Both doctors and people have been warned by the WHO of possible complications that could arise in one having swine flu, including the contraction of the deadly Pneumonia viral. The predictions have turned false, and the anti viral drugs recommended to cure the H1N1 virus seem to be failing miserably.
Ineffective medication
The death toll is still as high and growing every day. It has been found that in the first 36 cases of pediatric deaths, the victims actually died of another infection instead of the actual swine flu. Surprisingly, the findings also showed that the death rate was higher in people on whom the anti viral medication had been administered than the ones who were untreated by it.
It is well known that the H1N1 virus is more dangerous and more prevalent in children than in older people. A new theory is also suggesting that older people who were victims of similar flu strains were now immune to this pandemic. The normal seasonal flu is different in regard that it effects the older population more.
Nikki Shindo, WHO's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response Department has said "It's not like seasonal influenza. It can cause very severe disease in previously healthy young adults."
Conference in Washington
According to the WHO specialist, the H1N1 virus is much more dangerous than the seasonal flu one, because it can reach deeper within the lungs and seed itself there. This in turn, can make a person vulnerable to a life threatening viral infection like Pneumonia, and in further stages, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
These announcements were made in a three day conference which was held in Washington, and had more than 100 specialists present from all over the world.
WHO had declared the H1N1 virus a pandemic in June earlier this year itself, even though it is quite common, and deaths are rare. Apart from that, New Zealand and Australia have reported lesser deaths from the flu this year, as compared to last. This virus is a common occurrence during summers in these regions.
Many experts are saying that the cause of death in children is actually deficiency of Vitamin D, which makes them vulnerable to influenza in the first place.
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