Underlying Conditions: Swine Flu, Obesity, Pregnancy, Cytokine Storms, Ebola, Factory Farms and “The Frog and Peach”

The swine flu genie, now officially out of the bottle as a WHO-certified global pandemic, has left a trail of mostly non-lethal misery (so far) stretching across 145-and-counting countries.

Map of swine flu outbreak  - with time animation bar (BBC)

Map of swine flu outbreak - with time animation bar (BBC)

  • In the U.S., a new survey suggests that obesity doubles the risk for serious flu complications. Exactly why this is so is a bit of mystery, but a mouse study may provide a clue. Fat mice produce elevated amounts of leptin, a hormone involved in immune response. Researchers theorize that the mice became desensitized to leptin, so their immune systems don’t kick into gear fast enough. When their immune systems finally do kick in, they go into overdrive with a “cytokine storm” – a defense so strong, it kills the host.

At the other end of the spectrum in the developing word are the nearly one billion chronically hungry weakened by malnutrition. Now factor in air pollution, which has long been known to exacerbate respiratory illnesses in general, and it is really not too much of stretch to say that almost everyone suffers from some kind of complicating underlying condition. To put it in medical terms, co-morbidities are probably the rule, not the exception. (more…)

A Virus by Any Other Name: Lessons from an Outbreak (so far…)

swinefluvirus

photo: CDC

A week has passed since the World Health Organization convened its first emergency meeting to deal with menacing new flu virus thought to have sickened thousands and killed dozens of young Mexican men. New cases continue to tally up around the world (15 countries so far) and the virus is  spreading person-to-person. The outbreak has been ranked at an unprecedented level 5 (out of 6 ) on the WHO’s pandemic scale. But for now, at least, it appears the world has dodged a bullet. Most cases are non-lethal, if not exactly mild. This is not 1918 Spanish flu redux. Yet. And if it does mutate into something more dangerous, we now have viral “seed stock” and a battalion of scientists working around the clock on a vaccine.

Whew!

So what has been learned by this apparent near-miss? (more…)

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