The Mexican Misconnection

The one headline, Older People at Greater Risk of Swine Flu Death, lead us to the Journal of Cancer study we could not find but to many other studies in the journal from the US, Mexico and Switzerland. The studies relating cancer to issues of color, discrimination and poverty.

Cases in Mexico show young more likely to get sick, but elderly more likely to die. "The researchers found that the risk of infection fell by 35 percent in those who received vaccinations for seasonal flu. Chronic disease boosted the risk of death by six times. Those who didn't go to the hospital within four days after developing symptoms boosted their risk of death by 20 percent for each extra day they delayed a hospital visit."

H1N1 influenza in Mexico. The Lancet headline has less to do with the pandemic in the United States except that Mexico seems to be the source of the H1N1 virus. While the headline as being mentioned seems to suggest that what is true in Mexico is true in the US as well. While the numbers are down among the elderly with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Canadian governments research indicates that while this does not appear to be our current situation.
Newsweek offers a historical as well as an informational report on the flu and its history particularly with the Mexican H1N1 study as its considered our source for the flu. We refer you to the article and the graphic historical timeline on flu.

There is a joke among flu researchers: "If you've seen one flu season, you've seen…one flu season." The translation, for those not up on epidemiological humor: the joke is wry commentary on the unpredictable nature of the flu virus. Every year it looks different, and every strain follows its own pattern. This is not just a quirk that frustrates scientists—it's the reason new strains like H1N1 are impossible to anticipate and fully prepare for.

"I know less about influenza today than I did 10 years ago," quips Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance and a former adviser to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

What happens there, hopefully stays there. Bring the problem here but not the results - in this case the H1N1 flu doesn't have to mean that our results will be the same as Mexico's results. While our federal government deals with the issues of "Universal Health Care" what the future might hold for a healthier planet is an international health care solution. While the United States works to bring its system and self back to it's position of superiority in Health and everything these days after Veterans Day - we can only hope and strive for better results.