Word: h1n1
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...good news is that H1N1 is not, so far, a particularly severe disease for those who are healthy. In laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 infection, only around 1,200 people have died out of more than 160,000 patients, according to WHO figures. With the exception of certain populations - including pregnant women, children with chronic diseases and people with respiratory ailments - H1N1 tends to be no worse than the seasonal flu. A few days in bed and lots of liquids, and most patients get better...
...hovering in the background of the current pandemic is the possibility that H1N1's virulence might suddenly change. Flu's hardiness as a recurring human scourge is the result of its unstable genetic structure. One flu virus can easily swap genetic information with another, or mutate as it reproduces in the human respiratory tract. The World Health Organization tracks flu viruses for changes in their genetic makeup that would make them more deadly. But even exhaustive 21st century virology can only help health officials react to what's already happened. The best laboratory in which to study the flu virus...
Even without any significant mutations, H1N1 has so far behaved in confounding ways. The virus spread widely in Britain during the summer, but not in other European countries. No one knows why. Mexico reported a sharp increase in cases in late July after health officials there suspected that the virus had begun petering out with the onset of the hot summer months. And then there is emerging evidence that some patients present without fever, making diagnosing H1N1 harder...
...China, where the first case of H1N1 was traced to a Mexican visitor in late April, only 2,264 cases of the flu have been reported. Still, officials in Beijing, criticized for their handling of previous viruses such as the outbreak of SARS in 2002 and 2003, are taking no chances. Chinese crews wearing masks and medical suits now walk through all international airplanes upon arrival, testing passengers' temperatures with pistol-grip thermometers. When one student from St. Mary's School in Medford, Ore., tested positive on a trip to China in mid-July, 65 fellow pupils and seven chaperones...
Some medical professionals question the value of such stringent measures. This late in a pandemic, they say, the spread of H1N1 is inevitable. "They are not effective at all in my opinion," says Dr. Lo Wing-lok, a Hong Kong?based infectious-disease expert. "By picking up these few cases, there isn't any real impact in control of the flu." Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist at the University of Aberdeen, puts it more bluntly: "We are already in a pandemic. There's no containment option now." (See the 5 things you need to know about swine...