While we were busy greeting an early start to summer this weekend, a new phrase was introduced into our vocabulary.
Get used to it; everyone is going to be talking about it as we head back to work:
Swine flu.
It starts the way most other flu symptoms do, with headache, coughing, fever, a cough, sometimes nausea. But this one winds up killing you.
The death toll from the current outbreak of swine flu stands at 103, all of them in Mexico. Officials have confirmed 22 of those cases to be caused by swine flu. There are another 81 suspected cases in Mexico.
The Mexico cases are now being looked at for spreading the virus to the U.S. A handful of kids at a New York high school who spent spring break in Mexico have been sickened.
There are now believed to be 20 cases of swine flu in the U.S. Most of those battling symptoms in the U.S. have recovered. No one is quite sure why the outbreak has been so deadly in Mexico.
The U.S. government has now declared a public health emergency in response to the outbreak, which has now spread to cases being reported in Kansas, California, Texas and Ohio.
There seems to be a common theme. Many of them recently visited Mexico.
The U.S. is now stockpiling 12 million doses of Tamiflu, which is used to treat symptoms. Travelers at the Mexican border are being asked about travel to flu-stricken areas. Some airports worldwide are screening travelers from Mexico and the U.S. for flu symptoms.
Get used to hearing more than you ever wanted to know about swine flu.
That’s what happens when people start dying.
A couple of cautions: You don’t get this from eating pork. Instead this is a virus passed by contact with contaminated people or livestock.
It’s scary. And there are scary words being bandied about, words like pandemic. Supposedly it’s very treatable, but it’s still scary.
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