The reason this swine flu is such a big deal is two-fold... 1) This is the first time (recorded at least) that swine flu has transmitted human to human. Further it's possible that this is an airborne strain. That make transmission much easier. Considering that the flu as a 5-7 day asymptomatic incubation period where a person may still be contagious, it's hard to tell who's infected and contagious, further hindering the ability to limit the spread of the disease. 2) Humans don't have the same type of 'natural' immunity to this strain of flu which compared with A(H3) and A(H1) variants. This could mean that the mortality rate _may_ be much higher than your standard flu (still to be determined).
You put those things together, and the 36,000 US death rate may become 360,000. That about 1% of the US population... Hopefully someone you love isn't part of that 1%. If the virus mutates in such a way that it becomes more resistant to anti-viral medication (Tamiflu at this point0, then there could be an ever larger problem. Joe P ________________________________ From: Sherry Abercrombie [mailto:saber...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 3:26 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Re: Very Important Swine Flu Tip This is really getting out of hand, read the statistics folks, the yearly average of people in the United States that die from influenza is close to 36,000. That's thirty six thousand people, yet we don't hear "pandemic" fearmongering over that do we? No, this is blatant media manipulation to cause widespread panic IMO. Is it serious, sure it is, but no more serious than any other strain of influenza that happens every year in the US and around the world. Do the common sense things that we all should be doing any way and quit walking in fear over this. I'd like to know how many people die in a year from the flu in Tarrant County TX, and we never hear about it, nor do we close the entire school district for 7 school days because of one confirmed case at one school, that did not result in a death. (Ok, there are several other suspected cases in several other schools, but not yet confirmed). Ok, I'll quit my rant now, all the above is my personal opinion only. On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 3:12 PM, Jay Dale <jd...@xpresstel.com<mailto:jd...@xpresstel.com>> wrote: All I know is, the stores here in Houston are running out of Anti-bacterial products left and right. So there may be more of a concern than one might think... Just be cautious people... Jay -----Original Message----- From: Jason Gurtz +AFs-mailto:jasongurtz+AEA-npumail.com+AF0-<mailto:jasongurtz%2BAEA-npumail.com%2BAF0-> Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 2:45 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Very Important Swine Flu Tip +AD4- Don't do this... Pretty funny and I hope everyone is staying calm and not getting too wigged out over this whole thing. Ask yourself: what +ACU- of 6,000,000,000 is 257? Then, multiply that percentage ten-fold just to be safe. That 0.00004283+ACU- is just about how worried I am. When we start creeping in to the mere tenths of a percent let me know. :) +AH4-JasonG, who will still be washing his hands often, just like he's done every other day for many years now. +AH4- Ninja Email Security with Cloudmark Spam Engine Gets Image Spam +AH4- +AH4- http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Ninja +AH4- ~ Ninja Email Security with Cloudmark Spam Engine Gets Image Spam ~ ~ http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Ninja ~ -- Sherry Abercrombie "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke ~ Ninja Email Security with Cloudmark Spam Engine Gets Image Spam ~ ~ http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Ninja ~
