by Glenn Littrell
It must be a slow news week for as few as 80 deaths in Mexico to throw the world [i.e.. the news world] into such a panic. Sure 80 deaths and a few hundred illnesses are nothing to be sneezed at [whoops, I’m sorry], but when you consider the big picture:
“In annual influenza epidemics 5-15% of the population are affected with upper respiratory tract infections. Hospitalization and deaths mainly occur in high-risk groups (elderly, chronically ill). Although difficult to assess, these annual epidemics are thought to result in between three and five million cases of severe illness and between 250 000 and 500 000 deaths every year around the world. Most deaths currently associated with influenza in industrialized countries occur among the elderly over 65 years of age.” source
What are there, about 200 countries in the world? That works out to about at least a thousand deaths per country per year, or up to as many as 2500 per country per year. Or 90 to 200 a month. What’s happening in Mexico hardly dwarfs those numbers. The annual figure for America I believe is 50,000 deaths a year. So how is it we’re so panicked about the numbers coming out of Mexico?
Must be a slow news week.
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