Reply #18: The difference is the viruses target. [View All]

[Xithras]

This is going to sound horrible, but here it is: We all die, but some of us hang on until we're old and frail and have little or no immune system yet. When that happens, the length of our remaining lifespan is often directly dependent on our ability to avoid infections. The vast majority of those 36,000 yearly deaths are the elderly, diseased, or otherwise infirm who simply have no ability to fight off ANY serious infection of ANY type. They officially died of the flue, but could have just as easily caught and perished because of any of dozens of other infections. The flue simply got them because it's more common.

Annual flu death rates among young, healthy adults are exceedingly low.

The threat with the swine flu is simply that it may target healthier and younger people who would otherwise not have to worry about dying of the flu. We sort of "understand" that diseases like the flu can kill the elderly, but we freak out at the possibility of a virulent disease that can kill ANYONE.