Dear all
I'm remembering Swine Flu in 2009. When the flu started in Mexico and expanded into the US. On the 8th of May in 2009, WHO reported the fatal cases as 46 in 2,500. So, the fatality rate was 1.8%. However, the CDC showed the fatality rate was 0.09% (2/2,254) in the US. Finally, it became one of the seasonal flu subtypes.
The book "America's forgotten pandemic The Influenza of 1918" by A.W. Crosby is also very suggestive when we get ready to fight against this infection.
What is the novel Coronavirus?
Japan has the second-highest number of patients with this infection after China. In China, there are 31,161 cases by the morning of the 14th Friday of February in 2020. And the number of fatal cases was 636. So, the fatality rate is 2.0%.
However, the symptoms outside China are not so serious. (including the cases in Japan). In Japan, the excessive (elderly) death caused by seasonal flu is about 2,000-5,000 every year.
My impression of this viral infection is similar to Swine Flu. It is relatively contagious but is not so severe under standard medical service. However, the worldwide epidemic stage is pandemic.
What do you think?
Kind regards,
Hajime
CHIFA profile Hajime Takeuchi is a professor at the Bukkyo University in Japan. Professional interests: child health, child poverty, child wellbeing. takechanespid@gmail.com He is a CHIFA Country Representative for Japan http://www.hifa.org/support/members/hajime
