Napolitano ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Swine Flu
This will come as no surprise to Ron Paul (remember him?), but it looks like swine flu may be no worse than your garden-variety influenza virus, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
This will come as no surprise to Ron Paul (remember him?), but it looks like swine flu may be no worse than your garden-variety influenza virus, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...CNN:
“What the epidemiologists are seeing now with this particular strain of U.N. is that the severity of the disease, the severity of the flu — how sick you get — is not stronger than regular seasonal flu,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday as the worldwide number of confirmed cases of swine flu — technically known as 2009 H1N1 virus — topped 1,080.
The flu has been blamed for 26 deaths: 25 in Mexico and one in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Still, Napolitano noted, the seasonal flu results in “hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations” and roughly 35,000 fatalities each year in the United States. There are still concerns that the virus could return in the fall, in the typical flu season, as a stronger strain.
“We are cautiously optimistic that this particular strain will not be more severe than a normal seasonal flu outbreak,” Napolitano said.
This year, the ground feels uncertain — facts are buried and those in power are working to keep them hidden. Now more than ever, independent journalism must go beneath the surface.
At Truthdig, we don’t just report what's happening — we investigate how and why. We follow the threads others leave behind and uncover the forces shaping our future.
Your tax-deductible donation fuels journalism that asks harder questions and digs where others won’t.
Don’t settle for surface-level coverage.
Unearth what matters. Help dig deeper.
Donate now.
Editorial Cartoons
Military
“It makes it appear that the United States of America is a battleground,” one veteran Marine said.
Health & Wellness
Who’s covered under California’s $175 billion Medicaid program, and what might get cut?
Editorial Cartoons
Labor
The evidence is in: Minimum wage hikes tend to have little to no effect on employment, but can raise the wages of hundreds of thousands of workers.
Race
In California, an approach to Black reparations based on land access, ownership and stewardship.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.