Apparently, almost as many people have died from swine flu as have died in Iraq (2003) and Afghanistan (2001). Quite possibly the number is higher given the fact that data is so far behind on this issue and the government is not collecting the specifics in all cases!
It does not negate the seriousness of either, given my experience now with swine flu, but perspective is important and given what we are fighting ...
CDC now says 4,000 swine flu deaths in US
November 11, 2009
2:54 PST
AP
ATLANTA – Federal health officials now say that 4,000 or more Americans likely have died from swine flu — about four times the estimate they've been using.
The new, higher figure was first reported by The New York Times. It includes deaths caused by complications related to swine flu, including pneumonia and bacterial infections. Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had conservatively put the U.S. swine flu death count at more than 1,000. Officials said this week they're working on an even more accurate calculation.
The CDC says "many millions" of Americans have caught the pandemic flu virus since it first appeared in April.
JUST A GUESS -
There are nowhere near enough diagnostic tests to give to everyone with flu-like symptoms to see if they really have swine flu, and autopsies have shown that some people who have died had H1N1 and no one even knew it.
So the death figures will be based on models, calculated by looking intensively at small groups of people, gathering data on overall reports of sickness and death, and reconciling the two.
"Each case of influenza is not reported either with seasonal flu or in a pandemic [like H1N1] and therefore the subsequent deaths are not always immediately traceable to a specific cause of death," said Dr. Frank James, a health officer in San Juan County, Wash., and a clinical associate professor at the University of Washington.
swine flu
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