Swine Flu Disconnect

Excuse me, it is now known as 2009 H1N1 Influenza A.

And now, everyone take a deep breath.


Definitions:

Epidemic: affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time.

Pandemic: occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population.

Perhaps the situation is an epidemic in Mexico. I would certainly not consider it to be "a disproportionately large number of individuals" or "an exceptionally high proportion of the population" anywhere currently.

Facts:
1. Deaths: 168 in Mexico, 12 CONFIRMED as swine flu and rest suspected. One confirmed in U.S., a 23-month-old boy FROM Mexico who died in Texas.

2. Sickened: 2,955 suspected and 99 confirmed in Mexico. Confirmed elsewhere: 131 in U.S.


From AP News Sources:

• At a congressional hearing, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sought to strike a balance: No one knows what the never-before-seen virus ultimately will do, but so far in most U.S. cases people are recovering without even needing a doctor's care. The big message is to try not to spread infection.

• WHO raised the pandemic flu alert to phase 5 on Wednesday, one step away from the highest level indicating a global outbreak. WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said Thursday there were no indications in the past day that would prompt the U.N. body to raise the alert further. To move from pandemic alert level 5 to level 6 means that WHO believes there is evidence of big outbreaks in at least two world regions and a pandemic is under way.

Now, I know this thing could change in a week and make me look pretty silly. I am glad we have health professionals and organizations that are on top of things like this should it get out of hand. But, I don't understand how we are one level away from a pandemic. It seems like at one level away we should be closing borders, stopping air-traffic, staying home from school, work, etc. For me level 6 conjures up an idea of mass global panic and emergency that we see in the movies. Yet, at level 5 we are told to wash our hands.

I know the media needs something to cover as well. I just think that they are contributing to public worry about something that has been fairly mild, especially outside of Mexico, so far. Thousands of people die from the flu each year(36,000 I found), and yes it is tragic, but there are many people out there who don't even get vaccinated. How many people have died as a result of cigarette smoking or obesity since you first heard the term "swine flu?"

I guess this is my attempt to urge everyone to calm down until this situation escalates, if it even does. You should always practice good hygiene. Washing your hands and covering your face is always a pretty good idea to avoid infection. Hopefully, this thing will continue to be mild and won't make me look like silly. Good luck on staying well everyone!