Is this getting serious ? or do you think just hype ?
This is really a very difficult question to answer, even people at WHO, CDC,HPA etc can't give a difinitive answer. Flu , any flu , is very unstable and is in a constant state of change. Swine flu is no exception. The reason that this flu has caused such alarm is that it is a new flu ,and as such people have no immunity to it . Where problem occurs in explaing the dangers of this flu is that it isn't killing millions , that it isn't spreading like wild fire YET . As explained by WHO , the 1918 flu pandemic first appeared in the spring of 1918, it spread slowly (times and travel were different then ) at first , and was a mild flu , somwhat like swine flu is now really !! The summer came and the flu dissappered , but then in the autumn it returned !!!!!and over the next few months it killed 50,000,000 thats 50 million people. It was truly horrendous. This is where the people at WHO etc . are finding it very hard to say what IS going to happen . It may stay mild , it may dissappear , it may mutate and become just another flu doing the rounds , or it may explode and cause havoc !!!! All they can say is that it has ALL of the required traits to be a killer of huge numbers of people . Normal flu kills 250-500,000 every year worldwide , 12-15,000 in the UK alone. So flu isn't just flu at all , it IS a KILLER !! This one can be just another flu ? or, it can be a mass murderer. So they can only say it could do this or it could do that , at the moment . All the people at WHO , CDC etc are trying to say is, be aware of this , take all precautions you can , we are watching and investigating as much as we can , governments should be ready for what can possibly happen , and in this modern age of communication , we will all see soon enough what will happen . They have stressed again and again not to panic , and on the whole , the press have kept fairly calm ish
.
All anyone can do is hope that it does turn into JUST ANOTHER FLU !!! , and take care . I had Hong Kong flu as a kid and it wasn't nice at all. Luckily I came through it , but 2 million didn't .
cheers
Russ
