Governments Spend Swine Flu Panic Billions On Common Cold

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_Governments Spend Swine Flu Panic Billions On Common Cold_

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Most cases believed to be H1N1 are actually the common cold or another

flu-like bug

(Caption & Pic courtesy Of One Click & Globe Mail combo)

Public health officials are warning the wave of H1N1 this fall is not

nearly as widespread as suspected. Last week in Ontario, fewer than one in four

cases of suspected H1N1 tested positive in laboratory analysis. In British

Columbia, the rate was one in three. The rest, based on samples, were

mostly rhinovirus – the common cold – and enterovirus, a common flu-like

bug. “

We have been notoriously inaccurate,†said Michael Gardam, director of

infectious disease prevention at Ontario's Agency for Health Protection and

Promotion. That means thousands of cases of suspected H1N1 could be something

else entirely. Even when the second wave of the virus was peaking a month

ago, only half of the cases tested positive when examined in a lab.

Justine Hunter, The Globe And Mail