[2sheep]

Aug 11 report:  Deadly Madagascar Flu Infects Thousands

[2sheep]

Bump.

[DWPittelli]

This certainly bears watching. That said, it sounds like only weakened (old, young, malnourished and poor) people are dying, whereas in 1918 many extremely robust young soldiers died.

[Cachelot]

I've been following this since it started, and it's fairly interesting. First, it took a good while before the outbreak was identified as influenza. Then, at one point, WHO teams in place were suddenly not quite sure it really was influenza. Now it seems to be influenza again.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

I see no resemblance to the "Spanish Flu" of 1918- this sounds like a fairly normal death rate for an Influenza "A" outbreak, especially in an impoverished country with little access to supportive care.

Read "FLU" by Gina Kolata for the "real thing".

[Prodigal Son]

Interesting read.

[TBall]

Yikes! I wonder how long before the mainstream news picks up this story?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

If it's like Spanish flu, given modern methods of travel, it's probably too late to contain it.

[Mariner]

That's one scary story

[Ditter]

I had a terrible case of flu in the fall of 1957. My husband was sick for more than a month with flu in 1965. I wonder which strains they were?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[TheLooseThread]

I seem to recall that flu mutations occur in two different ways. The "regular" way is for some variation in the viral sequence. This is the year-to-year variation. If I remember correctly there is some "left over" immunity because the mutation is small. That is why we can fight it off so easily.

Then, every once in a while, there is a major mutation caused by a "chunk" of viral sequence being swapped with another. This sort of mutation (as I recall) is much much harder for our bodies to fight and has the more dramatic impact.

[PoisedWoman]

The political situation in Madagascar is undoubtedly contributing to impoverishing the poeple and spreading disease. From state dept web site, http://travel.state.gov/madagascar_announce.html

"The Department of State urges Americans to exercise caution when traveling to Madagascar. The difficult political situation that gripped the country since the December 16, 2001 presidential election is over. The government of President Ravalomanana now controls all of Madagascar. Former President Didier Ratsiraka, who refused to accept the High Constitutional Court's ruling on the December 16 election results and its swearing in of President Ravolomanana, left the country on July 5; many of his closest supporters and allies have done the same. The prospect of violent clashes between opposing political camps is now believed to be extremely low.

"The six-month long political crisis severely damaged the economy, affecting virtually every sector, and it will take at least a few months for the overall economic situation to return to normal. Commercial transportation to and from Madagascar is being restored, but flight availability will be problematic in the near future. Airlines servicing the country are adjusting their flight schedules in response to changing circumstances. The destruction and subsequent repair of four bridges leading to the capital and numerous roadblocks may delay overland travel. Road barricades that affected the capital of Antananarivo and other major cities have been removed. Fuel supplies in Antananarivo and surrounding communities are returning, but availability is limited. There are shortages of medical and food supplies in all parts of the country, and some areas have curfews."