Today, my son and I went to a birthday party…the mother admittedly had had the flu and was on “tamiflu” to get better. Her sons (twins) shared that their mother had the swine flu the entire week at school. The mom reported when we RSVP’d, “They shouldn’t have done that. Now, no one wants to come to their birthday party!”
To be honest, I didn’t want to go. My 9-year old son insisted, and since tears would well up in his eyes, I set aside my nap to go (smile). However, antibacterial–which was sold out at our local Target store with no supplies incoming that the person knew about–was available, so every handshake resulted in peaches-smelling antibacterial being rubbed on hands.
When we arrived at home, disinfection galore, showers, etc. I felt a bit funny for doing it, but…who wants to catch the flu? And just because not as many people are dying in the U.S., it doesn’t mean people are “immune.”
In the meantime, only time will tell whether our actions were prudent, foolish, or otherwise:
Mexico’s swine flu outbreak appeared to be easing on Saturday with a decrease in serious cases, the government said, but world health officials warned the unpredictable virus could still become a pandemic.
“Each day there are fewer serious cases and the mortality has been decreasing,” Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told a news conference in Mexico City, where millions were heeding government advice to stay at home.
Of the more than 100 suspected deaths from the new H1N1 virus that have emerged in the Latin American nation, 19 had been confirmed, Cordova said. Mexico had already scaled back from its original estimate of 176 suspected deaths.
However, new cases of the mongrel virus, which mixes swine, avian and human flu strains, were still being tracked across the world. Costa Rica, Italy and Ireland confirmed cases of the disease, which has now been found in 18 countries.
Source: Reuters on Swine Flu 05/03/2009
In the meantime…Christina may have a point:
Forgive us for laughing at a potential pandemic, but this swine flu hysteria is getting a little bit out of hand. Taking proper precautions is one thing, shutting down schools, wearing masks that don’t do anything everywhere and banning pork (that isn’t contaminated and doesn’t spread the disease anyway) is just silly.
Ridiculous or not, with all the buzz about H1N1 on TV, Twitter and from hypochondriac friends and family, distilling the correct information can be difficult.
Source: Christina Warren on Aporkalypse Now
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Can I just point out that H1N1A is a virus not a bacteria and antibacterial wash/wipes do not immune you from it any more than just soap and water.In fact the anti-antibiotics movement would suggest that you are in fact reducing children’s resistance and breeding superbugs (bacteria) that while not having the travelling capacity of viruses in general are much more virulent.I lived through SARS with a 4 month pregnant wife in HK and my observation is that the media, political spin and general lack of understanding about biology does more damage than the virus.The current mortality for H1N!A is still well below the average for the annual flu. Eat well and stick to the road rules, as that is by far the most common way we’ll all die.
Can I just point out that H1N1A is a virus not a bacteria and antibacterial wash/wipes do not immune you from it any more than just soap and water.In fact the anti-antibiotics movement would suggest that you are in fact reducing children’s resistance and breeding superbugs (bacteria) that while not having the travelling capacity of viruses in general are much more virulent.I lived through SARS with a 4 month pregnant wife in HK and my observation is that the media, political spin and general lack of understanding about biology does more damage than the virus.The current mortality for H1N!A is still well below the average for the annual flu. Eat well and stick to the road rules, as that is by far the most common way we’ll all die.