It's a small world after all

17 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 17 May 2009, 39 countries have officially reported 8480 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. From the WHO. Click on photo to enlarge.

So now what? It's the little pandemic that couldn't. Swine flu, H1N1, or whatever you want to call it appears to be spreading slowly, causing much fewer deaths than anticipated, and while I haven't heard anyone talking about it fizzling out, the World Health Organization is not recommending any travel restrictions anywhere.

I did a little bit of reading and have learned that H1N1 is a novel influenza virus, meaning virtually no one has any acquired immunity to it. There is no vaccine available and it seems to be of normal communicability. The fact that there have only been 4 deaths in 4714 confirmed cases in the US (in other words, only 0.085% of all cases ended in a fatality), seems to be reason enough for the media to let the pandemic scare slide.

Africa is either an insulated place or this tally is incomplete. Then again, after ordering the slaughter of 300,000 pigs, Egypt may be reveling in their responsibility for averting disaster.

U.S. Human Cases of H1N1 Flu Infection
(As of May 15, 2009, 11:00 AM ET)

States*	Confirmed and Probable Cases	Deaths
Alabama	55 cases	0 deaths
Arkansas	2 cases	0 deaths
Arizona	435 cases	1 death
California	504 cases	0 deaths
Colorado	55 cases	0 deaths
Connecticut	47 cases	0 deaths
Delaware	60 cases	0 deaths
Florida	68 cases	0 deaths
Georgia	18 cases	0 deaths
Hawaii	10 cases	0 deaths
Idaho	5 cases	0 deaths
Illinois	638 cases	0 deaths
Indiana	71 cases	0 deaths
Iowa	66 cases	0 deaths
Kansas	30 cases	0 deaths
Kentucky**	13 cases	0 deaths
Louisiana	57 cases	0 deaths
Maine	14 cases	0 deaths
Maryland	28 cases	0 deaths
Massachusetts	135 cases	0 deaths
Michigan	142 cases	0 deaths
Minnesota	36 cases	0 deaths
Missouri	19 cases	0 deaths
Montana	4 cases	0 deaths
Nebraska	27 cases	0 deaths
Nevada	26 cases	0 deaths
New Hampshire	18 cases	0 deaths
New Jersey	14 cases	0 deaths
New Mexico	68 cases	0 deaths
New York	242 cases	0 deaths
North Carolina	12 cases	0 deaths
North Dakota	2 cases	0 deaths
Ohio	14 cases	0 deaths
Oklahoma	26 cases	0 deaths
Oregon	94 cases	0 deaths
Pennsylvania	47 cases	0 deaths
Rhode Island	8 cases	0 deaths
South Carolina	36 cases	0 deaths
South Dakota	4 cases	0 deaths
Tennessee	74 cases	0 deaths
Texas	506 cases	2 deaths
Utah	91 cases	0 deaths
Vermont	1 cases	0 deaths
Virginia	21 cases	0 deaths
Washington	246 cases	1 death
Washington, D.C.	12 cases	0 deaths
Wisconsin	613 cases	0 deaths
TOTAL*(47)	4,714 cases	4 deaths
*includes the District of Columbia **one case is resident of KY but currently hospitalized in GA. This table will be updated daily Monday-Friday at around 11 AM ET. International Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection See: World Health Organization. NOTE: Because of daily reporting deadlines, the state totals reported by CDC may not always be consistent with those reported by state health departments. If there is a discrepancy between these two counts, data from the state health departments should be used as the most accurate number.

So for those keeping score at home, here is the latest tally from the CDC.

Still, I find it a little disconcerting that Illinois has the greatest number of cases of any state in the Union, including those with high rates of immigration from Mexico, and with NYC, which was thought to be ground-zero for the US cases.

And me having just gone to Chicago....