Jump in number of global swine flu deaths

Alexa Williams
11/27/09
11:46AM


This article was about a massive jump in deaths due to the H1N1 virus. In the last week, the number of deaths jumped to over 1000. These figures come from the World Health Organization. There are 7,862 known deaths of the virus so far globally since it came out of Mexico in April. In Europe there was an 85% increase in the last week. There death toll jumped from 350 to 650 in one week. Even though the death rate from the virus is rising, the majority of cases are still minor flu like symptoms. The biggest death rate rising so far was in America with 554 cases in a week.


This is slightly surprising to me given that I haven’t heard of or known anyone who has died from this virus, but have however, known over ten people who have been diagnosed with it. Apparently the virus is gaining strength and other mutated strains in places like China, Japan, Norway, Ukraine, and the US. I still believe there is a bit of an overreaction to this virus from the media in attempt to scare us into getting flu shots which were pushed through so quickly that a lot of people are saying the symptoms of the shot are worse than the flu. However, it is scary to think that the death toll has risen so dramatically in the last week.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8383471.stm