Scary: Scientists make flu virus that could wipe out civilization

1918 flu pandemic

Perhaps something useful was learned from this experiment, but the risks far outweigh the rewards. The scientists involved should be punished.

The Daily Mail:

A group of scientists is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilization.

The deadly virus is a genetically tweaked version of the H5N1 bird flu strain, but is far more infectious and could pass easily between millions of people at a time.

The research has caused a storm of controversy and divided scientists, with some saying it should never have been carried out.

Swine flu over 5000 cases in US

According to AFP via Google Hosted News

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US government reported Monday more than 400 new cases of swine flu to take the nation's total number of infections above 5,000, and said it remained on guard for an autumn upsurge.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the number of confirmed and probable cases in 47 states plus Washington's District of Columbia now stood at 5,123, up from 4,714 on Friday.

A teacher at a New York school who had been in critical condition for days died Sunday after being infected with the A(H1N1) virus, taking the US death toll to six. Only Mexico has suffered more deaths from the disease.

The CDC has downgraded a travel warning for Mexico but Anne Schuchat, director of the agency's center for immunization and respiratory diseases, took issue with media reporting that is now playing down the outbreak.

"The H1N1 virus is not going away, despite what you may have heard," she told reporters, stressing that the number of confirmed cases in the United States may be only the "tip of the iceberg."

"Unfortunately based on the trends we're seeing, we do expect more illness, more hospitalizations, and more deaths," Schuchat said, with more than 200 people already requiring hospital treatment in the United States.

The CDC quit doing a separate state by state map two days ago. They are now throwing swine flu in with other flu statistics. This graph shows the explosion of swine flu in the last two weeks. Swine flu cases are the dark blue part of the stacked bar.

Swine flu cases explode in US

Swine flu(H1N1) has exploded to 4,298 cases in 49 states with 3 deaths according to the CDC.


State by state map of swine flu cases.

Swine Flu (H1N1) Continues to Spread

Swine flu is now being downplayed by the Obama administration and the Main Stream Media. However, according to the latest CDC numbers, Swine flu (H1N1) is rapidly spreading in the US. Over 2500 confirmed cased and three deaths have been recorded. According to the CDC.gov:

The ongoing outbreak of novel influenza A (H1N1) continues to expand in the United States. CDC expects that more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths from this outbreak will occur over the coming days and weeks.

CDC continues to take aggressive action to respond to the expanding outbreak. CDC’s response goals are to reduce spread and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this emergency.

Confirmed cases by state as of 05/10/09.

Sorry, Mexico is closed

In response to the swine fly pandemic, the Mexican government has decided to lose all but essential services. This drastic response comes after another reported 17 deaths in Mexico. Essential services such as transport, supermarkets, trash collection and hospitals will remain open. Fox News reported:

Mexico's president told citizens on Wednesday to stay home for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy, after the World Health Organization raised its alert level and said a swine flu pandemic was imminent.

In his first televised address since the crisis erupted last week, President Felipe Calderon told Mexicans to stay home with their families. The country will suspend non-essential work and services, including some government ministries, from May 1-5.

"There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus," Calderon said.

Mexico is taking the drastic step after another 17 deaths were potentially linked to swine flu, bringing the total to as many as 176.

Map of Mexico swine flu outbreak

Mexico Swine Flu Map

Swine flu continues to spread

According to the CDC, there have been 91 cases of Swine flu reported in the U.S. One death has resulted in Texas. Here is a Google map of the outbreak locations.

Swine flu arrives in the U.S.

The swine flu pandemic(outbreak) has crossed the border into the U.S. Twenty cases have been reported so far this month. According to the CDC,

Human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection have been identified in the United States. Human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection also have been identified internationally. The current U.S. case count is provided below.

Google has a swine flu map.