H1NI? flu update

There are from the best I can gather only 64 confirmed US cases today. 7 however are now hospitalized severe cases. There are also 2 unconfirmed US deaths. There is no info on any other nation having severe cases as far as I can tell.

New York officials admit to likely having many hundreds of School children sick with what is likely the Mexican flu strain at this time. It also appears to have human to human transmission in the US, another key to pandemic potential.

Pandemic does not necessarily mean catastrophe. What one needs to keep in mind is that 2 out of the 3 20th century pandemics were mild. Only the 1918 one was a disaster.

So, this is not yet a pandemic although the risk level has been raised higher than usual of it becoming one. And this is not necessarily a deadly plague if it becomes one. The key to watch is the rate of spread. So far cases are increasing by 50-100% daily. This is far too quick for comfort. Second, watch for its mortality or lethality. No confirmed deaths outside of Mexico, yet. Possibly 2 in California though. We’ll need to watch this.

On the government stupidity front, our homeland security leader spent much of the day arguing over the name of the virus. Although proper nomenclature marks this as a swine flu due to its genetic composition, she worries about the negative effect on the pork industry and wants to rename it the H1N1 flu. Whatever….