folks. let's get some of the facts straight that have accumulated about a/h1n1 by now: the pathology is somewhat milder compared to seasonal flu and most importantly the mortality is significantly lower than it is for seasonal flu. on the other side the infection rate of h1n1 is considerably higher when compared to this fall's seasonal flu and it even looks like that the swine flu is 'eradicating' the seasonal flu cos it deprives it of its hosts. IMO the media jumps on the swine flu for two reasons: 1. there was a justified concern in the beginning that this new virus could develop into a serious pandemic due to its grade of genetic homology to the spanish flu which killed >50 million people in 1918. 2. the media loved the swine flu and the WHO's early raise of the threat level cos they finally had their shocking disease story, something SARS and the bird flu - although it was close there - didn't persist and spread as much thanks to pretty efficient measures taken by officials. the one thing that could still turn this story ugly would be a kind of mutation that would increase the virus' lethality..

patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - mark twain

by EauDeCologne on 11/25/2009 01:04:12 PM EST