17 May 2009

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 OrganizationExternal Web Site Policy..

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....

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