The Swine Flu has reached a point where the US Department of Health has declared a public health emergency to try and contain its spread.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/world/27flu.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1
And before you breath easy, there are suspected cases in Canada.  Here's a map of where all the confirmed cases:  http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/04/27/swine-flu042709.html

With only 21 confirmed cases and they've decided to pull a chicken little attitude and go for an all out emergency.  The six in Canada are mild.

Ontario Health Department has been watching this situation for the last couple of weeks and with the SARS problem we had in the past I'm more confident in their views of the situation.

That being said, it could get worse... but from the numbers I don't think we're there yet, at least in Canada

Regardless of only (so far) having minor confirmed cases in Canada, the WHO has elevated their pandemic threat level to 5 (their second highest level).  At this level, governments are advised to stage medicine and supplies to combat possible pandemic.  http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/29/swine.flu/index.html
On the plus side, they think they've identified patient zero.

A doctor came on to the radio this morning and discussed this pandemic rating... basically the media has blown the definition out of proportion... according to this doctor, epidemic means that there has been one country where the threat is high (meaning someone has died as a cause of a communicable disease)... pandemic simply means the same thing has happened in more than one country... pandemic does not mean run out in to the streets killing and maiming and stealing due to PANIC PANIC PANIC!!!!  The media could take the time to explain that epidemic or pandemic are not necessarily the super panic situation that the name seems to infer, but instead they maximize exposure by reporting the news in a way that is open to many interpretations including the one that causes 10 people to say PANIC, which spreads to 10 of their friends and 10 of their friends.. well we all know how that works...

At any rate, pandemic certainly doesn't need to hold the super scare that has inevitably happened.  To that end, again according to the doctor on the radio (I think it was a car show or something ), he said there is nothing wrong with pork or pork products in Canada.  He simply said be sure you cook them at <<some specific temperature I forget>> to ensure it is cooked thoroughly.. which is the case with pork 100% of the time.. pork is one that you don't want to eat rare!

But the looting!  Awww.. shucks.  I was so looking forward to a new big screen tv.

Put your surgical masks away.  CDC has revealed how Swine Flu is passed.

Swine Flu in Ontario now 894 Reported cases.  The number of cases has spiked for the second week in a row, a 25% increase, leading me to wonder if people have already become complacent about Swine Flu.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/06/04/ontario-flu.html

This swine flu was never anything near what they said it was.  More poeple die from regular influenza than this swine flu, more people choke to death or starve to death.  They've blown this thing way out of proportion.

It's like this doctor anticipated your statement:

Quoted Text

Many people are now saying that the media and the government is blowing the threat out of proportion. They like to quote that around 36,000 people die from influenza in the United States each year. The problem is that this is not your typical, run-of-the-mill seasonal influenza. This is an H1N1 influenza. These are very different germs.

Source:
http://blogs.tech-recipes.com/.....n-regular-influenza/

That's what we need facts.  I did not know the N1H1 was the same virus that was the cause of the 1919 influenze pandemic!  That makes sense then.  This was the first time I had heard about this.

Cases of Swine Flu resistance to Tamiflu vaccine have been reported.  So far five cases totally, including one from Japan and one in Quebec.  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090722/national/flu_tamiflu_resistance_5

Add to that the seasonal behaviour of the flu (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/05/22/novascotia-swine-flu-fall.html) and you've got a nasty autumn coming.

It was only a matter of time before vaccine resistant H1N1 viruses developed.  Especially when people don't take the full dosage of their anti-biotics!

Swine flu is now the dominant flu strain in the world.  Killing 2,180 people since April, it spreads four times faster than any other flu.  Source:http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090829/health/health_flu_who

I heard on CBC radio this morning that now they believe the H1N1 virus is not any more lethal than the regular strain of the flu.  And that now, it would have to take more of an outbreak to close down the schools.

Quoted from Hawkeye

I heard on CBC radio this morning that now they believe the H1N1 virus is not any more lethal than the regular strain of the flu.  And that now, it would have to take more of an outbreak to close down the schools.

I wonder where CBC is getting it's information.  This is from this week's report from the CDC:http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

	Week 33
No. of specimens tested	4,477
No. of positive specimens (%)	804 (18.0%)
Positive specimens by type/subtype
Influenza A	803 (99.9%)
A (2009 H1N1)	570 (71.0%)
A (subtyping not performed)	211 (26.3%)
A (unable to subtype)	15 (1.9%)
A (H3)	6 (0.7%)
A (H1)	1 (0.1%)
Influenza B	1 (0.1%)

As you can see, 71% of the flu cases are H1N1.  While overall the flu seems to be leveling out this week (according to reports), H1N1 is still the dominant strain.

How can it be "no more lethal" than other flu strains when it kills healthy active people in their 20s in five to seven days?  Isn't the average flu only a threat to very young, very sick, or very old people?