How severe is swine flu?
The severity of cases in the current swine flu outbreak has varied widely, from mild cases to fatalities. Most U.S. cases have been mild, but there have been a number of tragic deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations — mostly in young people aged 5 to 24. Pregnant women have been particularly vulnerable to severe flu and death. Like seasonal flu, children who get swine flu can have serious neurological complications such as seizures and Reye’s syndrome. But as with seasonal flu, these complications fortunately are rare. Studies of the swine flu virus show that it is more infectious to lung cells than are seasonal flu viruses. But studies also suggest that the swine flu virus is less well adapted to humans and may be harder to inhale deep into the lungs. Flu viruses change all the time, and the way the pandemic swine flu virus evolved suggests that it is particularly liable to swap gene segments with other flu viruses. But so far the swine flu virus hasn’t changed much. That’s good new
