The Sunday Times, Singapore, Sunday, August 30, 2009.
I just saw this article and was wondering why I’m the only person talking about it…
WHO director-general also says virus travels at ‘unbelievable’ speed
Washington – Doctors are reporting a severe form of the Influenza A (H1N1) that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 per cent of patients hospitalised with the H1N1 pandemic virus need intensive care, further straining already over-burdened health-care systems, it said on Friday in an update on the pandemic.
“During the winter season in the Southern Hemisphere, several countries have viewed the need for intensive care as the greatest burden on health services,” it said. “Preparedness measures need to anticipate this increased demand on intensive care units, which could be overwhelmed by a sudden surge in the number of severe cases.”
Meanwhile, the world’s top health official said in an interview that appeared yesterday that H1N1 spreads four times faster than other viruses and 40 per cent of the fatalities are young adults in good health.
“This virus travels at an unbelievable, almost unheard of speed,” World Health Organisation director-general Margaret Chen told France’s Le Monde daily in an interview. “In six weeks, it travels the same distance that other viruses take six months to cover.
“Sixty per cent of the deaths cover those who have underlying health problems. This means that 40 per cent of the fatalities concern young adults – in good health – who die of a viral fever in five to seven days. This is the most worrying fact.”
She added that “up to 30 per cent of people in densely populated countries risked getting infected”.
More than 2,180 people around the world have died from the virus since it was uncovered in April.
“Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen in seasonal influenza infections,” WHO said. “In these patients, the virus directly attacks the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialised and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.”
Earlier, WHO reported that H1N1 had reached epidemic levels in Japan, signalling an early start to what may be a long influenza season this year, and that it was also worsening in tropical regions.
WHO said it was advising countries in the Northern Hemisphere to prepare for a second wave of pandemic spread. It said: “Countries with tropical climates, where the pandemic virus arrived later than elsewhere, also need to prepare for a second wave of pandemic spread.”
Because hardly anyone has immunity to the new H1N1 virus, experts believe it will infect far more people than usual, as much as a third of the population.
Reuters, AFP
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[Emphasis all added.]
What does this article imply?
- If you have flu-like symptoms and fever, get yourself checked.
I’ve both my nieces, 8 and 11, get high fever (4x degrees) recently. I don’t know if they had flu or anything, but a sudden fever is definitely worrying, cuz it can be the viral fever that kills.
- Never seen before speed of travelling? One-third of the population? Does that sound familiar or what?
End times baby. And personally I don’t relish the thought of not seeing my loved ones in heaven with me. I used to think ‘God, You have a great destiny for me! I won’t die just yet lah!’. Now, I see my destiny being this very moment, not somewhere in the distant future. So are all of ours. Before you know it, you might be in a bed in the ICU with tubes hanging out of your nose. I just don’t want to leave regretting not having done enough.
Keep praying =))
