Fourth person critically ill with swine flu in Scotland. The Guardian reports: A fourth person is critically ill with swine flu in Scotland, it emerged today, as the World Health Organisation warned it may soon declare a global flu pandemic.
The fourth case, a 23-year-old woman from Paisley who has underlying health problems, is in intensive care at the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley, alongside two other people who are critically ill but stable with swine flu.
As with the three other critical cases, all in the Glasgow area, she has no known links to other swine flu cases and has not travelled to an infected area.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, said it was a "troubling" development and health officials were urgently trying to investigate any links to other known cases.
And the WHO is concerned. Why? The Guardian article continues: WHO officials are closely watching an outbreak in Chile, which has declared its first swine flu death. Winter is starting in the southern hemisphere, raising concerns that a winter flu pandemic is imminent.
That's why.
And while the flu stories are on the back burner here in the U.S. of A. (because plane crashes are sexier), the flu continues to infect and, sadly, kill: Two More Deaths in City Reported From Swine Flu. Everything I've read suggests that the WHO and other health organizations are really worried about what the swine flu will do this winter, because that is when the flu usually thrives. So here's some advice: wash your hands frequently. According to a friend who is a nurse practitioner, the rule told to kids is to wash your hands as long as it takes you to sing "Happy Birthday." Yeah, I hum it in my head. Just because.
