[Selene]

Does anyone know if this is accurate?

Swine Flu Kills Obese People: Is U.S. Primed for a Pandemic Catastrophe?
http://www.naturalnews.com/026602_pandemic_swine_flu_health.html

[Steve Van Doorn]

I seriously doubt it. What makes this a potentially dangerous virus is that it attacks those with a very good immunity system. It tricks the body into attacking its own immunity system, so ordinarily the healthier the person the more risk they are.

potentially can be a very scary virus.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Oh.. duh.. didn't even think of that point. The swine flu as it is right now those with a poor immunity system is at greatest risk so this article is correct.

At present time the flu should be treated as just a normal flu, so those that are obese will be at greatest risk.
This is old news and a none issue.

[bioqubit]

that swine flu might preferentially kill obese people can be attributed to one factor - but this is just conjecture.

The shells of a virus come in two types - protein or fat. Some herpes viruses are fatty shelled. Cold viruses are protein shelled (there might be some exceptions).

the swine flu virus is probably fatty shelled. An obese person would have an abundance of the materials needed to make the fatty shelled virus. If the body’s immune system is not able to fight off the virus very well, then possibly, there could be this exponential growth rate for the swine flu virus since the “raw materials” are so much more plentiful in an obese person.