As I mentioned in a previous post, it appears to be at least partly due to people not taking this disease seriously enought. They aren't seeking medical help early enough when respiratory distress manifests. The initial symptoms may seem milder than ordinary flu, and that may be partly due to the fact that there is little natural immunity to this virus --minimal immune response equates to mild symptoms. By the time serious symptoms appear, the infection is already very advanced.
You mean it's mutating from a bacteria to a virus??? That's impossible as a virus is not an organism (living thing).
Who said it was mutating from a bacteria to a virus? If it's mutating, it's only into a slightly different virus.
Excellent! Not many people realize that viruses are not living organisms. From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life [granted, not a reliable source but it does lists these items from a college text book] 1. Homeostasis: Regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state; for example, electrolyte concentration or sweating to reduce temperature. 2. Organization: Being structurally composed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life. 3. Metabolism: Transformation of energy by converting chemicals and energy into cellular components (anabolism) and decomposing organic matter (catabolism). Living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis) and to produce the other phenomena associated with life. 4. Growth: Maintenance of a higher rate of anabolism than catabolism. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than simply accumulating matter. 5. Adaptation: The ability to change over a period of time in response to the environment. This ability is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity as well as the composition of metabolized substances, and external factors present. 6. Response to stimuli: A response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism to external chemicals, to complex reactions involving all the senses of multicellular organisms. A response is often expressed by motion, for example, the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun (phototropism) and by chemotaxis. 7. Reproduction: The ability to produce new individual organisms, either asexually from a single parent organism, or sexually from two parent organisms.
Another poster seemed to think antibiotics could effect the "virus" and Cog explained that there was a substantial difference between a virus and a bacteria. He also mentioned fear that the virus might mutate and the other person who mentioned bacteria commented about the possibility it was mutating. I believe some people misunderstand the reason that some physicians prescribe antibiotics during periods of viral illness. I am a case in point. Due to permanent respiratory damage I suffered in Vietnam as a young man, I am susceptible to opportunistic bacterial infections, including pneumonia and stasis dermatitis. At the first sign of flu, my doctor provides me with a broad spectrum antibiotic as a prophylactic. It does nothing against the virus but it prevents secondary, and possibly lethal, bacterial infections. This is not uncommon with patients who have underlying conditions, hence, some folks think that antibiotics are used for viral diseases.
Prophylactic use of antibiotics is discouraged these days for most patients because of the risk of producing resistant strains of inferctious bacteria. It used to be a common practice, and some old school physicians still do it anyway. Also, antibiotics can wreak havoc with beneficial colonic bacteria. For most patients, it isn't advisable to give antibiotics if there doesn't appear to be a bacterial infection.
Okay, I just heard a scary number. Half of the reported cases of H1N1 in Ontario are in Kingston. Keep in mind Ontario has a population of about 12,000,000, and the city's population is around 130,000 if you include the university students. I do realize that many people in Toronto and in rural communities can't get to doctors to get a confirmation, but not so many to create such an extreme difference in the number of reported cases, considering Kingston only makes up about 1% of the province's population.
