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Welcome to the Flu Wiki

Documenting the current Flu outbreak with a wiki that anyone can edit

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The 2009 pandemic, of an H1N1 influenza strain commonly referred to as swine flu (although it is a mixture), was first identified in Mexico in April 2009. Cases were soon confirmed across the United States, Canada, several countries in Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica and Hong Kong. It has caused hundreds of deaths, initially in Mexico and the United States.

There are other suspected cases across Europe, Guatemala and South America. Last continent affected was Africa, where the WHO 6 July update showed over 70 confirmed cases in Egypt and over 50 elsewhere, widely spread from Tunisia to Cap Verde to South Africa.

As a reminder, over 36,000 people in the US die annually from one or other kind of Flu. That is around 100 per day or 700 per week, and since the deaths are not distributed evenly throughout the year, it is not unusual to have over 1,000 deaths from flu in a week. Keep this perspective as this story progresses. While the new strain may cause a higher number of deaths, it is crucial to remember that different strains of flu come and go naturally, and overreacting (as well as under-reacting) does not help. The media may not always give a proportionate response, as they are competing for audience.

Surgical Face Mask are widely used in Asian countries like Vietnam is common to see people wearing a face mask while riding a motorcycle, however with the recent outbreak of H1N1 proper use was neglected with many times of face mask available in the market there are confusion of the types of face mask to be used. A NGO Nha Bao Co LTD I CARE has launched a national wide awareness program on proper use of face mask in the country to prevent the infection of H1N1.

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