level 6 pandemic not necessarily a reason to panic

Dr Doug Quarry, medical director, Pandemic Preparedness with International SOS, which has been providing great updates on the crisis so far. This is what he has to say:

"Swine flu is a mild or moderate disease, the minimum death rate is thought to be 0.1% of those infected."

www.guardian.co.uk...

It is common to encounter clinical attack rate ranges for seasonal flu of 5% to 15% in the literature. For pandemic flu, clinical attack rates are reported in the range of 25% to 50%.

During a typical year in the United States, 30,000 to 50,000 persons die as a result of influenza viral infection. Frequently cited numbers are 20,000 deaths each year, and 37,000 annual deaths. About 5-10% of hospitalizations for influenza lead to fatal outcome in adults.

www.globalsecurity.org...

Influenza kills many people every year, the reason it is not stated as a pandemic is due to being the different strains of the virus.

We have a pandemic currently due to the same strain being reported in more than two WHO countries Though this does not neccesarily mean the mortality rate will be higher than the seasonal flu.

How a global swine flu pandemic could actually be LESS dangerous than the annual flu season
Between 3 and 5 million people experience severe illness due to regular, seasonal flu around the world each year, and between 250,000 and 500,000 die as a result.
The current mortality rate for swine flu is between 0.06 per cent and 0.24 per cent, the Los Angeles Times has reported - making it less lethal than the yearly bout of influenza
www.dailymail.co.uk...

Fox news and MarketWatch talk about level 6:

CDC: WHO expected to declare official pandemic
www.foxbusiness.com...

Mouth masks will be sold out in no time when it hits the mainstream media.
Don't buy regular mask, but go for the N95 types, while you can.

www.mouthmask.com...