At the end of April 2009 the world was shocked by a swine flu epidemic in Mexico with a high death toll. By April 27, 2011 Yahoo! News reported that almost 2,000 had been infected and 149 had died.
CDC in the United States reported 40 cases, namely in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California, while there were a total of 73 cases in the world, including six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland. There is apprehension that the number will keep increasing as there are no signs that the attack of the vicious virus will end.
In view of the situation WHO has upgraded the alert to phase four which means a possibility of virus contagion in any one country. After a few days the status is raised to phase five, which means contagion between humans in two or more countries within the WHO authorized areas. Hopefully the alert status will not go up again.
However, according to Laurie Garrett, some flu experts predict that the “swine flu” virus will occur in a 90-100 year cycle, which means the 1918-1919 one is predicted to occur in the 2009-2019 period. Just be prepared, “bring along an umbrella before it rains” as the local saying goes. Take good care of your health before the flu epidemic really attacks. (Burhan Abe)
The Jakarta Post, December 19, 2011
