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It has a hold on us now - the Swine Flu and a possible pandemic. On the radio yesterday, I heard the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office informing everyone that a plan was in place to receive and distribute vaccines throughout the county. Hundreds of schools are closed. Health agencies, local, and state governments are acting and reacting to what is and what may become.
Is this going to be a repeat of the 1918 Flu Pandemic? Should we panic? After some thought and talking with people, I decided to do what I usually do - hunt for the numbers. And, so, I have taken a glance at the CDC, at the WHO, and at various state & county health agencies in what may be described as 'data morbidosis.'
One of my finds is a report that details the 15 leading causes of death in the United States, for total population and then with different age group or ethnicity breakdowns. The report I reviewed covered facts for 2005 (presumably it takes awhile to collect and verify this amount of data), and it indicates that there were 2,448,017 deaths in the United States that year. The leading cause of death was heart-related diseases (652,091 people). Second on the list was malignant neoplasms (559,312 people). Cerebrovascular diseases claimed the third spot, resulting in 143,579 deaths, and chronic lower respiratory diseases claimed the 4th spot with 130,933 deaths. The Top 5 Leading Causes of Death for 2005 is completed with accidents/unintentional injuries - claiming 117,809 people.
Here is a full list of the Top 15 Leading Causes of Death (U.S) for 2005:
- Diseases of the heart (652,091)
- Malignant neoplasms (559,312)
- Cerebrovascular diseases (143,579)
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases (130,933)
- Accidents (unintentional injuries) (117,809)
- Diabetes mellitus (75,119)
- Alzheimer's disease (71,599)
- Influenza and pneumonia (63,001)
- Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis (43,901)
- Septicemia (34,136)
- Intentional self-harm (suicide) (32,637)
- Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (27,530)
- Essential (primary) hypertension and hypertension renal disease (24,902)
- Parkinson's disease (19,544)
- Assault (homicide) (18,124)
- *ALL OTHER CAUSES (RESIDUAL)* (433,800)
Ok, that's a disease data profile from 2005. What about more recent numbers? What about more local? So, I checked out the sites for the Health Departments in Hillsborough County, Pasco County, Pinellas County, and Polk County. Right up front I want to tell you that these sites have an amazing amount of information about local health issues, seminars/public education, available services, and links to other health & medical related websites.
Since the CDC had provided information on the leading causes of death across the United States, I decided to look at regional data. Notice that Influenza and pneumonia are #8 on the list above, with 63,001 deaths across the country that year. In Polk County, there were 2,221 reported Influenza and pneumonia deaths in 2007 (11th on a list of 25 causes of death in the county that year). As with the United States profile, heart diseases were the leading cause of death in Polk County - claiming 41,956 lives in 2007.
While searching the Pinellas County Health Department website, I found a graph from 2006. According to this, again, it was heart disease listed as the leading cause of death (2,815), followed by cancer-related deaths (2,550). Influenza/pneumonia is listed at the 10th leading cause of death in Pinellas County for 2006, with 147 deaths.
What is all this telling me? First, I want to be clear, it is not telling me to brush off the current realities and concerns that people are getting sick from the H1N1 Swine Flu. This is not 1918. I do not want to contribute to panic - I want to listen carefully and do research. Second, it is telling me not to forget something that may sound unrelated - the unequivocal need for an educated public. Whether related to illnesses or anything else - we are each responsible for seeking the information we need for our lives, the lives of our families, and the lives of our friends/neighbors/colleagues. The Florida Department of Health has this great search feature. You can click "communicable disease frequency reports" and then search based on many factors (including zip code) to see the frequency of any communicable disease.
So, keep reading. I will, too. And I will be back later this week with some more information. If you have any thoughts or questions, let me know. If you are a doctor or other medical professional, maybe we can talk and get down to some good detail and information for people.
Until then, stay well.
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