The government hasn't released an official report of deaths caused by the H1N1 virus, but health experts are saying more than 1,000 Americans have died from the virus, and over 20,000 have been hospitalized.
And the panic continues to spread as people are being turned away from clinics and flu shot locations—even those who are "priority." Priority patients are pregnant women, children 6-36 months, health care professionals, and those over the age of 65 (although the swine flu affects mainly the young).
The bad news first: Even though the swine flu has already caused 46 states to declare widespread epidemic, the flu season hasn't officially started yet. November is typically when the flu season kicks off—continuing to peak through April. We're just warming up, so to speak.
The good news: Rumors of the swine flu vaccine being unsafe have started to calm down as officials prove the suspicions wrong. Yes, the swine flu vaccine is different than the annual flu shot, but it's also just as safe as the annual flu shot—the common side effects and risks are synonymous. For complete up-to-date information for schools, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What the swine flu really is: Originally it was named "swine flu" because scientists believed the virus to be very close to the virus that infects pigs in North America. However, further study shows that H1N1 is very different from the swine influenza that infects pigs. This is what the CDC is reporting as, a "quadruple reassortant" virus. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia, as well as avian and human genes.
