Good News On Swine Flu Outbreak Despite Biden Gaffes

Vice President Joe Biden is warning that people should avoid taking subways, trains, and planes. It's easy to tell everyone to get to work on their own when they don't have a personal chauffeur, which in Biden's case is the United States Secret Service. For everyone else, you're on your own.

Of course, Biden shows his utter ignorance on health issues, which shouldn't be all that unexpected. It also runs contrary to what President Obama and various US health officials have said. There are so many people out there talking about the swine flu that don't have the slightest bit of understanding or knowledge - or worse, know just a little bit and then make dangerous leaps in logic to conclude as Biden has, that people should avoid taking subways and planes.

Of course, the Vice President's staff was quick (but not quick enough) to issue a clarification.

The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving to all Americans: that they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico.

If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways. This is the advice the Vice President has given family members who are traveling by commercial airline this week. As the President said just last night, every American should take the same steps you would take to prevent any other flu: keep your hands washed; cover your mouth when you cough; stay home from work if you’re sick; and keep your children home from school if they’re sick.”

Not to minimize the potential hazards associated with the swine flu, but why aren't people more concerned with the garden variety flu that kills 36,000 Americans every single year while sickening anywhere from 5-20% of the nation?

Those figures are from the Centers for Disease Control, which is part of the US government. You'd think that Biden would know that information, or one of his staffers was briefed on the situation.

In fact, you'd think that Biden would have been briefed that scientists think that the swine flu as it is currently configured is a relatively mild strain of flu.

As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza -- at least in its current form -- isn't shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.

Thus far, we've got a handful of swine flu cases relatively speaking with the overwhelming number of cases in New York City as a result of a school trip to Cancun, Mexico. There was one fatality, which was a Mexican toddler who was in the US with her family and apparently seeking care here.

Taken together, that's good news. It also reinforces the point I have been making for the last few days about how getting the flu vaccine may do more to prevent deaths or complications from the annual flu. The hysterics in the media about the swine flu may bring attention to that form, but it's the regular flu that still does the damage around the world annually.

The same precautions apply to all kinds of flu - good hygiene is a plus, and staying home when you're sick so as not to infect anyone else helps limit the spread.

Thus far, this version of the flu doesn't appear to have a higher mortality rate in the US than other flus (Mexico's health care system isn't exactly looking all that impressive if you go by the claims that 150+ have died of swine flu, but the WHO claims there are less than a dozen confirmed fatalities from the swine flu). The Mexican authorities are also doing more to limit public events to limit the spread, as they are at the epicenter of the outbreak. Google has updated and expanded its flu tracking services, to improve Mexico's ability to track the incidences.


It's good to keep this in perspective and to maintain a health respect for the potential harm that the swine flu can bring. Needless hysterics and blatherings from politicians who don't know when to keep their mouths shut only further obfuscate the facts and important information that people should take away from the health situation.