped my head and don’t want
to die like Natasha Richardson” epidemic has been wearing off now, but
here we go again with something new. Phew…
Greetings!
Susie (med student in Europe)
It looks like people are panicking about it and going to the ER but given the still small number of cases in the US this is obviously overkill.
[posted on FB]
I have been writing about this the past two years (including the Rumsfeld hype of bird flu for which he made over a million) and put links to those older posts at the post above, as well as the back stories, but the short story is that bird flu is H5N1 and is susceptible to Tamiflu but only transmits bird to humans and is very low risk of becoming pandemic unless it mutates. Some of the H1N1 strains mutated last year and became resistant to Tamiflu as well as more easily transmittable to humans. Swine flu is H1N1 and what noone is talking about is whether it is susceptible to Tamiflu (I don’t think they know). As for deaths it looks like it started in Mexico and there hasn’t been time to track it in the US or else it has mutated. And yes treating the whole population with Tamiflu will select for resistant strains.
shouted you out on my blog with this piece. I wish I had seen it earlier in the day before I used a piece from HuffPo.
Not about any kind of flu, or anything, but nevertheless about being afraid of the wrong stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8WIwWhkBXU
Thanks for this. Wanted a decent analysis of this flu thing to calm nerves of people around me (I had my visions death and destruction as well, but with news article titles such as “WHO raises pandemic alert level; more swine flu cases feared” it is easy to buy it)
I’ll continue to read the news, but with an entire salt-shaker at my disposal.
thank you! a voice of reason…I’m not afraid and I sure as hell won’t be taking any anti-virals.
Death knocks on all our doors someday, huh?
Jon Stewart on the flu:
http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/04/swine_flu_a_lighten_at_the_sta.php
Hey, your post answered a question one of my members had on my blog.
You know, everyone might think that this is a silly idea, but trust me, if this Influenza does go the distance and really start killing. Just imagine how NOT silly it will be.
In South Africa and other African countries, imagine how fast it would kill a township where people live in 2m by 2m houses(Shacks). and the shacks are less than a meter apart.
No medicine to help them.
I think right now, its a little over the top, but in time, it will be no joke.
Gregory
~ The Swine Flu Symptoms Blog