He also had Reye syndrome, a sometimes-fatal ailment caused when young people with fevers take aspirin. The global strategy to quickly identify new influenza strains worked this time, and the effort to rapidly search for more cases was promptly started. But despite the low death toll, the case reminds us of the virility of viruses, and points up the folly of relaxing our guard against infectious disease. The flu scare is not the only virus that's caught our attention recently. Earlier this year, there was a deadly outbreak of Ebola virus in Africa.
Dengue fever continues moving northward in the Americas.
Taking these facts into consideration, The Why Files has got itself into a viral frame of mind.