Dangerous or exaggerated?

Above about H1N1.

When H1N1 broke out in Mexico, many reports of death and widespread illness were made. While it is true that many people died or became very ill in countries like Mexico, this is mostly because of a lack of treatment opportunities. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization, or WHO, has blown it out of proportion and made US citizens think it was fatal no matter where you lived. I do think that H1N1's reputation was amplified when people got word of it and panicked. Many schools were actually shut down because of just a couple of cases, and clinics were created just to test for symptoms.

There were fewer deaths from Swine Flu than from the normal influenza, and less than 1% of patients are currently being hospitalized. H1N1 is expected to come back during the normal time when flu comes, and seems like it will be around for a while. However, unless if it mutates into something worse, there is nothing to be afraid of.

The Spanish Flu

Here's about the Spanish Flu cause by the H1N1.

The Spanish Flu, also known as La Grippe, or La Pesadilla, was an unusually severe and deadly strain of avian influenza, a viral infectious disease, that killed some 50 million to 100 million people worldwide over about a year in 1918 and 1919. It is thought to have been one of the most deadly pandemics so far in human history. It was caused by the H1N1 type of influenza virus, which is similar to bird flu of today, mainly H5N1 and H5N2.

The Spanish flu caused an unusual number of deaths because it, like H5N1, caused a cytokine storm in the body. The virus infected lung cells, leading to overstimulation of the immune system via release of cytokine bursts into the lung tissue. This leads to extensive leukocyte migration towards the lungs, causing destruction of lung tissue and secretion of liquid into the lung, and making it difficult for the patient to breathe. Due to the nature of the infection, people with a normal healthy immune system were more susceptible to the disease, such as young adults compared to young children and the elderly.