The precautions one would take to avoid the seasonal flu are the same as what you would do to protect yourself against h1n1, yes. The way the number of reported and confirmed cases has been jumping, the likelihood of you coming in contact with someone with H1N1 is growing everyday. You're contagious before you know you're sick.
This post was in response to a woman who come in my office today, telling me how she can't believe all the hype about 'the flu,' because we have seasonal flu outbreaks every year and why should we be worried about something that we already know how to deal with.
It pisses me off because I've been reading a lot about h1n1 (swine origin), and it seems that this virus is behaving very differently from other flu strains that we've been dealing with. Not only has the time of year of the outbreak and the origin been different from the seasonal flu, but also the main category of folks experiencing symptoms has been healthy adults.
Also, the cytokine storm that this strain is causing-- where basically your immune system over-responds-- means you could potentially die from the disease before secondary complications like pneumonia, could set in.
AND there are only a handful of labs in the country-- mostly at universities-- that can confirm H1N1.
And additionally, regardless of the mortality rate, this pandemic could shut down vital services across the country (schools and public transportation are already closing across the country), and overtax our already taxed health care system.
I've also heard there's a risk that this flu could lay dormant and come back in the fall, which is apparently what happened with the 1918 version.
AND, at the tail end of this is the anti-immigrant sentiment growing across the country because of this strain's supposed "country of origin." It's bad for a large number of the hispanic population that resides here.
Yeah...see, that's the thing, I'm personally way more worried about the racism pandemic than I am about the swine flu pandemic. Swine flu isn't making people hate on immigrants...scaring the crap out of people by telling them that this horrible deadly illness from Mexico is going to kill them is.
No it isn't "just the flu" but honestly, there's not much anyone can do about it more than they can seasonal flu. People need to use their fucking heads and stay home if they are sick...regardless of what kind of flu it is. Causing widespread panic will NOT help anyone. And from a biological aspect...viruses are here for a reason. That reason is population control. Pandemic disease is natural. Thousands of people die every year from the "regular" flu...
This post was in response to a woman who come in my office today, telling me how she can't believe all the hype about 'the flu,' because we have seasonal flu outbreaks every year and why should we be worried about something that we already know how to deal with.
It pisses me off because I've been reading a lot about h1n1 (swine origin), and it seems that this virus is behaving very differently from other flu strains that we've been dealing with. Not only has the time of year of the outbreak and the origin been different from the seasonal flu, but also the main category of folks experiencing symptoms has been healthy adults.
Also, the cytokine storm that this strain is causing-- where basically your immune system over-responds-- means you could potentially die from the disease before secondary complications like pneumonia, could set in.
AND there are only a handful of labs in the country-- mostly at universities-- that can confirm H1N1.
And additionally, regardless of the mortality rate, this pandemic could shut down vital services across the country (schools and public transportation are already closing across the country), and overtax our already taxed health care system.
I've also heard there's a risk that this flu could lay dormant and come back in the fall, which is apparently what happened with the 1918 version.
AND, at the tail end of this is the anti-immigrant sentiment growing across the country because of this strain's supposed "country of origin." It's bad for a large number of the hispanic population that resides here.
So... to me, it's not "just the flu." *sigh*
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment