Need To Prepare for Huge Flu Epidemic
Today, the flu is something that causes you to feel lousy and miss work for a week, but in 1918, a global flu pandemic killed 40 million people. Scientists are warning it could happen again.
“The natural history of influenza suggests it is only a matter of time before another influenza pandemic occurs,” says Dr. Martin Meltzer of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He says that in the U.S. it would kill 89,000 to 207,000 people. There would also be 3214,000 to 734,000hospitalizations, 18 to 42 million outpatient visits and 20 to 47 million additional, untreated, cases. The economic cost would be $71.3 to $166.5 billion.
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