The H1N1 Virus

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Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

We have had many infants, and young tweens die here in Maryland of the H1N1 Virus. The elderly who have gotten it, are in the hospital now. I really never believed that anyone would die from a flu today. Not with the healthcare tech. we have, and the increasing knowledge we are gaining with the use of the internet.

Oh my gosh Andrew, didn't you know? The regular seasonal flu--the flu everyone gets, that comes around every year--is the real killer. 36,000 people a year die in the US from regular seasonal flu--despite education, despite medication, despite hospitalization, when people catch it the regular seasonal flu still kills thirty-six thousand people a year, every year, in the US.

The reason you're hearing so much about H1N1 is that it's out of season; it came into this country in April and lasted all summer and into fall. According to the CDC, it's a mutated flu that is part swine flu and part bird flu. Influenza viruses do this all the time, mutate or recombine, and that's why there's a new vaccine every flu season.

Next year, H1N1 will just be another part of the seasonal flu. This year, because it's new and out of season, it's scaring everyone--but it STILL isn't making as many people sick (or killing as many people) as the regular seasonal flu does every single year.