Swine Flu Pandemic?

Recently, there was an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico. Though it usually only affects pigs and people who are in direct contact with them, it has begun affecting other people. It also spreads quite easily from one person to the next.

While not officially labeled a pandemic, the WHO (World Health Organization) is warning people to be wary. Their instructions go something like this: If you feel sick, stay home. Wash your hands often. Wear a mask in public places where the flu is suspected to be. Go to the doctor if you feel like you have the flu. 

So far, there have been about 1,600 confirmed swine flu cases in Mexico, with approximately 149 deaths so far in that country. In the U.S., there have been 40 confirmed cases, and no deaths, and only one case that needed hospitalization.

Most think that the reason for the death tolls in Mexico, and the lack of them in the US, is because the virus has been going around for a couple of weeks in Mexico, while it's just beginning to outbreak in the US and the rest of the world. 

Experts think that the swine flu will only get worse, due to the flu's tendency to mutate. In fact, it was a mutation that caused this whole outbreak in the first place.

The WHO is worried that this outbreak of flu could turn into something like the previous pandemics in 1968, 1957, and at the very, very worst, like the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918, which killed millions of people world wide. 

However, most countries, like the USA, have prepared for an eventual flu epidemic, and have been stockpiling vaccines to send out if needed.