Okay, everybody calm down and take a breather. The "swine flu" (H1N1) virus is not what the news media make it out to be. There are worse diseases out there.
Now, it does have the potential to be bad. One reason is the general panic mode. That person who sneezed next to you just now, more than likely has allergies than a flu. And even if they do have the flu, more than likely it's not the "swine flu." But everybody is going to freak whenever somebody has the sniffles. Even at the day thing the flu was all over our intranet.
Here's a clue, the flu is transmissible nearly as quickly as you get it (surface contact, ie. the person is picking up the same infection you have, not by virus your body has produced). Viral bodies produced by your system will be available in a few hours after the infection takes seat. However, it will take a few days before your infection becomes serious enough for you to notice it's affects. That means for a few days you'll be perfectly normal as you go about infecting others. The good news here is that the chance of infection from you is small at the beginning, however it's increasing with every hour. However, this means that by the person in the cubicle next to you is sneezing and feeling achy, you've had about a days worth of good exposure to the virus.
So what should you do? Wash your hands, frequently. When washing hands use soap (not anti-bacterial soap or Purell, real soap). Sing either the "Alphabet song" or a stanza of "Old McDonald" or the trial/headbanging section of "Bohemian Rhapsody" while washing your hands. This will make sure you wash your hands long enough (20 seconds to half a minute). Be careful of what you touch after you wash your hands. Do get the flu shot. Then get the yearly flu shot (if they don't roll them together, and they're is really no reason they shouldn't except for timing, most yearly flu shots include the three most probable infections you might face that year). Do get the booster after the New Year (your body will need to "see" the infection twice for full protection).
What should you look forward to. Well, the flu will appear to disappear over summer. There will be cases, but it'll drop off the radar of most news organization. Until summer turns to autumn and people start getting closer in enclosed places.
And just to put this into perspective. So far, less than 200 have died (as far as we know) worldwide. In an average flue season in the US, 36,000 people die because of the flu and complications from the flu. The difference, right now, is that there have been many victims who normally aren't considered high-risk of mortality from flu. So as the news goes on about how we're now at Stage 5, one stage lower than Pandemic (OMGZ!) you can put it all in comparison. Stage 5 doesn't mean much more than the same viral strain has shown up in several countries.
Keep washing your hands, if you're sick, stay home (do as I say, not as I do), and keep healthy. There's no reason to panic.
4 comments:
The sky is falling?
Yes. Didn't you get the memo? From Chicken Little Enterprises (aka Tyson Foods), don't eat the pork, have some chicken, the original white meat.
Thanks for this much needed perspective on this situation. The media is scaring everyone half to death over something that a combination of common sense and good hygiene practices can easily overcome. Heck, most of the people who get this flu recover anyway.
No worries, Matt. Just trying to help. It doesn't mean this won't be serious, but if I hear one more story about how we're at "STAGE 5, WHICH, OMGZ, IS ONE STAGE BELOW PANDEMIC" I think I'll strangle the newscaster.
And as other people have pointed out, AIDS is still a pandemic and is actually ravaging much of Africa and is still very active in el Norte Americano. Hepatitus C, HPV, resistant TB, and a few others (my names are failing me, there's one that's in a lot of hospitals right now, very deadly, damn hard to kill, found a home in hospitals and not much elsewhere, begins with C, wait, C-Diff, that's it) and West Nile are all much more serious threats.
Stage 5 only means that there are cases in many countries and there appears to have been some transmission in those third countries. It means absolutely nothing els.
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