Sunday, April 26, 2009

From the Pigs, Not the Birds [UPDATED]
Didn't see this coming. Hopefully they get a handle on the swine flu before it becomes some huge pandemic. Already, it's been declared a public health emergency. In the meantime, everyone wash your hands. Lots.

[UPDATE: Here's the NYTimes story, with a bit more info, and a confusing - to me anyway - quote about the effectiveness of anti-viral meds against this new flu strain:
Ms. Napolitano, the Homeland Security secretary, said that the government intends to release one quarter of its 50 million-dose stockpile of Tamiflu and Relenza, two antiviral medications to which the new flu strain might be susceptible. Most of the medicine will go to affected states....

But whether the drugs will prove effective against the new swine flu virus remains unclear. Dr. Besser said the new strain is not resistant to the medicines, but he did not know whether either drug would shorten the course of the illness, as the medicines do with more commonplace strains of flu.
I don't know anything about science much less drugs and disease. But how could they know the "new strain is not resistant" to the medicines but not know if it will shorten the illness? If it doesn't shorten the illness, doesn't that mean the virus is resistant to the medication? Somebody educate me.]

No comments: