[lit-ideas] Re: Homeland Security
- From: Judy Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:20:13 +0100
Thursday, October 21, 2004, 2:13:21 AM, Andy Amago wrote:
AA> This belongs on Monty Python. Why is everybody getting so
AA> bent out of shape over this? This isn't the pandemic of circa
AA> 1920. Pandemics are in fact cyclical, but I haven't read that
AA> there's one on the way this year.
a pandemic is due/overdue (I read) but I too haven't read there's one
coming this year. BTW the "cycle" so far is 1918-19, 1957-58, 1968-9,
but researchers do talk of a 30-year cycle.
Here are the US figures for an "ordinary" year:
In a typical year, influenza is responsible for an average of 36,000
deaths (primarily in the elderly) and 200,000 hospitalizations in the
United States. Children have the highest rates of influenza infection
of any age group during the flu season and are important disseminators
of the influenza virus into communities. According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 152 children younger than 18
years of age died in the United States from influenza and its
complications during the 2003-2004 flu season. Seventy-one percent of
these children had no high-risk medical conditions, as defined by the
CDC. Influenza vaccination of all healthy children 6-23 months of age
and their close contacts is now routinely recommended by the CDC's
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
--
Judy Evans, Cardiff, UK
mailto:judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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