Swine Flu: Are you doing anything different?

[Thaddeus]

A BBC report this morning says that, "The number of new cases of swine flu in the past week has reached an estimated 100,000..."

 

The World Health Organization calls it a pandemic.

 

Are you concerned? Are you doing anything different, such as washing your hands more often or shaking hands less often?

[GorillaTheater]

Nope, rightly or wrongly I've (so far) shrugged this off as yet another thing people in general like to get worked up about. Kind of like Avian flu.

 

My 18-year-old son, on the other hand, asked me a couple of days ago if we should start stockpiling food.

[Meaplus3]

No. I'm not really all that worried about it. I and my children wash our hands each day, but that's just normal for us. Of course if I found out that someone close to us has come down with this strain of flu, then I would worry.

 

Mea:)

[Lyssa]

I've always been OCD when it comes to cleanliness.

 

I wash my hands 3 times every time I go to the toilet or whenever I feel the need to wash them.

 

I do not cough without covering and it's the same when it comes to sneezing. I also have a small bottle of liquid handwash and wet hand-wipes with me whenever I go out.

[a4a]

Not worried in the least bit.

 

It is not ebola.

 

I will not be getting a vaccination either. I like how my intestines currently are functioning and want to keep them that way.

[quankanne]

I've stopped kissing piggies?

 

nah, nothing different at this time – have been using sanitizing gel, have always had good manners about covering my mouth/nose when sneezing or coughing ... it's pretty much common sense stuff.

 

I also have limited contact with people, so that also helps.

[sunshinegirl]

Nope, nothing different.

 

The people who seem to get really sick or die from it have had some additional health complication or pre-existing condition.

 

I'm healthy as a horse so I'm not worried.

[whichwayisup]

I wash my hands, and I also carry hand sanitizier for when I'm out. Sneeze and cough into my arm.

 

I'm also trying not to watch the news about it, when I do watch, it makes me feel slightly worried that I might catch it or someone close to me will. Then the worrisome thoughts happen, what IF I DO get it, will I die? Will someone close to me get real sick and die? Stuff like that.. So for me, out of sight = Out of mind.

[Citizen Erased]

Am I doing anything different because of a flu? Uh, no.

 

It is media driven panic IMHO.

[JohnnyBlaze]

I am doing things a little different, but not in the way the world would like me to. When I see someone walking around with one of those silly masks on, I make sure to walk near them and start coughing, just to watch their reactions!

 

Remember: laugh, and the world laughs with you. Cry (or freak out) and the world laughs at you!

[Trojan John]

The authorities here are expecting it to reach epidemic level in September. The only cases were on the other side of the mountains, and those from people who had recently been to the US, but last week there were a couple of cases in a large American company on this side.

 

I'm going to do like the Chinese and Japanese and wear facemasks and gloves everywhere since they won't be issuing Tamiflu except in extreme cases.

[MWC_LifeBeginsAt40]

Am I doing anything different because of a flu? Uh, no.

 

It is media driven panic IMHO.

 

You are exactly right. People, do your research on the numbers of people who die from the flu each year. It's in the hundreds of thousands. The H1N1 flu is a new strain (please do not call it the swine flu) and because there was no vaccine, it is spreading. 700 have died and 125,000 have been infected.

 

Remember SARS? The media blew this one up and it infected less than 10,000 people. Only 774 died.

 

From Wikipedia " As influenza is caused by a variety of species and strains of viruses, in any given year some strains can die out while others create epidemics, while yet another strain can cause a pandemic. Typically, in a year's normal two flu seasons (one per hemisphere), there are between three and five million cases of severe illness and up to 500,000 deaths worldwide, which by some definitions is a yearly influenza epidemic"

 

So, of the 500,000 deaths from flu each year, it appears that only 700 can be attributed to H1N1 this year. I hope you've all had your "flu" shot!

[Athos]

I prefer media hype to a repeat of the spanish flu, though.

 

I haven't been too concerned, although when I read an article about the morgues not being able to cope with expected bodies if the gene mutuates, I might have slightly freaked out for a day. Also, I got a fever when the hype started, which was a bit of a concern, but I was fine.