The 1918 Spanish Flu killed around 2% of the total population.
Before that was the bubonic plague which killed nearly half of
Europe.. These are possibly the worst epidemics we have seen.

Medical science was at best primitive even in the early 20th
century. No antibiotics for secondary infections. No anti
inflammatorys. In fact very little in the way of supportive care
at all.

All that has changed significantly. And yet now we have the
so called H1Ni "Swine Flu". Yes it is new and yes it can be
very bad in some people. But it is not The Black Death.

The death rate from the pandemic H1N1 swine flu is
likely lower than earlier estimates, an expert in
infectious diseases said on Wednesday.

New estimates suggest that the death rate compares to a
moderate year of seasonal influenza, said Dr Marc
Lipsitch of Harvard University.

"It's mildest in kids. That's one of the really good
pieces of news in this pandemic," Lipsitch told a
meeting of flu experts being held by the U.S. Institute
of Medicine.

"Barring any changes in the virus, I think we can say
we are in a category 1 pandemic. This has not become
clear until fairly recently."

The Pandemic Severity Index set by the U.S. government
has five categories of pandemic, with a category 1
being comparable to a seasonal flu epidemic.

Seasonal flu has a death rate of less than 0.1 percent
-- but still manages to kill 250,000 to 500,000 people
globally every year.

A category 5 pandemic would compare to the 1918 flu
pandemic, which had an estimated death rate of 2
percent or more, and would kill tens of million of
people.

Lipsitch took information from around the world on how
many people had reported they had influenza-like
illness, which may or may not actually be influenza;
government reports of actual hospitalizations and
confirmed deaths.

He came up with a range of mortality from swine flu,
from 0.007 percent to 0.045 percent.

So why then are people reacting like it is ? And why is the
government acting like it is.

With the H1N1 pandemic spreading rapidly, hundreds of
thousands of doctors, nurses, orderlies and other U.S.
health-care workers for the first time are being
required to get flu shots, drawing praise from many
public-health authorities but condemnation from some
employees, unions and other critics who object to
mandatory vaccination.

One of the nation's most populous states, the country's
largest hospital chain and the Washington area's
biggest private health-care system are among those
ordering influenza inoculation for health-care
employees this year, along with a growing list of
medical centers and clinics coast to coast.

The trend is being fueled by frustration at the
stubbornly low proportion of health-care workers who
get vaccinated each year despite years of coaxing,
urging and incentives to do so voluntarily, combined
with trepidation that the swine flu pandemic could
overwhelm the health-care system, especially if many
caregivers get sick, too.

Critics, however, say the decision to get vaccinated
should remain individual, especially for the swine flu
vaccine, which was rushed into production to try to
blunt the pandemic's second wave.

"I don't want to be a guinea pig," said Orne
Banks-Hopkins, 55, a clerical worker at Washington
Hospital Center. "I don't think I should be forced to
take something I don't want to take."

Some doctors and nurses in Britain have also expressed
resistance to getting the swine flu vaccine. A survey
of 1,500 British nurses conducted in August by the
Nursing Times found that one-third would not get the
vaccine because of safety concerns.

In the United States, the drive is fueling
anti-government sentiment and rumors on the Internet
and elsewhere that the vaccine may become compulsory
for everyone.

We need to get a grip people. We are quite literally scaring our
selves to death.

If we keep up acting like this every time some new pathogen
surfaces, we will all got nuts.

It won't be flu...but One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

C