The Swine Flu strain that is affecting Mexico seems to be spreading to other countries, however, the cases seen in other countries, including the United States and Canada, appear to be milder. Many are concerned that this is the beginning of a new epidemic while others are cautioning the public to remain calm. An influenza outbreak does not always result in an epidemic. The United States is checking people at border crossings for any signs of illness to help reduce the chance of it spreading. Check out the following articles to find out more:
U.S. Steps Up Alert as More Swine Flue is Found: precaution taken despite mildness of cases detected domestically by David Brown in today's Washington Post
Global Race is on to Contain Swine Flu Outbreak: U.S. launches border screeing after declaring public health emergency by the Associated Press posted today on the MSNBC website.
The Center for Disease Control has a fact sheet on how to prevent the flu:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm
They also have a swine flu page:
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
To find out more about other influenza epidemics, check out the following books from our collection:
The Great Influenza: the epic story of the deadliest plague in history by John M. Barry
RC150.4 .B37 2004
Global Epidemics
RA649 .G56 2007
Bird Flu: a virus of our own hatching by Michael Greger
RA644.I6 G74 2006
Also check out the following e-book offered by NVCC:
Avian Flu Threat
(an e-book available through our catalog, just search by title)
2 comments:
According to the World Health Organization, there have been 1,419 confirmed cases and 30 deaths worldwide as of May 5, 2009 (29 in Mexico, 1 in the US) from swine flu.
The US Centers for Disease Control reports 25,407 cases and 53 pediatric deaths for regular (H1, H3, A and B) influenza in the week of April 5-11, 2009 alone, and in the USA alone.
Why do you think we are so terrified of swine flu, but seemingly unconcerned about "normal" flu when the statistics indicate otherwise? What influence do you think the media has on our panic level?
That's what happens in the age of instant information. People panic when they don't have enough information and the story came out before anyone had enough information.
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