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WHO Declares H1N1's Spread Officially a Pandemic
juggledean writes "The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global flu pandemic after holding an emergency meeting, according to reports. It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile." Whether it's called a pandemic or not, there's a hopeful note in the story about H1N1's spread: "...there were people who believed we might be in a kind of apocalyptic situation and what we're really seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limiting."
Naming it Mexican flu wouldn't not be right, because, for now, the strain is not higly virulent and doesn't kill really much. The WHO as declared it pandemic, but it's more in a move to try to stop the viral spread and help reduce the chance of a mutation. If the virus mutate and mix with H5N1, then we could be in serious trouble. And even then, lets just hope it doesn't mix with something even more deadly.
Douches,
Pandemics refer to a disease's spread, not its severity.
The common cold is also a pandemic.
That would be a great observation except that:
2007 - Chinese year of the Boar
2008 - Chinese year of the Rat
2009 - Chinese year of the Ox
So next year, we should be worried about Tiger Flu.
Er, the 1918 flu pandemic started as a mild but very infectious disease. Then, come autumn, it killed more people than WW1. And mostly young people at that.
Furthermore, maybe you should look up what the word "pandemic" actually means. They're using it correctly. You're not.
Azural - instrumentals
Yes you are...
Because when we save an infant or an elderly person from the flu they don't wait for the next flu to come around. They either grow up and get a better immune system or they eventually die of something else.
We don't have a backlog of pensioners and infants who didn't die of the flu before just waiting until the flu comes round again so they can die of it, They don't pile up like dry old logs and brush.
'Infuenza A H1N1' is really no more specific than just 'H1N1', since all H1N1 flu viruses are Influenza A. There doesn't seem to be a generally agreed name that's both snappy and specific, so you'll see things like 'Novel H1N1 Influenza' and '2009 A/H1N1'. Virologists use more detailed identifiers for individual isolates, like 'A/New York/3002/2009(H1N1)'.