Swine flu linked to seven deaths in Amazon

Shelby Anderson
November 12, 2009
7:34 pm

The swine flu has spread to even the most remote groups of people now. There have been seven deaths in the Yanomami Indian tribe, who live in the Amazon in Venezuela, that have been related to the H1N1 virus. The Yanomami Indians are one of the largest isolated indigenous groups of people in the world. They are completely cut off from society except for the doctor that came to investigate and control the outbreak of the swine flu. Of the seven deaths, six have been babies less than a year old. The other death was a thirty five year old woman who was believed to be pregnant at the time. All these deaths have occurred within two and a half weeks. Doctors and scientists are not sure how the swine flu reached the Yanomami tribes. The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, said that the outbreak is now under control and is being taken care of.

The swine flu is a lot more powerful than we all imagined it would be and we are now having to learn to expect the unexpected. If even the indigenous people of Venezuela, who live in the rain forest and have no contact with the modern day world, are dying from the swine flu then how are we safe? We have to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves and doing all that we can to prevent the virus from spreading. Vaccines are starting to become scarce but they are still out there. If we want to stay healthy and not get the swine flu, we need to take advantage of the chances we get.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33656127/ns/health-cold_and_flu/