Originally Posted by
stringbreaker
Yeah I'm getting sick, just from all the *&^%$#@ hype about it. Good golly 64000 people die each year from the regular flu whats so special about this stuff anyway. There is good reason for the complications in Mexico. The sanitation practices in much of the country leave much to be desired. Not trying to be a wise guy or anything but the media is making a circus of this thing. People are taking their kids to the doctor with the sniffles. Just like any other flu take the proper precautions, number one WASH YOUR HANDS a lot. Its amazing how many times I have been in the restroom and be washing my hands and I hear a flush from one of the stalls and the dude just walks out of the restroom without washing his hands. BLAH thats just wrong and gross. If you get it stay home till you are well, call the doctor and they will call in the prescription for Tamiflu or the other med I don't remember the name. Have some lysol wipes and a bottle of hand sanitizer and use them.
The concern is a recurrence of the 1918 Spanish H1N1 flu. It killed millions. And it picked on people between 20 and 30. A typical flu kills the very young and the elderly: Sounds horrible, but that's a lot less scary.
The normal flu has a short incubation period. You're contagious for about a day before you realize you have the flu. A pandemic flu has a long incubation period (this one has been reported as 1-7 days): So you're spreading it for days before you realize you're spreading it.
The existence of antivirals and steroids, in my opinion, would make another occurrence of the 1918 flu a bit less terrible. It's still dangerous though.