For the past couple of years now people have been up and arms about contracting the bird flu, but the concern seem to have shifted to another strain of virus—the swine flu. Just yesterday, Sunday April 26, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared a public health emergency due to the swine flu. As many of you have probably heard already, there are now 2 confirmed cases of swine flu in Texas as well as cases in Mexico, California, Kansas, and New York. The World Health Organization confirmed a worldwide total of 75 cases of swine flu today—40 confirmed cases in the United States, 26 in Mexico, 6 in Canada, 1 in Spain and 2 in Scotland.
To make matters worse, Health officials suspect hundreds more cases worldwide. As far as some good news, out of the 40 cases reported in the U.S., only one has been hospitalized, and all have recovered. So far the cases seen in the U.S. have been milder than those in Mexico, where at least 20 people have died from this new strain of the swine flu virus.
In attempts to keep a possible health emergency at bay, the government is asking everyone’s corporation in this. Please, if you are sick stay home, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough and of course always wash your hands; you can never be too careful with these kinds of things.Here is a video from the White House briefing explaining the issue a bit more: