Influenza Pandemic Update:

Reader L. Jean sent this: UK Government prediction: 40 deaths per day from swine flu. L. Jean’s comment: “[I really have no idea where the figures come from as sources aren’t quoted in the article, and it doesn’t seem to be causing any panic, in fact most people just don’t believe it, and are saying ‘it’s just fl'” and are refusing to take any precautions – which is bad news for the rest of us. I’m still waiting to find out if it’s a cytokine storm that kills or not – perhaps not if all deaths so far have been to people with ‘underlying health problems’. Strange how every government uses the exact same phrase.”

Karen H. flagged these three articles for us:

Britain revamps swine flu strategy to handle 100,000 new cases a day by end of August.

WHO working on formulas to model spread of swine flu as actual case outpace reported numbers. “The meeting comes as it becomes clearer that actual case numbers may be far higher than the agency’s tally of officially diagnosed infections.”

World health officials tackle swine flue pandemic, spreading in Southern Hemisphere, Europe. “As we see today, with well over 100 countries reporting cases, once a fully fit pandemic virus emerges, its further international spread is unstoppable,” Chan said during opening remarks.