A critical piece of statistics needs to be compiled about those who catch the flu, and those who have a more severe version of the flu.
Ethnic statistics. I suspect the distribution of the Swine flu is not even among different ethnic groups, and that those hit hardest need special emphasis put on vaccination.
One good reason for this, for example, are those whose families come from South of the US border. This is because while America typically experiences most new strains of flu, they are far less common South of the border, because of the double barrier of terrain and weather. Flu epidemics are, or at least were, much less common South of the border.
With the public having less “experienced” immune systems, they might be far more prone to both catching the disease, and having a much more severe version of it.
Importantly, while there might be other reasons for the severity of an outbreak, because so many Mexicans live North of the border, by examining their population for frequency and severity, we can eliminate other influences.
A critical piece of statistics needs to be compiled about those who catch the flu, and those who have a more severe version of the flu.
Ethnic statistics. I suspect the distribution of the Swine flu is not even among different ethnic groups, and that those hit hardest need special emphasis put on vaccination.
Yes , I would like to know the above too !
Great Post :)
I was thinking along these lines, too. There are several cases where children of Mexican heritage died very rapidly from this flu. Ethnically, it seems this population has little or no resistance, as compared with Northerners.
This reminds me of the measles epidemic which wiped out so many native Americans after the voyages of the Europeans introduced this “new” virus to indigenous populations.
This should be a matter for further investigation.