Disturbing news on swine flu from CDC, how bad is it really? http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/updates/us?

I have been tracking the pandemic since mid-summer. Every Friday, I check the weekly reports and document the statistics. I think it's a mistake to dismiss the severity of this pandemic.

On July 17, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated: “The 2009 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks. " who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_... There’s a certain irony about this pandemic: With villages having become metropolitan in scope, it’s not likely that people will take seriously the spread of the virus until it hits close to home.At this time, I don’t personally know anyone who has become infected by, let alone died from, the virus, but I think that it's only a matter of time.

My phys. Ed. Instructor dismissed the virulence, saying essentially that any healthy person can overcome it.

However, a Yahoo! News report, dated August 28, stated: “Doctors are reporting a severe form of swine flu that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment.. .. " news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090828/hl_nm/us_fl... Moreover, as early as June 30, 2009, there were indications of a Tamiflu-resistant strain: “Scientists have established the first case of the new H1N1 influenza strain showing resistance to Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug, Danish officials and the manufacturer said on Monday. €?

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/06/swine_flu_and_tamiflu_resistan.php The swine flu has been dismissed due to the belief that deaths occur primarily in people with underlying conditions. While that was true in the beginning, the demographic of those affected had shifted rapidly in just four months. In August, I answered a related Mahalo question, posted by http://www.mahalo.com/member/ssmacd ssmacd: http://www.mahalo.com/answers/health/how-many-of-swine-flu-california-californias-92-swine-flu-deaths-have-been-in-people-with-no-pre-existing-health-conditions.The following is from the August 21, 2009, report by the WHO: "The presence of underlying medical conditions will not reliably predict all or even most cases of severe illness.

Worldwide, around 40% of severe cases are now occurring in previously healthy children and adults, usually under the age of 50 years. " http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_use_antivirals_20090820/...Currently, the global death-toll reports lag due to reporting delays by the various WHO regions. My weekly statistics indicate that the reporting for the WHO Regional Office for the Americas (AMRO) is not keeping up with the death toll in the U.S.Alone.

Accordingly, the report of 5,000 deaths worldwide is a conservative estimate: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_10_23/en/index.html http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_10_23/en/index.html Some further considerations regarding the spread of the flu: 1) From the beginning, states with the highest death tolls have also been those with high concentrations of spanic people: California, New York, Florida, and Texas. In the beginning, New York was in the lead (30 New York deaths out of 87 nationwide, as of June 19*) but California overtook New York in July. While I have yet to confirm a definite correlation between the deaths in these states, and the please remember that the flu originated in Mexico.

Currently, California's death toll is 233, around 9% of the U.S.Total. who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_...0 *Unfortunately, news links for some of the earlier stories have since been removed, so I'm unable to post sources for certain statistics. 2) Currently, the southern hemisphere is ending its flu season, while the northern hemisphere is beginning its flu season.

The majority of previous deaths occurred in the southern regions.3) On July 24, I show the U.S. Death toll at 263, a jump of 52 from the previous week. On October 23, I show the U.S.Death toll at 2,416, a jump of 385 from the previous week. That's an average of 55 deaths per day.

This may not seem like too many, but the average is climbing, especially now that we're in flu season.4) A Fox News report, dated October 17, echos a report from the CDC: "Of the 86 children who have died since the new swine flu arose last spring, 43 deaths have been reported in September and early October alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That's a startling number because in some past winters, the CDC has counted 40 or 50 child deaths for the entire flu season — and no one knows how long this swine flu outbreak will last. " who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_...0 People can and do get re-infected, so with the way that the virus is rapidly mutating, it's not unreasonable to presume that people, who overcame milder strains of the virus, can be reinfected with a more severe strain that's harder to overcome.

I have no reason to believe that the CDC is hyperinflating the severity of the situation. Also, I have no reason to believe that the families, who've recently experienced the deaths of otherwise healthy teen-aged children, are dismissing the CDC, either.

I have been tracking the pandemic since mid-summer. Every Friday, I check the weekly reports and document the statistics. I think it's a mistake to dismiss the severity of this pandemic.

On July 17, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated: “The 2009 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks. " who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_... There’s a certain irony about this pandemic: With villages having become metropolitan in scope, it’s not likely that people will take seriously the spread of the virus until it hits close to home.At this time, I don’t personally know anyone who has become infected by, let alone died from, the virus, but I think that it's only a matter of time.

My phys. Ed. Instructor dismissed the virulence, saying essentially that any healthy person can overcome it.

However, a Yahoo! News report, dated August 28, stated: “Doctors are reporting a severe form of swine flu that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment.. .. " news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090828/hl_nm/us_fl... Moreover, as early as June 30, 2009, there were indications of a Tamiflu-resistant strain: “Scientists have established the first case of the new H1N1 influenza strain showing resistance to Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug, Danish officials and the manufacturer said on Monday. €?

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/06/swine_flu_and_tamiflu_resistan.php The swine flu has been dismissed due to the belief that deaths occur primarily in people with underlying conditions. While that was true in the beginning, the demographic of those affected had shifted rapidly in just four months. In August, I answered a related Mahalo question, posted by http://www.mahalo.com/member/ssmacd ssmacd: http://www.mahalo.com/answers/health/how-many-of-swine-flu-california-californias-92-swine-flu-deaths-have-been-in-people-with-no-pre-existing-health-conditions.The following is from the August 21, 2009, report by the WHO: "The presence of underlying medical conditions will not reliably predict all or even most cases of severe illness.

Worldwide, around 40% of severe cases are now occurring in previously healthy children and adults, usually under the age of 50 years. " http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_use_antivirals_20090820/...Currently, the global death-toll reports lag due to reporting delays by the various WHO regions. My weekly statistics indicate that the reporting for the WHO Regional Office for the Americas (AMRO) is not keeping up with the death toll in the U.S.Alone.

Accordingly, the report of 5,000 deaths worldwide is a conservative estimate: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_10_23/en/index.html http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_10_23/en/index.html Some further considerations regarding the spread of the flu: 1) From the beginning, states with the highest death tolls have also been those with high concentrations of spanic people: California, New York, Florida, and Texas. In the beginning, New York was in the lead (30 New York deaths out of 87 nationwide, as of June 19*) but California overtook New York in July. While I have yet to confirm a definite correlation between the deaths in these states, and the please remember that the flu originated in Mexico.

Currently, California's death toll is 233, around 9% of the U.S.Total. who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_...0 *Unfortunately, news links for some of the earlier stories have since been removed, so I'm unable to post sources for certain statistics. 2) Currently, the southern hemisphere is ending its flu season, while the northern hemisphere is beginning its flu season.

The majority of previous deaths occurred in the southern regions.3) On July 24, I show the U.S. Death toll at 263, a jump of 52 from the previous week. On October 23, I show the U.S.Death toll at 2,416, a jump of 385 from the previous week. That's an average of 55 deaths per day.

This may not seem like too many, but the average is climbing, especially now that we're in flu season.4) A Fox News report, dated October 17, echos a report from the CDC: "Of the 86 children who have died since the new swine flu arose last spring, 43 deaths have been reported in September and early October alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That's a startling number because in some past winters, the CDC has counted 40 or 50 child deaths for the entire flu season — and no one knows how long this swine flu outbreak will last. " who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_...0 People can and do get re-infected, so with the way that the virus is rapidly mutating, it's not unreasonable to presume that people, who overcame milder strains of the virus, can be reinfected with a more severe strain that's harder to overcome.

I have no reason to believe that the CDC is hyperinflating the severity of the situation. Also, I have no reason to believe that the families, who've recently experienced the deaths of otherwise healthy teen-aged children, are dismissing the CDC, either..

I have heard of several people dying from it here in Oklahoma. I was really worried about my grand daughters getting because they have respiratory issues. They all had it last week and got over it.My daughter said it was rough.

She said it was the worst thing they had ever gone through. The kids all just sat on the couch or bed and cried for two days because they ached so bad. The way she described it made me glad I homeschool.

1. The report includes all flu related deaths not just swine flu, and every year people have always died from the flu, the regular old flu. "CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of seasonal flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States."

cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related... 2. I question it's accuracy as I live in Alaska, and it is not "wide spread" here. I would guess that is due to the population not being packed into a small land mass.

Though the map image does state it is a "geographic spread" and not an actual representation of the infection. I believe it is how they think it should have spread geographically at this point. I also think they are exaggerating.

Based on what I just said, I'm still going with my opinion that the swine flu is being blown massively out of proportion as yet another distraction for the people from politics. Is it a gnarly, no fun, and possibly dangerous flu? Yep.Is it like the black plague of Europe, run, rats run because we're alll gonna die?

Nope.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.