Swine Flu outbreak

[Lost]

People always talk about these impending epidemics like they're the end of the world. Yes, the flu _can_ be very dangerous, usually to the very young, very old, or the immuno-compromised. Just because people in their 20's are getting the flu does not mean it's a hardass strain that's going to wipe us out. PEOPLE GET SICK ALL THE TIME.

Mortality rates from MEXICO are not indicative of mortality rates IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD. I'm not an epidemiologist. Hell, I've never even cracked a book to write the MCAT and I know that much. Why has this very simple fact escaped the media's attention? Mexico, as a developing country, has too little clean water and insufficient sanitation to support its enormous population. Poor living conditions essentially ensure viral outbreaks with high mortality rates in developing nations. Of all the deaths currently confirmed to be of swine flu, of which there are only NINE, eight of them have been in Mexico, and one of them was a young child in the US.

Also, viruses are rarely highly contagious and invariably fatal at the same time. It is not beneficial for diseases of any kind to cause high mortality: this limits the survivability of the disease-causing agent, especially if the virus acts quickly once people become symptomatic. The swine flu is pretty much exactly the same as the flu we're used to, we've just never been exposed to it before. Maybe if people stopped using so much fucking Purel and got sick for a change, our immunity wouldn't be so untried that we'd know we'll be okay.

Exactly. That's why I'm not afraid of this. ONly one death in a country with amazingly high sanitation.

If you've been watching the news, though, they're about to step it up to Phase 6, which is Global Pandemic. 9 deaths of Billions, and they're acting like it's the end of the world.