Post #13 - Assignment# 6: World Health Organization raises Pandemic Alert to its second highest level

In the world's latest step toward the apocalypse, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement that a "pandemic is imminent" and raised the pandemic alert level to its second highest possible level - the highest level presumably being the sighting of one of the four horsemen. As of this afternoon, the swine flu has been spotted in nine countries and the death toll is in the hundreds. This, of course, coming at a time when health organizations have been receiving cuts due to the crippling economy, and are now being forced to brace for the flu outbreak with fewer resources than ever before.

The New York Times wrote that, as of today, there have been 91 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the U.S., up from 66 as of yesterday. 51 of these cases were in New York, with California and Texas being runners-up for the "most residents you can catch a deadly flu virus from" award.

While this all may seem very apocalyptical to some, I will point out that the flu (the regular flu, I mean) does claim the lives of young children and the elderly, and there is no reason to believe the H1N1 Virus (swine flu) is any more dangerous than the regular flu. In fact, if this flu virus does develop into a particularly lethal strain, it would be better to catch it now and build an immunity rather than catch it in a few months when it could be fatal.

If you would like to find information about how you too can partake in the latest pandemic fad, the New York Times online was kind enough to provide an interactive website that allows you to see where the H1N1 virus has been confirmed, and where it is likely to spread.

Personally, I am not too worried about the swine flu. Right now there is speculation running rampant as people fear something they do not know much about, and the fact of the matter is that the current strain is not particularly dangerous. The trouble comes from this strain mutating into one that can evade the human immune system, which is entirely possible, but about as likely as any virus engaging in this sort of mutation. Since the world population is not constantly under pressure from pandemic outbreaks, we can ascertain that this is not very likely. Possible, but unlikely.

Wash your hands, avoid contact with sick people, and wait for this all to blow over. Cheers.