tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Last April, a strange new virus was sickening and killing patients in Mexico. It showed up in two children at a California clinic. Identified as a new form of H1N1, or swine flu, it quickly became a test of the USA's preparations for an epidemic and the public's ability to cope with fear of the unknown.
In the months that followed, the nation's top public health officials developed a vaccine in record time, tried to cope with the ups and downs of production, battled public myths about the vaccine's alleged dangers and ultimately administered about 91 million doses. They succeeded in many ways, and stumbled in others.
A year later, the U.S. tally from H1N1 stands at 60 million sickened and 12,270 dead, including 1,270 children. The virus turned out to be less virulent than the seasonal flu, which kills about 36,000 people a year. But H1N1 proved far more dangerous to children, healthy young adults and pregnant women.
It's too soon to refer to the outbreak in the past tense: Early this month, a late-season flurry of swine flu in the Southeast triggered a renewed warning to get vaccinated, which is still a wise idea. But so many people have been vaccinated, and so many have gotten H1N1, that the public has a substantial immunity. "If it returns, it is not going to have the explosive nature that it had the first time around," says Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert.
Today, swine flu's most potent legacy is the valuable lessons it can teach:
Use warnings wisely
It's better to overreact than underreact
It's better to underpromise and overdeliver
Replace those chickens
The feds can't do it all
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2010-04-26-editorial26_ST_N.htm
In the months that followed, the nation's top public health officials developed a vaccine in record time, tried to cope with the ups and downs of production, battled public myths about the vaccine's alleged dangers and ultimately administered about 91 million doses. They succeeded in many ways, and stumbled in others.
A year later, the U.S. tally from H1N1 stands at 60 million sickened and 12,270 dead, including 1,270 children. The virus turned out to be less virulent than the seasonal flu, which kills about 36,000 people a year. But H1N1 proved far more dangerous to children, healthy young adults and pregnant women.
It's too soon to refer to the outbreak in the past tense: Early this month, a late-season flurry of swine flu in the Southeast triggered a renewed warning to get vaccinated, which is still a wise idea. But so many people have been vaccinated, and so many have gotten H1N1, that the public has a substantial immunity. "If it returns, it is not going to have the explosive nature that it had the first time around," says Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert.
Today, swine flu's most potent legacy is the valuable lessons it can teach:
Use warnings wisely
It's better to overreact than underreact
It's better to underpromise and overdeliver
Replace those chickens
The feds can't do it all
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2010-04-26-editorial26_ST_N.htm