As media coverage dwindled, the swine flu threat faded from the minds of most Americans, despite warnings that we weren't out of the woods yet. Many believed that the virus could return with a vengeance come flu season, but it appears that even those predictions may have been optimistic. On Wednesday, the WHO announced that 74 countries had reported 27,737 cases of H1N1, including 141 deaths. About half of the confirmed cases are in the U.S. In Australia, the number of reported cases has tripled in the last week, drawing the attention of the WHO as it evaluated the severity of the threat.
Pharmaceuticals in Focus
As perverse as it sounds, this latest development is good news for some. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have continued work on vaccines behind the scenes despite the apparent abatement of the threat. With the elevation of the pandemic alert level from 5 to 6, many pharmaceutical companies are likely to be flooded with requests (and funding) for vaccine development and testing. And as the likelihood of a worst-case scenario (a full-blown global outbreak) increases, so does the potential for a huge payday for vaccine manufacturers.
Pharmaceutical Process Equipment
