Political Quotes

“in 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic swept the world for a number of reasons--not the least of which we had soldiers coming from all over the world going places and coming home. As a result, this pandemic that swept our world claimed the lives of about 50 million people, and 500,000 people in the United States alone before it completed its deadly run. Today, many public health experts are warning us that another flu pandemic is not a matter of if, but when. They tell us that this next pandemic has the potential to be every bit as devastating as what the world witnessed nearly 100 years ago. A flu pandemic occurs when a new strain of flu emerges in the human population and causes serious illness and death and can easily spread between humans. The avian flu, referred to as H5-N1 flu strain by scientists, already meets the first step: Roughly half of the 115 people who have been diagnosed with this virus to date have died. At present, all that stands between avian flu and pandemic status is the fact that scientists do not believe the avian flu can easily be transmitted between humans. Scientists fear it is only a matter of time before the avian flu virus mutates into a form that can spread easily from human to human. According to the Centers for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding: . . . many influenza experts, including those at CDC, consider the threat of a serious influenza epidemic to the United States to be high.…”