Editing 2000s (section)

==== Epidemics ====

[[Antimicrobial resistance|Antibiotic resistance]] is a serious and growing phenomenon in contemporary medicine and has emerged as one of the eminent public health concerns of the 21st century, particularly as it pertains to pathogenic organisms (the term is not especially relevant to organisms which don't cause disease in humans).

The outbreak of [[foot-and-mouth disease]] in the [[United Kingdom]] in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This [[epizootic]] saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million sheep and cattle were killed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-02-19 |title=Foot-and-mouth outbreak's parallels with Covid pandemic |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-55981681 |access-date=2024-05-02 |language=en-GB |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502154849/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-55981681 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Between November 2002 and July 2003, an [[2002–2004 SARS outbreak|outbreak]] of [[severe acute respiratory syndrome]] (SARS) occurred in Hong Kong, with 8,273 cases and 775 deaths worldwide (9.6% fatality) according to the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO). Within weeks, SARS spread from Hong Kong to infect individuals in 37 countries in early 2003.

[[Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus|Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'']]: the [[Office for National Statistics]] reported 1,629 [[Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus|MRSA]]-related deaths in [[England and Wales]] during 2005, indicating a MRSA-related mortality rate half the rate of that in the United States for 2005, even though the figures from the British source were explained to be high because of "improved levels of reporting, possibly brought about by the continued high public profile of the disease" during the time of the [[2005 United Kingdom General Election]]. MRSA is thought to have caused 1,652 deaths in 2006 in UK up from 51 in 1993.

[[File:Swine Flu Masked Train Passengers in Mexico City.jpg|thumb|right|People in Mexico City wear masks on a train due to the [[2009 H1N1 flu outbreak|swine flu outbreak]], April 2009]]
The 2009 [[H1N1]] (swine flu) [[2009 flu pandemic|flu pandemic]] was also considered a natural disaster. On October 25, 2009, U.S. President [[Barack Obama]] officially declared H1N1 a [[national emergency]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Obama declares swine flu a national emergency |url=http://heraldextra.com/news/national/article_a4de47bf-1dd4-52ea-9f2d-db535ba581b4.html |newspaper=The Daily Herald |year=2009 |access-date=October 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029080742/http://www.heraldextra.com/news/national/article_a4de47bf-1dd4-52ea-9f2d-db535ba581b4.html |archive-date=October 29, 2009}}</ref> Despite President Obama's concern, a [[Fairleigh Dickinson University]] PublicMind poll found in October 2009 that an overwhelming majority of New Jerseyans (74%) were not very worried or not at all worried about contracting the H1N1 flu virus.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://publicmind.fdu.edu/h1n1/release.pdf |title=New Jersewans not worried about H1N1 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University |date=October 8, 2009 |access-date=February 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312170728/http://publicmind.fdu.edu/h1n1/release.pdf |archive-date=March 12, 2012}}</ref>

A study conducted in coordination with the University of Michigan Health Service is scheduled for publication in the December 2009 ''American Journal of [[Roentgenology]]'' warning that H1N1 flu can cause [[pulmonary embolism]], surmised as a leading cause of death in this current pandemic. The study authors suggest physician evaluation via contrast enhanced CT scans for the presence of pulmonary emboli when caring for patients diagnosed with respiratory complications from a "severe" case of the H1N1 flu.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mollura |first1=Daniel J. |last2=Asnis |first2=Deborah S. |last3=Crupi |first3=Robert S. |last4=Conetta |first4=Rick |last5=Feigin |first5=David S. |last6=Bray |first6=Mike |last7=Taubenberger |first7=Jeffery K. |last8=Bluemke |first8=David A. |title=Imaging Findings in a Fatal Case of Pandemic Swine-Origin Influenza A (H1N1) |journal=American Journal of Roentgenology |date=December 2009 |volume=193 |issue=6 |pages=1500–1503 |doi=10.2214/AJR.09.3365 |pmid=19933640 |pmc=2788497}}</ref>

As of May 30, 2010, as stated by the World Health Organization, more than 214 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 18,138 deaths.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/csr/don/2010_06_04/en/index.html |title=Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 – update 103 |publisher=Who.int |access-date=October 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119161116/http://www.who.int/csr/don/2010_06_04/en/index.html |archive-date=November 19, 2010}}</ref>