people dead in mexico from swine flu

Some of these stories read like the script for a movie about pandemics. We know that some people in Mexico have died from the new strain of swine flu detected in California and Texas. We don't know that ALL the cases attributed to swine flu really are swine flu.

But obviously it's got the attention of the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization and the Mexican government, which has closed schools in Mexico City. And a prep school in New York City is testing students with symptoms that they fear are consistent with swine flu.

Two disturbing things if the reports are all accurate. (1) It appears to be hitting the young the hardest - like the "Spanish" Flu of 1918-19. (2) It isn't even flu season in Mexico and the US.

For those old enough to remember the swine flu scare of 1976 which in pandemic terms was a flop, remember that in 1976 one person died and the US had a vaccine available very quickly. Twenty or more people have died so far in Mexico and there is no vaccine available.