WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, when asked at a news briefing on Tuesday if there were any signs of the swine flu virus mixing with other strains such as avian flu, responded, The virus is still very stable...But as we all know, the influenza virus is highly unpredictable and has great potential for mutation.
This is somewhat reassuring, says ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. At least we know that there aren t any big surprises for the fall flu season, so far.
The article specifically mentions the H5N1 avian flu virus because it is highly pathogenic, explains ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. In combination with swine flu, that would indeed be a devastating virus, but they re being alarmist again. They simply have to monitor the virus to see if there s any change in genotype or virulence.
Yesterday in Atlanta, Lyn Finelli, a flu surveillance official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voiced the estimate based on mathematical modeling that over one million Americans have now been infected with the swine flu virus. The virus has cause 127 deaths in the U.S., a relatively low number but disturbing in its uncharacteristic concentration in younger patients.
This is a frightening statistic, says Dr. Ross. The median age of fatal cases is quite discordant with usual seasonal flu, which hospitalizes and kills older people in general. That s a little concerning.
