Star of Hope is a nondenominational Christian organization that equips children across the world with knowledge, physical well-being, spiritual growth and social skills through educational programs and local and international partnerships. Please donate!
July 27th, 2009 | Comments Off
The number of cases of swine flu / novel H1N1 / pandemic A)H1N1 or whatever the powers that be are calling it today are declining in the United States. That does not mean that it has disappeared, or that other parts of the world are not in the middle of a severe outbreak. It merely means that many of the places where the virus spread quickly are closed for the summer.
Schools, from pre-K through college, are closed or have reduced numbers of students on campus. Schools are where the outbreak took off this spring in the U.S.
Current clusters are in places where young people are congregated in the summer. Jails, camps, military recruit training and other similar locales are the sites of some current outbreaks.
If we assume that the U.S. population is 300 million people, predictions are that 30% of us will catch swine flu before the pandemic is over. That amounts to 90 million Americans. The current death rate is about 0.7%, and if that holds true, 630,000 people will die from this flu and related issues. In a normal seasonal flu year, about 39,000 people die from flu and its complications.
Look at it another way. If pandemic swine flu does not change at all, when it returns in the fall it will kill nearly twenty times as many people as an ordinary influenza season does. A vaccine will not be ready when school opens. It may not be ready by Christmas.
The flu will be back. The age group that is most susceptible will be back in school in late August and early September. Seasonal flu season starts in late October. Unless the swine flu becomes milder, this fall and winter will see a level of illness we have not seen in decades. It will strain our hospitals and emergency medical services, and they will break in some places.
If the flu comes back stronger and more virulent, then the projected numbers of sick and dead will increase. Just how bad things will get is unknown.
Filed under: Commentary, Influenza, Medicine, Original writing, Pandemic, Swine Flu · Tags: deaths from swine flu, Influenza, novel h1n1, pandemic flu, pandemic h1n1, pandemic influenza, pandemic swine flu, predictions of swine flu cases, second wave of swine flu, Swine Flu
On Y!CN
Star of Hope is a nondenominational Christian organization that equips children across the world with knowledge, physical well-being, spiritual growth and social skills through educational programs and local and international partnerships. Please donate!
The Coming Pandemic Wave
July 27th, 2009 | Comments Off
The number of cases of swine flu / novel H1N1 / pandemic A)H1N1 or whatever the powers that be are calling it today are declining in the United States. That does not mean that it has disappeared, or that other parts of the world are not in the middle of a severe outbreak. It merely means that many of the places where the virus spread quickly are closed for the summer.
Schools, from pre-K through college, are closed or have reduced numbers of students on campus. Schools are where the outbreak took off this spring in the U.S.
Current clusters are in places where young people are congregated in the summer. Jails, camps, military recruit training and other similar locales are the sites of some current outbreaks.
If we assume that the U.S. population is 300 million people, predictions are that 30% of us will catch swine flu before the pandemic is over. That amounts to 90 million Americans. The current death rate is about 0.7%, and if that holds true, 630,000 people will die from this flu and related issues. In a normal seasonal flu year, about 39,000 people die from flu and its complications.
Look at it another way. If pandemic swine flu does not change at all, when it returns in the fall it will kill nearly twenty times as many people as an ordinary influenza season does. A vaccine will not be ready when school opens. It may not be ready by Christmas.
The flu will be back. The age group that is most susceptible will be back in school in late August and early September. Seasonal flu season starts in late October. Unless the swine flu becomes milder, this fall and winter will see a level of illness we have not seen in decades. It will strain our hospitals and emergency medical services, and they will break in some places.
If the flu comes back stronger and more virulent, then the projected numbers of sick and dead will increase. Just how bad things will get is unknown.
Table of contents for Pandemic Flu United States 2009
Filed under: Commentary, Influenza, Medicine, Original writing, Pandemic, Swine Flu · Tags: deaths from swine flu, Influenza, novel h1n1, pandemic flu, pandemic h1n1, pandemic influenza, pandemic swine flu, predictions of swine flu cases, second wave of swine flu, Swine Flu