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Somehow I doubt that we will be able to hold the administration responsible for something entirely preventable like swine flu. Remember, the White House only controls the weather, Robert.
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We need to be wary of attributing Swine Flu to every set of symptoms someone has. In this siutation, we have no diagnostic details. Many others things could have killed this kid. For instance, the combination of fever and convulsions could result from Bacterial meningitis or a drug overdose hyperthermic syndrome (from substances like cocaine, amphetamines, pcp, ecstasy, and lsd, or medications like lithium, aspirin, anticholinergics, etc.). In light of the multiple misdiagnoses of H1N1 in England by teenagers or other high school grads employed by the "esteemed" National Health Service hotline that led to Tamiflu prescriptions that did nothing for what turned into fatal cases of meningitis or other things, we need to refrain from becoming armchair doctors or panic-ridden lemmings. As for Robert, we don't know how many people will die from H1N1, and projections are merely projections given what little we know about H1N1. But Robert does have a point that H1N1 is quite unlike other influenza viruses. One of the pulmonary concerns regards the tendency of H1N1 to cause blood clots they lead to fatal pulmonary embolism. As for Echo, H1N1 is not entirely preventable; and if H1N1 IS entirely preventable, then the administration should be even more responsible for the huge public health mess that Sebelius and Obama have caused. They stirred up too much hysteria, promised way too many vaccines (not only despite the conservative projections of the vaccine makers and the FDA), but they declared this way before the vaccine had been studied. Then with the CDC's glee, they arm-twisted the FDA to rush over it's own set standards to approve the vaccine and an antiviral that has no double-blinded randomized controls! Furthermore, communication has not been guided properly, so the public is quite confused/worried while many physicians and pharmacists have little info. This is perhaps one of the biggest public health debacles that I've seen during my years in medicine.
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