Swine Flu – What to Expect
Oct 26th, 2009 by Guest Contributor
A lot has been said about the H1N1 Influenza, also known as “Swine Flu”. Initially, it was believed that it came from North American pigs. However, although it does contain flu viruses that come from pigs, it also has human and avian genes. So, what do we know about swine flu? Is it mild, or is it severe? How many countries have been affected by it? Is it still spreading?
Swine Flu was officially considered a Pandemic on June 2009, and the reason was the spread of the disease and not the intensity of the cases. Most of the cases have been reported as “mild”, and while the United States still leads the number of new cases, in the Southern Hemisphere the amount of new cases is beginning to decline.
So, how many people have been affected by the Swine Flu? In the US only, this flu has killed over 265 children, about 28 pregnant mothers and recently, 12 healthy teenagers. Unlike the Seasonal Flu, that affects mostly people over 65 years of age, the H1N1 Influenza has an increased risk on pregnant women, children, and people with previous medical conditions.
Considering these stats, a vaccination campaign will target pregnant women, health care givers and people from 6 months to 24 years of age. The vaccine, made by Sanofi Connaught labs, and Flumist , the nasal spray vaccine made by Medimmune, seem to be effective and safe. Doses will be available on limited quantities at the beginning, but the US Government purchased 250 million doses, giving the opportunity of vaccination to anyone that wants to get it.
If this immunization program fails, the death rate could hit 100,000 and not the usual 36,000 caused by the Seasonal Flu, targeting mostly children and young adults.
Dr. Melvin D. Koplow has been a practicing pediatrician for the past 33 years and developer of Devset software. Devset is a pediatric growth and developmental tracking software program that was developed in 1984. In the following years, the program has been enhanced to become a strong pediatric office management program. His current software projects are focused on immunization tracking, electronic billing, and pediatric resource information and the video media interviewer. He has obtained videos from 50 of the top pediatric sub-specialist in the past year. He has been part of the 5min Community since 2007, and currently has 1024 videos on site.
I’d sweetie to ascertain that too!
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