With the WHO now ranking the swine flu as the most prevalent flu strain worldwide, it also released a statement warning of an increased need for intensive care unit hospitalizations.

Unlike the seasonal flu virus, the swine flu can directly attack the lungs and cause life-threatening pneumonia.
WHO highlighted this debilitating effect, stating, “Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people... In these patients,the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.”

In Canada, where four more fatalities just occurred, health officials say that some of the recently perished were in the hospital on breathing machines since June.

Recent data also from Canada indicates that those most likely to die from swine flu are in their 40s and that two-thirds of the most critically ill have no prior underlying health conditions.

At Washington State University in the US, 50 students showed swine flu symptoms, and in China,  Xing'an County’s No. 3 Senior High School closed for a week after 8 students tested positive for swine flu.
Formosa (Taiwan) reported 10 newly hospitalized, bringing the total in hospital to 75. Argentina’s death toll has risen to 465 out of 8,240 cases, and a 49-year old person passed away in Israel, becoming the 17th loss
of life there.

The latest five people who have passed away in India included two expectant mothers, bringing the total death toll to 98. Globally, one official tally reports 3,014 fatalities across 180 countries.

All experts acknowledge that cases from April 2009 to date are much too high to count. May the Providence care for the afflicted and comfort those in mourning due to the costs of swine flu. How tragic is the trend already although the full force of the pandemic in many places is forecast as yet to come.

May we collectively move to a compassionate vegan diet to preserve human lives on Earth.

Reference
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h3sBnmpOJu8znB3fZyE2ZSzcu_fw
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