Time to think about swine flu

Chattanooga (Tenn.) Free-Press: Given the season and the fact that many families are winding down vacations and preparing for the start of school, it’s understandable that most Americans have given little thought to the swine flu — or any type of influenza. Such concern, for most, is a topic left to the cold-weather months.

Federal health officials, though, are paying attention — and with good reason. The number of people reported to have swine flu has increased significantly in the last fortnight.

Fortunately, the flu cases reported — most of them in Indiana and Ohio, with scattered cases in a few other states — have been mild. That’s not always the case. Swine and other forms of influenza can produce widespread outbreaks of serious, even fatal, illness, though officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that is unlikely to occur at present.

Current cases of swine flu are mild and not spreading from person to person, as would be the case in an epidemic or pandemic. Public health officials report that almost all of the recently reported cases have been in children who likely had direct contact with pigs at agricultural fairs or similar events. Children, they say, are especially vulnerable to the swine flu because they have not developed antibodies to fight the swine flu virus. ...

The rise in number of cases at a time when swine flu is usually dormant nevertheless has caught the attention of federal health officials.