A(H1N1) Pandemic: Hoping for the best

ALAN C. ROBLES and ANNIE RUTH C. SABANGAN, GMANews.tv

06/18/2009 | 11:51 AM

First the good news. The swine flu which has swept the world in just a few months has so far proven to be mild. It has caused a few deaths, but nowhere approaching the scale of the calamitous 1918 "Spanish Flu" pandemic.

Now the bad news: everything could change suddenly. And if it does, poor countries like the Philippines could suffer the most.

The reason is that the virus, A(H1N1), has one main characteristic: it is unpredictable. When Dr. Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization's director general, announced on June 11 that "the world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic," she noted that "the overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms and make a rapid and full recovery, often in the absence of any form of medical treatment."

But she also warned that "this early, patchy picture can change very quickly." She pointed out that "The virus writes the rules and this one, like all influenza viruses, can change the rules, without rhyme or reason, at any time."

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.