Swine Flu and You (Don’t Be Afraid!)

I wanted to stay silent on the entire swine flu front but now that I’m hearing about it daily in my own

community it seems like the right time to say something.

If you’re terribly worried about the H1N1 (Swine flu) strain of influenza, my advice is don’t let it affect your daily life. Unless you’re able to stay in your home and have zero contact with the outside world, you may very well get infected.

Here’s the big thing to remember: there is nothing novel about this strain of the flu. It’s just like any other flu with symptoms ranging from runny nose, aches and pains, diharrea and vometting, high fever and coughing.

Not a Novel Disease

There’s really nothing brought to the table by H1N1 that you haven’t already seen during your previous encounters with the flu. What makes swine flu newsworthy is the fact that it is a mutation of the virus for which most people do not already have immunity, meaning it is capable of becomming a pandemic – that is, a lot of people infected over a wide area; it does not mean a lot of people are on their death beds.

Like any flu, the elderly and the very young are most at risk for serious complications. Take your baby into the hospital if they become listless, refuse to drink their bottle, have a high fever, are vomitting, do not want to be held or are unusually difficult to wake.