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SKVI: H1N1 Update – US prepares for second H1N1 wave, Argentina hit hard, Washington Post

US prepares for second H1N1 wave, Argentina hit hard, Washington Post

“As the first influenza pandemic in 41 years has spread during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter over the past few months, the United States and other northern countries have been racing to prepare for a second wave of swine flu virus,” The Washington Post wrote.

At the same time, international health authorities have become increasingly alarmed about the new virus’s arrival in the poorest, least-prepared parts of the world, it added.

The newspaper said that “a new round could hit the Northern Hemisphere within weeks and lead to major disruptions in schools, workplaces and hospitals, according to US and international health officials.”

“The virus is still around and ready to explode,” said William Schaffner, an influenza expert at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine who advises federal health officials. “We’re potentially looking at a very big mess.”

It went on mentioning the Southern Hemisphere, specially Argentina, a country which was hit particularly hard, school breaks were extended and the economy suffered as people avoided restaurants, clubs and other public places.

The virus could cause nothing more than a typical flu season for the Northern Hemisphere this winter. But many experts suspect the second wave could be more severe than an average flu season, which hospitalizes an estimated 200,000 Americans and contributes to 36,000 deaths. Because the virus is new, most people are not immune to it.

“This epidemic will transmit faster than usual, because the population is more susceptible,” said Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health who has been helping the CDC project the severity of the upcoming wave. “It’s fair to say there will be tens of millions of illnesses and hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and tens of thousands of deaths. That’s not atypical. It just depends on how many tens of thousands.”

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