H1N1 : Hysteria is the real danger!!!

By a blogger

In 1976, fearing the spread of a new strain flu, the US govt started to innoculate the population. The problem was the side effects of vaccine cause a higher death rate that the flu which was quite mild.

It appears the Mexican authorities have grossly overestimated the number of deaths due to the H1N1 virus and have cut the number of deaths from 176 to 101. President Obama said at a press conference to mark his 100 days in office that the primary concern is that the virus is new- if the was an old virus spreading in the same manner, the extra precautions would be unnecessary.

The hysteria over this flu which so far has proven quite mild has caused people to overcrowd emergency rooms all over the world and causing those with genuine health emergencies to wait. The economic negative impact threatens what appear to be a weak recovery.

In Egypt the plan to cull thousands of pigs has caused riots between Christian farmers and the police. The move makes no sense given the flu has not spread to Egypt and the virus is capable of human to human transmission which means killing all the pigs in Egypt will not do anything to stock the spread.

The mortality rate of those infected by H1N1 appears no worse than that of the common cold. The Chinese have started retaining Mexicans and quarantining them even though they showed no symptons of the flu. It looks like the fear surrounding the H1N1 is starting to cause more harm than the virus itself.