Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Who Cares?

[shesulsa]

I'm in a little bit of a hurry this a.m. so if anyone else posted this, all apologies.

TRUE OR FALSE? The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed more people than died in World War I?

Hard as it is to believe, the answer is true.



World War I claimed an estimated 16 million lives. The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history.

Archive record
Documents & photos
Stanford's page in the pandemic

My husband and I were astonished last night to hear how many lives this virus claimed back then and when you take into consideration how much lower the population and saturation was not quite 90 years ago the devastation must have been incredible.

 

[grydth]

On the 1918 pandemic, I would suggest reading "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry. Better written than most works of fiction. Barry chronicles how the virus started out weak in Spring 1918 as well, but after enough "passages" through human hosts, it mutated into the brutally effective killer that was highly contagious and quick to kill.

Estimates of deaths range from 20 to 100 million, and many of those in the prime of life.

This virus may not take the mutation direction the one in 1918 did, but if it does, we are in potentially terrible trouble. It all may come down to whether we have the time to develope and disseminate the vaccine in time.

 

[rhn_kenpo]

The GLOBAL count of H1N1 infections is less than 1,000.

Yes, LESS than 1,000.

I'd guess there are at least 20,000,000 suffering from the flu worldwide today, and a good number of those will die from their illness.

This entire situation is a product of media hysteria and very damaging. The WHO's rating system is a fiasco.

What next, media panic over killer bees?

 

[Gordon Nore]

On the 1918 pandemic, I would suggest reading "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry. Better written than most works of fiction. Barry chronicles how the virus started out weak in Spring 1918 as well, but after enough "passages" through human hosts, it mutated into the brutally effective killer that was highly contagious and quick to kill.

I was listening to report on this on CBC last week. So far, the current H1N1 is nowhere near as impactful a seasonal flu, but as the seasonal flu is winding down by this time of year, the H1N1 is just starting up. As with 1918, researchers don't know what future form the H1N1 will take. Note: There was a second wave of Swine Flu in 1918.

This seems to be what's driving the reticence of researchers and investigators to pronounce the current outbreak as less serious than normal flu. So far, yes, the effects are currently quite mild, and that needs to be emphasized against the media announcements of 'deadly flu.'

 

[Tez3]

'Normal' flu kills around four thousand people every year in the UK something which I think is overlooked by us. We campaign for better treatment for Aids, cancer etc but forget that people die every year from something that most of us think of as a nuisance.
The problem may be that the swine flu will inadvertently cause more deaths from 'winter' flu as the authorities are considering cutting back on the vaccines they use for 'winter' flu to make more swine flu vaccines available.
This warning about the importance of being vaccinated is from 2007 and shows who is vulnerable to the flu.
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/f...022&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=True

 

[grydth]

That's true - - - "normal flu" kills many thousands more in the USA each year. Swine flu, or H1N1, is a throw of the dice.... it could well mutate into a harmless form, and wind up killing very few before fading away. Or, already very contagous, it could mutate into a killer whose worldwide toll could far surpass the 1918 figure. The speed and lethality of the 1918 virus is so horrifying as to almost sound like science fiction.