Why Do Some People Suffer Severe Swine Flu?
Many of the people who have suffered severe complications of swine flu — including death — have not been in any of the risk groups. Alarmingly, some have been apparently healthy young people. One reason for this is simply statistical. Because the first wave of the swine flu pandemic has spread most explosively in schools, young people have been exposed in disproportionate numbers. Because more young people are infected, more of the severe cases (as well as more of the mild cases) occur in this population. Another reason may have to do with the virus. While the pandemic 2009 H1N1 bug does not seem to carry any of the flu genes linked to extreme virulence, it does more readily infect lung tissues than the seasonal flu bugs now in circulation. Ferret studies suggest that the pandemic swine flu bug isn’t yet fully adapted to humans because it doesn’t spread easily in small sneeze and cough droplets. That’s a good thing, because small droplets carry the virus deep into the lungs. This may
