The news is flooded with headlines like “Mexico City on alert over swine flu outbreak” and “Mexico Swine Flu Epidemic Worries World”. So far, there have been 42 deaths from 1112 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 subtype influenza in Mexico (May 7, 2009, WHO).

'Dont ya think pigs can really fly?' by be_khe
Photo by be_khe

H1N1 is endemic to pig and bird populations and has been compared to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 (which killed up to 100 million people worldwide). But the spanish flu only exists today in a few isolated lab samples, and the bird and pig H1N1 strains are usually only transmittable through animal to human contact. However, the recent swine flu cases have shown that the new H1N1 strain is capable of human to human transmission.

Throughout history, there have been a number of threats to global human health — a small amount of them attributable to animal-human viral transfer. Here is a quick list of some of the big killers with virus subtypes in [ ] for influenza outbreaks:

  • Black Death: (1300′s) Estimated 75 million deaths
  • Russian Flu [H2N2]: (1889-1890) 1 million deaths
  • Spanish Flu [H1N1]: (1918-1920) 50 to 100 million deaths
  • Asian Flu [H2N2] (aka Bird Flu): (1957-1958) 1 to 1.5 million deaths
  • Hong Kong Flu [H3N2]: (1968-1969) 700,000 to 1 million deaths
  • Vehicle Collisions: (estimate for 2004) 1.2 million deaths (WHO)
  • HIV / AIDS: (estimate for 2007) 1.8 to 2.3 million deaths
  • Avian Flu [H5N1]: (2003-present) 257 deaths (from WHO)
  • Swine Flu [H1N1]: (as of May 7, 2009) 44 deaths

And about 250,000 to 500,000 people die each year from the typical seasonal flu. Clearly, the number of deaths attributable to HIV / AIDS and car accidents are on point with the number of deaths caused by the worst modern flu outbreaks. While the media is on the subject of flu related deaths, it might be prudent for them to use that momentum to drum up a larger prevention effort for some of the other big killers. Or maybe they should make a point to mention that nearly 50 million Americans go without health insurance each year?

As a quick reminder, to prevent catching or spreading the flu the CDC recommends regularly washing your hands, covering your coughs and sneezes, staying home when sick, and avoiding close contact with sick people. Also, getting vaccinated is important for high risk individuals (the young, the elderly, and those in regular contact with infected people).

So, really, is there a pending piggie pandemic? Should we round up all the swine just in case? Well, flu season is coming to a close, but barbecue season is on the horizon.