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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Doctors are reporting a severe form of swine flu that goes straight to the lungs, causing severe illness in otherwise healthy young people and requiring expensive hospital treatment, the World Health Organization said Friday.
Some countries are reporting that as many as 15 percent of patients hospitalized with the new H1N1 pandemic virus need intensive care, further straining already overburdened healthcare systems, WHO said in an update on the pandemic.
MINORITIES AT RISK
Minority groups and indigenous populations may also have a higher risk of being severely ill with H1N1.
"In some studies, the risk in these groups is four to five times higher than in the general population," WHO said.
"Although the reasons are not fully understood, possible explanations include lower standards of living and poor overall health status, including a high prevalence of conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension."
"Data continue to show that certain medical conditions increase the risk of severe and fatal illness. These include respiratory disease, notably asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and immunosuppression," WHO said.
WHO estimates that more than 230 million people globally have asthma, and more than 220 million have diabetes. Obesity may also worsen the risk of severe infection, WHO said.
It also disproportionately affects younger people, unlike seasonal flu which mainly burdens the elderly, and thus may cause more severe illness and deaths among young adults and children than seasonal flu does.
ATLANTA – Swine flu was four times more likely to send blacks and Hispanics to the hospital than whites, according to a study in Chicago that offers one of the first looks at how the virus has affected different racial groups.
The report echoes some unpublished information from Boston that found three out of four Bostonians hospitalized from swine flu were black or Hispanic.
So basically they are screwed if they do and screwed if they don't.
Originally posted by VinceP1974
In an average year, 36,000 people die in the USA from the flu.
So get ready for media hysteria when hundreds of people die of the dreaded swine flu. you know they're going to make this out to be the black death.
Originally posted by Sliadon
Originally posted by VinceP1974
In an average year, 36,000 people die in the USA from the flu.
So get ready for media hysteria when hundreds of people die of the dreaded swine flu. you know they're going to make this out to be the black death.
Although I know you were stating your comment sarcastically (it's okay, I like sarcasm) that is why I have the second part of my signature.
I mean it sort-of tongue in cheek...
-Sliadon
Originally posted by Sliadon
reply to post by VinceP1974
My apologies then, I took that to mean you were mocking people that would compare Swine Flu and the expected death rates from it to that of the Plague.
-Sliadon
Originally posted by Sliadon
. Just as they are targeting populations in the Southern Hemisphere right now, the same will happen this fall in the Northern Hemisphere Western Nations such as The United States and Western Europe.