All deaths so far have been in Mexico, where 20 of the 149 reported fatalities have been confirmed to be from the H1N1 swine flu virus. There are 1,600 suspected cases in Mexico and 64 confirmed cases in the United States, and a few cases in Canada, New Zealand, Britain, Spain and Israel.
WHY ARE THERE ONLY DEATHS IN MEXICO?
No one is sure. It is important to remember that health officials are now taking a snapshot of the past -- they are not reporting on new infections at this point, just tracking down old infections and they are only finding them where they are looking. The Mexican authorities looked in hospitals, where serious cases will, of course, be found. U.S. health officials found their cases during routine screening of people with flu-like symptoms, most in walk-in clinics, so they have naturally found milder cases.
Influenza experts say they fully expect to find deaths in other places, including the United States and elsewhere, as the search goes on. One problem is that people die of respiratory diseases regularly and the cause is often not determined.
WHY WOULD IT KILL SOME AND NOT OTHERS?
Seasonal influenza kills 250,000 to 500,000 people every year in a normal year and all sorts of factors determine who dies. Elderly people often die but sometimes perfectly healthy adults and children die. Sometimes flu makes people susceptible to bacterial infections, called secondary infections, and if the vir
