29 April, 2009

Putting Swine Flu in Perspective

I almost fell for the panic, but this guy really helps:

Posted by Anonymous at 1:05 am

5 comments:

manny paul said...

The virus is likely to become less virulent the faster it is transmitted, writes Ian Sample, but in the short term the more people....
Latest developments on swine flu worldwide

29 April, 2009 03:21
Rose in Dubai said...

I may be cynical but it seems to me that a lot of pharmaceutical companies have a lot to gain from this panic....

29 April, 2009 08:52
Anonymous said...

I completely disagree with his statement on strong government as I believe government should be a strong safety net for weaker people providing unemployment aid, medical services and education, he's obviously not there.

But I wholeheartedly agree with his statement that we're making a big deal out of something that put in perspective is really a small thing and that going overboard with the emergency measures could prove more disastrous than the outbreak itself.

I'm seeing in the news about 300 confirmed death for the swine influenza, compare that to 13,000 gun related death/years in mexico (or 35 a day).
Or to the 36,000 death a year of "common flu" in the US according to wikipedia.

And finally a quote from the WFP:

""Each year, almost 11 million children die before reaching the age of five; malnutrition is associated with 53 percent of these deaths (source: Caulfield et al., The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2004 July), claiming one child's life every five seconds.""
(http://wfp.org/aboutwfp/introduction/hunger_what.asp?section=1&sub_section=1)

So yes, once put in perspective there isn't much reason to panic. You'll more likely die in a car accident or an earthquake than from the swine flu.

And to be clear I don't mean that WHO et al. should ignore it, just that we "the people" should treat it like it is, a flu outbreak, not like the end of times. :)

29 April, 2009 11:23
Dubai Jazz said...

This more about US inter-politics than about the swine flu.

29 April, 2009 15:31
* said...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A government official confirmed the first U.S. death from the new H1N1 swine flu on Wednesday, a 23-month-old child who died in Texas.

It is the first death from swine flu reported outside Mexico, the country hardest hit by the influenza outbreak. The official gave no other details on the case. U.S. officials have confirmed 65 cases of swine flu, most of them mild.

29 April, 2009 15:42

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