Quote:
Originally Posted by Libertine
No, it wouldn't. The 1918 Spanish Flu was extremely deadly because it provoked an exaggerated immune response (a cytokine storm, to be exact), which was what ended up killing people. That's why the victims were mostly young, healthy people with great immune systems - the better your immune system, the more damage it could do to you.
The current strain of H1N1 does not provoke a similar immune response, and is therefore far less dangerous. It's most dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, and poses a rather small but real risk for healthy individuals.
The problem with the flu, however, is that it mutates rapidly. There's a very, very small chance that the current strain of H1N1 will mutate in a way that creates an effect similar to the one the 1918 Spanish Flu had. If that happens, it will do quite a bit of damage.
|
A young 'healthy' person in 1918 was far less healthy than our super poor in America today. To an extreme. The living conditions alone are extreme in comparison. Length of life, birth rates, everything was extremely low.
At that, they did not have the medical care, sanitation - at all like today. And the war was extreme, chemical warfare was used, it hurt people bodies, animals, everyone and everything, it was shipped by the, sick, weak, hungry military all around the world, going into sick, poverty, starving areas, and killing people.
Peoples "strong" immune system then, would equal sure death for them in today's world. Just like more than the flu mass killed people back then.
The normal flu has mutated for 100's of years to be the strong bastard it is today. It went through the 1918 periods and it's still here, because it mutated and it's much much stronger now, which has made us stronger too.
The phrase, only the strong survive rings true... h1n1 or not.