I'm concerned about this flu, and am taking precautions as far as being aware of not touching my face and doorknobs, railings and such.
I do think the media is dramatizing it, but there is the potential for this to be a very serious health so I'm glad that we are hearing about where it is and what it being done to try to slow it down. Even if it isn't any worse the the strain of the seasonal flu it is seeming to be something that will effect many more people. I just read something that helped me understand, i'll just quote it because I can't explain what i'm trying to say. I do get concerned about illness because my husband has lung disease and one of my children has a really poor immune system so i have done a lot of reading about it.
Quote:
The spanish flu that caused so much trouble in 1918 was not a particularly lethal strain, the problem is that it spread amazingly fast to large numbers of people. What this meant is that even though it only had a 1% kill rate, it infected enough people that that 1% kill rate translated into a significant number of people. The other thing about that flu is that it killed otherwise healthy young adults. Another similarity with this new swine flu strain.
What this means is that for you personally, this flu might not mean much. You might not get it. If you do you might feel ill for a few days and nothing more. But it is a nightmare for public officials, because even though most people who get it will be fine, if it keeps spreading the way it is now, eventually enough people are going to get infected and the number of deaths will start to rise. H1N1 flu: past (spanish flu) and present (Swine flu) « LIP SERVICE
|