While we are hearing horror stories about visitors suspected of having Swine Flu being taken and quarantined within China, we are seeing the reported cases of the Swine Flu on the rise. Surely this is not the total cases as we are told that only a fraction are actually diagnosed.
The good news is that while we are seeing a spike over the past week in cases, the Death-to-Case ratio is continuing to decline.
We are also hearing a good deal of news pertaining to the precautions that are being taken and the latest technology lending a hand to airport screeners/quarantine officers. These are infrared and heat sensitive cameras that can scan people for heat/fevers as they pass by. The company that is supplying a good deal of these is FLIR Systems (FLIR).
CBS NEWS CLIP on FLIR SYSTEMS CAMERA
An infrared camera is a very effective tool to detect people infected with a viral disease at a very early stage. It produces infrared images or heat pictures which allow displaying even the smallest temperature differences. Infrared thermography provides a visual map of skin temperatures in real time. In addition, infrared cameras are very sensitive devices. FLIR IR cameras measure temperature differences as small as 0.08 ºC.
