SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Swine Flu

 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: E. Charters who wrote (255)6/18/2009 3:57:22 PM
From: YorikkeRead Replies (2) of 463
 
If on average 100 people a day are dying in North America from prevalent strains of flu and this is not a pandemic, then why is a disease that is affecting and killing significantly fewer people regarded as a pandemic? A person who dies as a result of a 'normal' flu infection is just as dead as one who dies from an H1N1 infection.

The argument has been put forth that H1N1 is more likely to morph into something else. It would seem to me that any disease that is passing through vast numbers of people and killing 100 people per day in North America is just as likely to morph, and has a greater opportunity to make genetic changes.

At this stage H1N1 is just the disease that everyone will get tired of hearing about because in reality it is not as fatal as prevalent strains of flu. It may never be. But it is likely that the next iteration of flu will be greeted with far less fan fare, even if it is more fatal and H1N1.

Just as Swine Flu has little or no relation to pigs, H1N1 has only limited relation to a true pandemic.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext