In New York City, an illness termed "mild" for many has killed 7 and put 300
in the hospital. A preliminary analysis of about half of those hospitalized,
most (82%) were said to have some underlying medical condition. That's common
with flu, but it's also a reminder that one of five were otherwise healthy,
and unusually for flu, most of them relatively young (mostly under 65).
Similarly, the deaths also had underlying medical conditions but were
relatively young (median age 43). The two most recent deaths were in the mid
40s.
So not being old is one risk factor. What does "underlying medical condition"
mean?
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
... (more)
About a week ago, I lamented an astoundingly bad ruling in the libel case
brought by the British Chiropractic Association against skeptic Simon Singh.
The ruling was so bad that many observers are wondering whether it's possible
for Singh to go on or whether he can afford to appeal. Blogger Jack of Kent,
who has been following the case with astute obsevations, tells us:
I understand that Simon Singh will announce whether he will appeal on Monday
18 May 2009 at a public support meeting to take place in London at 6.30pm.
The venue will be the Penderels Oak, the usual meeting place of ... (more)
I originally joined this wild and woolly collective known as ScienceBlogs
back in February 2006. I was not part of the very first wave of bloggers who
made up ScienceBlogs when it launched, although I potentially could have,
mainly because I had to work out policies about outside employment with my
university before I could join up. In any case, one of the very first posts
that I did back then that made a bit of a splash was a little ditty I called
in my usual inimitable and restrained fashion, Why not just castrate them?
It was the dark saga of an even darker father-and-son tag t... (more)
The most significant thing that has happened over the last 24 hours or so is
that the CDC has confirmed a handful of Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu cases in
new locations. Previously, cases were only identified in Texas and
California. Now, there are cases in Ohio (1 case), New York (8 cases), and
Kansas (2 cases). In at least some cases, there is a Mexico connection. I
think it is reasonable to assume that new cases will start showing up in
other locations over the next day or two.
WHO has some updated information on the situation in Mexico:
...as of 26 April, the Government of Mex... (more)
I've complained quite a bit about the news media in my hometown. Indeed,
about a year ago, I was stunned at how utterly credulous one TV reporter was
about--of all things--orbs. I mean, orbs! Even dedicated ghosthunters don't
push orbs much anymore, realizing that they are nothing more than reflections
or specks of dust reflecting lights in photographs. Then there's Steve Wilson
and his forays into anti-vaccine nonsense, in which he recycles some of the
oldest, most tired, most highly debunked canards. Lately, it's been some
additional crappy reporting about Gardasil and a recent... (more)
Swine influenza virus (referred to as SIV) refers to influenza cases that are caused by Orthomyxoviruses that are endemic to pig populations. SIV strains isolated to date have been classified either as Influenzavirus C or one of the various subtypes of the genus Influenzavirus A. The 2009 swine flu outbreak is the spread of a new strain of H1N1 influenza virus that was first detected by public health agencies in March 2009. Local outbreaks of influenza-like illness were detected in three areas in Mexico, but the presence of this new strain was not discovered for a full month. 
Christopher Kenneally
Eddie Budgen
Helen Ching
Tomer Teller
Jason Venner
Steve Capoccia
Hans van de Koppel
Chris Rommel
Andreas Sundquist
Soumya Ranjan Das
