(CNN) -- There had been no confirmed deaths in the United States related to swine flu as of Tuesday afternoon. But another virus had killed thousands of people since January and is expected to keep killing hundreds of people every week for the rest of the year.
That one? The regular flu.
An outbreak of swine flu that is suspected in more than 150 deaths in Mexico and has sickened dozens of people in the United States and elsewhere has grabbed the attention of a nervous public and of medical officials worried the strain will continue to mutate and spread.
Experts are nervous that, as a new strain, the swine flu will be harder to stop because there aren't any vaccines to fight it.
But even if there are swine-flu deaths outside Mexico -- and medical experts say there very well may be -- the virus would have a long way to go to match the roughly 36,000 deaths that seasonal influenza causes in the United States each year.
"That happens on an annual basis," Dr. Brian Currie said Tuesday. Currie is vice president and medical director at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York."
Should You Be Scared about The Swine Flu
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3 comments:
I think there's a difference in HOW it's affecting people. It isnt affecting the elderly alone, it's affecting ALL ages, whereas the flu we are used to, affects the elderly and at risks and those are the ones that are dying more readily. But that isnt the case with the swine flu. It's affecting & killing all ages/risk groups. And the vaccine TwinFlu or whatever - they are only going to give it to the elderly and at risk ones. What about the rest of us?!?!?!
but they still wont seal the borders!!!
RB,
I am still not convinced that it is any more virulent. The flu has always had a greater impact upon the weak.
Angel,
And they wont.
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