Mexico Down to a Travel Precaution
It is said that there may be 100,000 Americans infected by the H1N1 swine flu virus. Along with this news, the CDC announced that they may be facilitating the travel warnings in Mexico.
The U.S. swine flu death recently increased to 5 as a man died of the said virus in Corpus Christi.
Although the Center for Disease Control and Prevention thinks that there are 100,000 H1N1 infected Americans, most appeared to be seasonal flu only. There are actually just 4,714 confirmed swine flu cases.
Doctors from CDC observed that majority of swine flu infected patients who were hospitalized had underlying conditions that placed them susceptible to flu complications.
Based on the CDC’s observations, they could downgrade the travel advisory to Mexico. Only those who are likely to contact flu complications are discouraged to travel to Mexico. From deferring nonessential travels or a level four alert it will be down to a travel precaution.
The CDC also thought that it is more useful to know the pattern of the illness, rather than just tallying the number of cases. WHO announced that there are 7500 known H1N1 swine flu cases, mostly from the U.S. and Mexico.
According to statistics, there is an annual 7 – 10 percent of the American population that get flu annually or 21 – 30 million citizens a year. But with the current swine flu case, the CDC sees that the flu illness cases may be up by 100,000.
Then, there is this unconfirmed news that there is another virus lurking in Mexico —– a strain that includes H1N1 and the seasonal flu virus. Communications to the Mexican authorities are still ongoing to confirm this news.
The World Health Organization warns everyone that the flu scare may not yet be over. Though cases are already waning and there are apparently just some mild outbreaks, in case this virus infiltrates Southeast Asia, the threat would be worse. And if the spread is confirmed to go outside North America, the pandemic alert may reach the highest level.
The H1N1 swine flu virus has really caused many lives. Let us cross our fingers and hope that the H1N1 scare will be over soon. This is not good not only to health, but also to travel, particularly to Mexico.
