Swine Flu At Level Five

By Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
The World Heath Organization has raised the alert level for the swine flu pandemic of the phase 5, one step away from the highest level.

The CDC continues to evaluate information to determine the potential impact of an outbreak on an international level.

In Mexico more than 2,000 people have been hospitalized and 149 people have died from the flu. In the United States there are 66 confirmed cases in six states; New York, California, Texas, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana. Globally there are 39 confirmed cases in six other countries including New Zealand, Spain, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, and Israel.

Today, the House Sub-Committee on Health heard testimony from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to understand the full impact of the virus.

U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) said that, “We should not wait for public health emergencies to come up with ad-hoc responses. Not even counting this recent flu outbreak, about 35,000 Americans die of regular seasonal flu each year.”

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has determined that the swine flu is highly contagious and contains genetic pieces from four different virus sources. There is no evidence that the illness comes from pork products, but it seems to come from human to human contact. Symptoms include high fever, body aches, coughing, and sore throats, all similar to regular seasonal flu, but the regular flu shot is not preventative of this new virus.

Anne Schuchat, M.D., acting director for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “it’s a very unusual virus and we don’t believe that humans have experienced it before.”

U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) , M.D. said that America needs to be careful “not over reacting to the point that we create a pandemic of panic.” Gingrey said that although it is reassuring that Americans are prepared for an outbreak, he said that “I fear we are getting ourselves in a frenzy.”