Questions
1. How many people have died around the world from the swine flu (H1N1 flu virus)? How many of those deaths were in the U.S.?
2. a) Define pandemic.
b) What will cause the WHO to declare a pandemic?
c) In what year was the last flu pandemic declared?
3. What would a pandemic declaration require countries around the world to do?
4. Why won't the declaration of a pandemic have any impact on the U.S.?
5. Why is the WHO trying to eliminate misunderstandings about the virus?
6. Read the information from science/health blogger Michael Fumento in the "Background" box below. How does this information affect your thinking about the possibility of the swine flu becoming a pandemic? Explain your answer.
Background
(Think about the following from Michael Fumento's blog):
- As the outbreak develops, keep in mind that seasonal flu, according to the CDC, infects between 28 and 56 million Americans each year, hospitalizes over 100,000, and kills about 36,000. (The death figure is probably on the high side.) Did you bother to get vaccinated?
- At this point there's no evidence swine flu is easier to transmit than seasonal flu or that it's more lethal. ...
- All infectious diseases strike much harder in underdeveloped countries because the people are less healthy to begin with.
- "Swine flu" simply means it has pig RNA mixed in. There's nothing inherent to it that would make it worse than seasonal flu. We've had a previous outbreak of swine flu; it killed one person.
- True, we have no vaccine for this flu; but two years ago it turned out that the seasonal flu shot was ineffective - the equivalent of no vaccine. We're still here.
- No, swine flu doesn't threaten to become "another Spanish Flu of 1918-19." Nothing does. Check your calendar; that was 90 years ago. Since then we've developed things called "antibiotics" as well as antivirals and other anti-flu medicines. In all flu outbreaks, including the Spanish one, the vast majority of deaths come from secondary bacterial infections.
- Still scared? Wash your hands several times a day, keep away from coughers, and stay tuned.