The Swine 'flu outbreak has been upgraded by the WHO to level 5, as person-to-person spread has occurred in at least 2 countries (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/swineflu/DG_177831). The possible pandemic is actually more advanced than that as that kind of spread has clearly occured in Mexico and possibly the USA. The disease has also been confirmed in Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain and the UK but mainly in people who have recently returned from Mexico (so the person-to-person transmission may not have occurred in their country of origin [although it seems to have happened in Spain]). It is also reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8022437.stm) that patients with 'flu-like symptoms are under observation or being actually tested in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Peru, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay. The chances are that this agent is going to spread across the globe. The only positive piece of news thus far is that, to date, few people outside Mexico appear to have died because of the infection (a toddler in Texas is the only non-Mexican fatality). This may actually be due to at least some of the Mexican deaths being linked to secondary bacterial infections with pneumonia (hence the increasing interest in antibiotic stocks rather than anti-virals). Even given the media tendency to hype, things look likely to get a good deal worse (and there is no doubt that mass infections will lead to worse prognoses than the current situation where intense medical help can be directed to what is still a small number of people who are mostly young, fit and relatively wealthy).
No comments:
Post a Comment