Ok, pop quiz.. What’s this?
1 atggatgtca atccgactct acttttccta aaaattccag cgcaaaatgc cataagcacc
61 acattccctt atactggaga tcctccatac agccatggaa caggaacagg atacaccatg
121 gacacagtaa acagaacaca ccaatactca gaaaagggaa agtggacgac aaacacagag
181 actggtgcac cccagctcaa cccgattgat ggaccactac ctgaggataa tgaaccaagt
241 gggtatgcac aaacagactg tgttctagag gctatggctt tccttgaaga atcccaccca
301 ggaatatttg agaattcatg ccttgaaaca atggaagttg ttcaacaaac aagggtagat
361 aaactaactc aaggtcgcca gacttatgat tggacattaa acagaaatca accggcagca
421 actgcattgg ccaacaccat agaagtcttc agatcgaatg gcctaacagc taatgagtca
481 ggaaggctaa tagatttctt aaaggatgta atggaatcaa tgaacaaaga ggaaatagag
541 ataacaaccc actttcaaag aaaaaggaga gtaagagaca acatgaccaa gaagatggtc
601 acgcaaagaa caatagggaa gaaaaaacaa agactgaata agagaggcta tctaataaga
661 gcactgacat taaatacgat gaccaaagat gcagagagag gcaagttaaa aagaagggct
721 atcgcaacac ctgggatgca gattagaggt ttcgtatact ttgttgaaac tttagctagg
781 agcatttgcg aaaagcttga acagtctggg ctcccagtag ggggcaatga aaagaaggcc
841 aaactggcaa atgttgtgag aaagatgatg actaattcac aagacacaga gatttctttc
901 acaatcactg gggacaacac taagtggaat gaaaatcaaa atcctcgaat gttcctggcg
961 atgattacat atatcaccag aaatcaaccc gagtggttca gaaacatcct gagcatggca
1021 cccataatgt tctcaaacaa aatggcaaga ctagggaaag ggtacatgtt cgagagtaaa
1081 agaatgaaga ttcgaacaca aataccagca gaaatgctag caagcattga cctgaagtac
1141 ttcaatgaat caacaaagaa gaaaattgag aaaataaggc ctcttctaat agatggcaca
1201 gcatcactga gtcctgggat gatgatgggc atgttcaaca tgctaagtac ggtcttggga
1261 gtctcgatac tgaatcttgg acaaaagaaa tacaccaaga caatatactg gtgggatggg
1321 ctccaatcat ccgacgattt tgctctcata gtgaatgcac caaaccatga gggaatacaa
1381 gcaggagtgg acagattcta caggacctgc aagttagtgg gaatcaacat gagcaaaaag
1441 aagtcctata taaataagac agggacattt gaattcacaa gcttttttta tcgctatgga
1501 tttgtggcta attttagcat ggagctaccc agctttggag tgtctggagt aaatgaatca
1561 gctgacatga gtattggagt aacagtgata aagaacaaca tgataaacaa tgaccttgga
1621 cctgcaacgg cccagatggc tcttcaattg ttcatcaaag actacagata cacatatagg
1681 tgccataggg gagacacaca aattcagacg agaagatcat ttgagttaaa gaagctgtgg
1741 gatcaaaccc aatcaaaggt agggctatta gtatcagatg gaggaccaaa cttatacaat
1801 atacggaatc ttcacattcc tgaagtctgc ttaaaatggg agctaatgga tgatgattat
1861 cggggaagac tttgtaatcc cctgaatccc tttgtcagtc ataaagagat tgattctgta
1921 aacaatgctg tggtaatgcc agcccatggt ccagccaaaa gcatggaata tgatgccgtt
1981 gcaactacac attcctggat tcccaagagg aatcgttcta ttctcaacac aagccaaagg
2041 ggaattcttg aggatgaaca gatgtaccag aagtgctgca atctattcga gaaatttttc
2101 cctagcagtt catataggag accggttgga atttctagca tggtggaggc catggtgtct
2161 agggcccgga ttgatgccag ggtcgacttc gagtctggac ggatcaagaa agaagagttc
2221 tctgagatca tgaagatctg ttccaccatt gaagaactca gacggcaaaa ataa
No idea? Hrm.. ok, how about this?
Still nothing? How about we add a little color…
Oh, come on.. Seriously? This has been ALL OVER THE NEWS!
Yep, that’s right. It’s Swine Flu. In lieu of playing stupid political correctness games, I’ll just refer to it as H1N1, thanks.
Anyway, the media has been up in arms over this major outbreak. If you follow the news, you’ll know that the world is in chaos as tens and hundreds of people have tested positive for this new influenza strain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reporting that as of 11am EST today, there are 403 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the United States. That’s .0001325% of the population of the United States! At this rate, the US will be overrun in no time. Better pack up the kids, head up the mountain, and start suckin’ down the kool-aid..
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that H1N1 can no longer be contained. They even raised their threat level to level 4! That’s like 3 levels above 1! It’s level 2, SQUARED! Their latest update, as of 1600 GMT today, reports 1490 confirmed cases of H1N1 across the globe with 30 confirmed deaths. That’s about .0000747% of the world population being infected.
Alright, let’s get serious about this. First, any loss of human life is unfortunate. It sucks to hear that the first confirmed death in the United States was that of a 23 month old child. Fine, he wasn’t a US citizen. Hope you feel better now. Still, it’s a child. Seeing anyone sick is bad enough, but a child is downright horrid. I have kids, I hate when they get sick, it’s such a helpless feeling.
Now let’s look at this overall. We know of roughly 1500 confirmed cases of H1N1. According to Wikipedia, there are between 3 and 5 million cases of severe Influenza per year, with roughly 500,000 deaths. The WHO agrees, putting the deaths at between 300,000 and 500,000. The CDC, a US organization, estimates that 5%-20% of US residents contract Influenza each year with roughly 36,000 deaths.
So if you compare the so-called “pandemic outbreak” of H1N1 with the “normal” flu that sweeps across the world year after year, we have something that is barely worth talking about. The current H1N1 deaths are primarily connected to young children, people with pre-existing medical conditions, or people with poor medical care. This is not a virus that is killing your typical healthy human.
So can we please stop playing scare games and spreading nonsense about this situation? It’s not nearly as bad as the media is making it out to be. This is not the end of the world, so please stop acting like it is.