Search This Blog

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Swine Flu Update

There's speculation that the people who died from the swine flu in Mexico did not have proper medical attention. Again they may very well have become dehydrated and that is deadly.

Reuters: Will pandemic be mild, or kill millions?
Although it has been deadly in the disease epicenter, Mexico, and caused the death of one Mexican infant in the United States, in other countries people infected with swine flu have fared well, with diarrhea the biggest complaint.

Its (WHO) website's "frequently asked questions" about the virus tell people who have a high fever, cough or sore throat to rest and take plenty of fluids, wash hands frequently, and avoid work, school or crowds as much as possible. (www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/faq/en/index.html#q11)

2 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

The one really important number nobody is telling us is the average age of those that died so far. The other important fact is how they died. If many died from an immune type reaction and their average ages were over 15 but under 50 , then we have a real problem. Such a flu would have the MO of the 1918 Spanish flu. What sets that flu apart from every other known flu pandemic , besides the numbers it killed was who and how it killed many of them. It killed mostly able bodied and healthy people from age 15 to 50 and it killed them directly with a extreme form of immune reaction ( AKA a Cytokline storm.)

Jim Sande said...

I just don't know what to think, it seems like the best approach is to limit contact with people. That's also very to do. I am hoping for a best case scenario, limited infections, lowest possible number of losses.