Swine Flu Outbreak

The ongoing swine-flu scare strikes to the heart of why, as a nation, we need to fund federal disaster and health planning organizations. The Swine Flu Update Page" href="http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/whatsnew.htm?s_cid=tw_epr_68" target="_blank">CDC and FEMA provide the resources—both human and material—that serve on the front lines in the event of a true pandemic. It's neither civilized nor acceptable for a society to simply tell its citizens, "good luck with that, Jack, you're on your own" and it's not practical, either. The ramifications of a pandemic to any society are far too serious and far-reaching for our governments not to take a strong interest in public health. Swine Flu has been officially declared a public health emergency. Here's the announcment:

[HTML1]

While the national media seems to seize on every bug that comes along to put out screamer headlines and try to terrify the public into coming back and reading more ("Bird Flu" for example isn't really a threat unless there are chickens sharing your house, unless the virus mutates significantly) there is indeed cause to be concerned about the effects of a global pandemic. SARS, for example, is widely held by medical and health professionals to have been a potential global catastrophe, narrowly averted. The 1918 Pandemic somehow escaped mention for most of my public education, in spite of killing more than 50 million people worldwideâ??and over a half-million in the U.S., and a disproportionate number of those victims being young and healthy when stricken. Likewise, the less widespread but still deadly 1957 Influenza Pandemic went unmentioned in school, with its worldwide death toll of over a million people. So far, reported accounts of deaths in Mexico from swine flu—H1N1—mostly vary between 80 and 100 people, with some headlines reporting over 127. While it's certainly worth an eyeroll or two that the outbreak has far-right bloggers screaming about illegal immigrants bringing death and destruction upon us all, it's not actually accurate. It seems to be high school and college kids who took Spring Break in the sunnier Mexican climate who've brought this particular flu over national borders. Since hardly anyone ever advises "panic" as an appropriate response to potentially serious situations, it serves us all to educate ourselves about the best ways to stay healthy, both in this situation and in general. Because there are several things we can all do, every day, to avoid spreading whatever bugs we pick up out on the street. This post, by Jim Macdonald (an EMT) on Making Light gives some excellent advice, and a pretty comprehensive list of resources elsewhere on the web. If you're not sick, follow some simple precautions to stay that way:

Wash your hands, often and well.
Keep your hands away from your eyes, mouth, and nose.
Don't share dishes.
Avoid contact with people who seem ill.
Be healthy, drink lots of water, get lost of sleep, eat well.
If you're working with people you think may have a contagious bug, wear a mask.

If you're already ill, or think you may be coming down with something:

Stay home and rest.
Wash your hands, frequently and well.
Cover your mouth and nose if you're coughing or sneezing.
Throw away used tissues.
Drink lots of fluids, water, juice, soup, etc.

You'll notice that washing your hands is on both of those lists? That's because it's probably the most effective way any of us can safeguard our own health. And I don't mean the quick-rinse-em-off-with-a-dab-of-soap method I see people using in public restrooms. Here's a link to good hand-washing technique. Consider stocking up on a few things you'll likely need, should you come down with the fluâ??or even just a bad cold: soup, aspirin, a thermometer, and so on. Here's a link to a good basic flu-preparedness kit the CDC recommends. Here's a link to another blogger, with some excellent further recommendations for being prepared.

Printer-friendly version

Categories:

Other

Replies

Way to take a swing at

Way to take a swing at conservatives by making prejudiced assumptions. While I have read articles suggesting tighter borders would reduce the chances of this type of outbreak, I have yet to find an outrageous article "screaming about illegal immigrants bringing death and destruction upon us all" as you so eloquently stated. While I imagine you could dig up a crazy blog or two about this, I'm sure you could find a crazy blog on just about anything. Please stop stereotyping entire political groups based on personal assumptions just because you disagree with them on other topics. Also, in the future please cite references when accusing others.

Unfortunately your credibility is a joke.

This strain of swine flu is

This strain of swine flu is nothing like the bird flu you mention. I feel that you're downplaying the seriousness of this and don't know why, but I have my suspicions.

Thansk for the links to the "rightwing" sites screaming about the swine flu possibly being carried in by illegal aliens from Mexico. They werent screaming like you said,and the articles were thoughtful and make much more sense than you said they would. Why are you not willing to consider illegal aliens from Mexico could be carriers? This outbreak is growing in the US, and takes a while to manifest itself. No illegal alien who is sick with this flu will go rushing to a US doctor to be helped. duh. So the stats of infected people won't ever be complete.

Yours here sounds alot like a copied list from a woman's magazine article for the common sniffle. Cases are showing up in Spain, Norway, France, and other countrys. People in Mexico have died from it. Russia is now discouraging travelers from coming to the US as well as Mexico. The EU is discouarging all travel. Just washing your hands better is not "magic protection."

Have you even read the articles you are trying to make discredited? Or are you like Obama, thinking you're smarter than the CDC, and telling everyone there is no cause for alarm? There is grave concern all over the world about this, including WHO. Stock markets have dropped, travel plans cnacelled, imports from US cancelled for fear we will infect them. You don't even mention touching doorknobs that someone infected by touching it earlier, or taxi door handles, or light switches, or elevator buttons. Or infected people sneezing on you or your food. But you say washing your hands well and not putting put your fingers in your mouth will make you safe and no worries. What about a parents' concerns for their children? "Avoid contact with people who seem ill"? Most people are contagious with this virus for a few days before showing any symptoms, so thats not goin to work. And they could work at Mcdonalds and maybe infect an entire family.

Frankly, Sam, the whole point

Frankly, Sam, the whole point of washing your hands is to counteract the simple practical fact of having to handle doorknobs, money, elevator buttons and so on. The confirmed cases we have in the U.S. so far have little or nothing to do with illegal immigrant populations.

Most people are contagious with almost any virus you'd care to name, and symptom-free, before coming down sick. That's precisely what makes infectious disease so scary. I didn't say "no worries" I said "don't panic" and there's a significant difference between those two philosophies, you'll note.

I link to the CDC and quote them (and the CDC is where that list is primarily compiled from, btw) so I find that criticism rather baffling, frankly.

Perhaps you can point to a situation where panic and hysteria actually help matters?

So you're saying the first

So you're saying the first U.S. death - a 23 month old Mexican baby who developed symptoms 4 days after crossing the border must have been on Spring Break in Mexico? Sounds like you might want to wait for a few more facts before you start writing next time.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8024611.stm

Medicine Report

The latest medicine news, drug recalls, and homeopathic remedies

You are here