13,000 Americans dead from Flu since beginning of year

[dead0man]

..and at least a quarter or a million world wide.
link

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[Marokai Backbeat]

I demand a Level 6 WHO alert.

[GMantis]

How many people have fallen ill with flu during this time? Only by knowing the death rate can one possibly compare the impact of regular flu and the potential swine flu pandemic.
And a major difference is the fact that Swine flu seems to strike young people far more severely than regular flu.

[dead0man]

How many people have fallen ill with flu during this time? Only by knowing the death rate can one possibly compare the impact of regular flu and the potential swine flu pandemic.

You are 100% correct and since none of the Americans that have the Swine Flu have died from it I'm guessing the death rate for "regular" flu is currently higher than for that of the Swine Flu.  This is true for every country in the world except Mexico. (and it may be true there as well, we'll probably never know)

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I suppose, but with so few actually dead it's kind of hard to tell.

[??????????]

How many people have fallen ill with flu during this time? Only by knowing the death rate can one possibly compare the impact of regular flu and the potential swine flu pandemic.

You are 100% correct and since none of the Americans that have the Swine Flu have died from it I'm guessing the death rate for "regular" flu is currently higher than for that of the Swine Flu.  This is true for every country in the world except Mexico. (and it may be true there as well, we'll probably never know)

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I suppose, but with so few actually dead it's kind of hard to tell.

The worst part may be this fall if it follows the same as the 1918 flu.

[dead0man]

There are dozen of factors keeping the current swine flu scare from reaching 1918 levels.

edit-miss read

[Padfoot]

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Until the young and otherwise healthy people start dying from the flu I am unconcerned.  Call me an ageist if you want but I really don't give a crap if the flu is killing a couple thousand old people.

[??????????]

I really don't give a crap if the flu is killing a couple thousand old people.

What if those old people were your parents?

[Jacobtm]

The idea is that this is a new virus and isn't nearly as widespread as the regular flu. No U.S. citizens have died from it yet, but only a few dozen have been infected. While they frequently cite estimates in the news that x hundred or thousand Mexicans have been infected, those numbers are estimates, under 200 confirmed cases have been diagnosed in Mexico.

[cinyc]

Stop introducing reason to this debate.  Don't you know we're all going to die?

[Padfoot]

I really don't give a crap if the flu is killing a couple thousand old people.

What if those old people were your parents?

First, my parents are both under 60 so they're not that old.  Second, I'm more worried that my mom is going to die of breast cancer, a disease that she is actually fighting. 

Besides, everything I've read about this stupid "swine flu" has led me to believe that there is little difference between it and the "normal flu."  The media is blowing way out of proportion just because some unfortunate people in Mexico with poor health care have died.  When otherwise healthy people in the US start dying in large numbers, then I'll be concerned.

[Alcon]

Swine Flu can cause an overzealous immune system "flood" (the name of which temporarily escapes me) which causes it to be risky to groups other than children and the elderly.

On the other hand, we have a ton of cases, and the U.S. death rate currently stands at 0.2% at most, soooo unless this thing mutates, I think we can largely go back to not caring that much.  But if it somehow becomes more widespread, and the real death rate is somewhere between U.S. and Mexico, that's still a considerable number of youth, healthy people who would die.

But, although I don't know how likely that is to happen (not sure anyone does) it looks a lot less likely than like a week ago.

[??????????]

Second, I'm more worried that my mom is going to die of breast cancer, a disease that she is actually fighting. 

My best wishes are with her. My grandmother fought that horrid disease and won the battle.