The current flu outbreak may have passed a major milestone today and, in addition, it claimed its first victim on US soil. The milestone is that reports of suspected cases have now gone nationwide, even though the number of confirmed cases within the US remains very small, suggesting that the general population is now interpreting any symptoms that vaguely resemble the flu as indicative of a serious issue. In contrast, the death, though unfortunate, tells us little about the risks posed by the current outbreak.
The death was announced by the Centers for Disease Control this morning. The child was just shy of two years old, an age that’s frequently endangered by other strains of the flu. The illness may have actually originated in Mexico, as the child only recently traveled to the US with its family. The death occurred on Monday in Texas, where the child had been hospitalized; testing later confirmed the presence of the current swine flu strain.
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