SHOOT: Officially almost 7000 people have died from swine flu. It continues to spread. Where will swine flu be 3 months from now? 6 months from now: 1 year? 2 years? As a new virus, an exotic infection, it has to burn through the the world population. It's hasn't even begun to do that. We'll see 3 years of this virus and we're in the early stages, where transmission numbers are relatively small and infections are mild. In 3 years that is likely to change, becoming the fundamental crisis of our time when, of course, we can least afford it.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Swine flu has driven up the price of horse meat in Mongolia, closed schools across Afghanistan and Ukraine and sparked a quarrel over whether detainees at a U.S. base in Cuba should be vaccinated.
As infections accelerated across the northern half of the world, Saudi authorities approved a vaccine ahead of the annual haj pilgrimage and U.S. members of Congress proposed legislation to force employers to pay or sick leave.
The pandemic H1N1 virus has infected millions globally, with more than 5,000 documented deaths and likely far more.
In the United States, a member of Congress proposed emergency legislation that would require employers who tell workers to stay home when they are sick to give them paid time off for up to five days.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 11 percent of people who were hospitalized in California died, but among people 50 and older, 18 to 20 percent died. Continued...
|
clipped from www.reuters.com
No comments:
Post a Comment