The World Health Organization (WHO) finally raises the level of alertness for influenza H1Ni1 from 5 to 6 and declares a World wide pandemic of flu. Seventy four countries have reported 27,737 cases and 141 deaths. Usually there is underreporting, so the real number of cases could be around 100,000. Reports come from The United States, Central and South America, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Asia.
The last pandemic of influenza was in 1968. It was called the Hong Kong Flu and left about 1 million deaths.
What is unusual about the present pandemic is that half of the deaths have been previously healthy young people. The other half follows the pattern of people with chronic conditions or inmunocompromised.
The pressure to come out with an effective vaccine is high for the pharmaceutical companies. In the meantime the antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza are selling by the millions of tablets. The same can be said for the face masks used now in offices, schools and hospitals.
Manuel Figueroa
http://www.goodhealthtoday.biz
Thursday, June 11, 2009
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