#3 Even though it is true that, more young people caught it, the statistics show that a higher percentage of young people who caught it actually died from it. The mortality percentage rate, not just the numbers, were highest in that age group.
In the case of this particular mutation, the reason the healthiest people died stemmed from the fact that the response of their own immune system was what killed them. While with most influenzas, secondary infections (especially pneumonia) do the killing, in this one it was Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome caused by the body's immune response....so therefore, the healthier, the more at risk...which is just scary.
Time this so that it's on top of WWI, and think of the youth of the world being wiped out....
#4 So very true....my brother is a GP, and would end up in the front line. I'd suggest you wash your hands A LOT, prepare your own food, and never leave your house.
They make the point in this book that the 1918 flu actually killed a higher percentage than is estimated by the WHO would die in an intentionally-released pneumonic plague scenario. So, far worse than bio-terrorism.
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Date: 2008-11-23 09:18 pm (UTC)Even though it is true that, more young people caught it, the statistics show that a higher percentage of young people who caught it actually died from it. The mortality percentage rate, not just the numbers, were highest in that age group.
In the case of this particular mutation, the reason the healthiest people died stemmed from the fact that the response of their own immune system was what killed them. While with most influenzas, secondary infections (especially pneumonia) do the killing, in this one it was Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome caused by the body's immune response....so therefore, the healthier, the more at risk...which is just scary.
Time this so that it's on top of WWI, and think of the youth of the world being wiped out....
#4 So very true....my brother is a GP, and would end up in the front line. I'd suggest you wash your hands A LOT, prepare your own food, and never leave your house.
They make the point in this book that the 1918 flu actually killed a higher percentage than is estimated by the WHO would die in an intentionally-released pneumonic plague scenario. So, far worse than bio-terrorism.