Causecast

by JONATHAN HARRIS, Managing Editor

According to the most recent numbers released by the World Health Organization, 331 people worldwide are confirmed to have been infected with H1N1, that nasty bug known to all of us as swine flu. 141 of those cases are in the United States, with one U.S. death attributed to the disease.

Scientists have already said that this flu strain doesn’t look much more dangerous than the average influenza virus that kills an estimated 36,000 people every year in the United States. To ease your mind about swine flu and keep you updated on the things that really affect the health and wellbeing of the world population, here are a few statistics:

-Worldwide deaths attributed to H1N1: 7
-Children who die in the U.S. every year from home-related injuries: 2,000.
-U.S. citizens who die every year from leukemia: 21,700
-U.S. deaths in Iraq: 4,277
-Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003, attributable to the war: about 100,000
-U.S. deaths every year in car crashes: 40,000
-Women worldwide forced into sexual slavery: 2 million
-Number of people that do not have access to safe drinking water: 1.1 billion
-Children who die EVERY DAY from drinking unclean water: 5,000

Seven people worldwide and one in the U.S. doesn’t seem that bad all of a sudden, does it? (Too be fair, 159 deaths in Mexico over the last week are suspected cases of swine flu, but those have yet to be confirmed by the WHO.)

So, why is Mexico suddenly on the highest alert level for swine flu, when there were more than 4,000 drug-related murders in 2008 (up from 2,500 in 2007)? As the Mexican government needs to establish a degree of control over its rampant drug war, they should be thankful for the few days of relative peace they’ll get out of people staying in their homes. Conspiracy theorists have already accused world governments of creating the virus or seizing upon the opportunity to establish martial law. It seems more likely, however, that an overanxious media and an overzealous Mexican president are simply over…reacting. (I can’t imagine the Mexican government doing this intentionally. Why sabotage tourism the week before Cinco de Mayo?)

Considering the dramatic flu pandemics of the past, we should, of course, be diligent when a new strain pops up. As with SARS, monkey pox, bird flu, and now H1N1, however, there’s a fine line between due diligence and a media panic.

Image by Eneas, flickr