Quote:
Originally Posted by YuriTokoro
Hi.
Would you correct my English, please?
The New Swine Flu
The World Health Organization raised its global pandemic flu alert level from Phase 3 to Phase 4 on Monday. Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the Deputy Director General, has said that “a pandemic is not inevitable”.
The number of deaths in Mexico suspected to have been caused by the new flu is 152 as of Tuesday and continues to rise.
I believe that we don’t need to worry about a pandemic in the Northern Hemisphere at the moment because it is almost summer. In Japan, the rainy season begins within one month. The humid weather of this season will reduce the likelihood of the virus spreading.
One of the countries concerned should be New Zealand, which is located in the Southern Hemisphere and is now in its winter season. Also, a certain number of patients who are suspected of having swine flu only have mild cases.
A global worst-case scenario would be like this: The virus would survive for half a year in the Southern Hemisphere, mutating into severely pathogenic strains via human-to-human transmittal. This would result in a full-on pandemic in the Northern Hemisphere next winter.
Let’s go buy surgical masks, mouthwash, and vitamin C tablets!
Thank you!
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At the risk of sounding overly dismissive, my reaction to this swine flu outbreak is "Yup, we're all gonna die". If it's going to happen, it's going to happen no matter what precautions are taken. There will always be those individuals who will not practice proper hygiene habits in society who will pass on the virus to otherwise healthy individuals.
On the other hand, there will also be people (and I have read on another forum about them) who will be convinced everyone and everything around them are direct, blameable sources of infection. When a person is absolutely convinced that the server at a fast-food restaurant is a walking virus factory, no amount of sensible disagreement will make a difference.
Remember the SARS outbreak in Toronto.