June 11th Update: It looks as though the swine flu has been raised to a level 6 by the World Health Organization. So far the prevention methods are the same, don’t sneeze on people and wash your hands.
May 12th Update: I wasn’t going to update this post any longer given the fizzle of the swine flu lately but then I found this article on MSN letting people know they can catch swine flu from…money. And some people wonder why I say this has been blown out of proportion.
May 4th Update: I still think everyone is blowing this out of proportion. And as proof, one of the stores in Elgin, IL ran out of Hand Sanitizer
May 1st UPDATE: Ok so I was listening to the radio this morning and they said that there was officially only 12 deaths in Mexico instead of the original 168 that they had thought. Great! But then a short time later I heard it was officially 99 deaths. No…wait later I heard 68 deaths. All of this in the matter of 4 hours. So whats the REAL number?!?
Some info on traveling and the swine flu (H1N1).
April 29th UPDATE: The WHO just upgraded the swine flu threat to a level 5. This means they consider a global outbreak imminent. It may be time to start buying some of these: Disposable EARLOOP Face MASK, Filters Bacteria 3 Ply – (Box of 50)
April 27th UPDATE: Maybe I’ll be proven wrong quickly this time. The World Health Organization raised the alert level for swine flu this morning to level IV.
Now I could be wrong about this but I really don’t believe that the swine flu that is going around is going to be all that devastating here in the US. I hope I’m right in this case but if I’m not I’ve conveniently attached a tracking map of all the swine flu cases below. You can left click on the map and hold the mouse button down to drag the map over your area of the US / World.
View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map
So far Mexico seems to have been hit the hardest.
Here is a question that I am sure everyone has been asking: Can you get swine flu from eating pork? Answer: NO!
Here are some preventitive measures so you don’t contract the flu:
- Avoid contact with people that have the flu.
- Stay home when you’re sick.
- Don’t sneeze or cough on people (really it’s just good manners too!)
- Wash your hands! (Here is another reason to do this!)
- Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth. Or live pigs.
- And my favorite…EAT HEALTHY!
For more information about swine flu, you can check the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
This morning I heard on the news that there have been no deaths from the swine flu except those in Mexico. This flu is being spread throughout the US though.
I wonder what the difference is between the version in Mexico and the one in the US?
Someone has suggested that the reason 20 to 40 year olds have been killed by the swine flu could be a cytokine storm. Basically the immune system goes overboard and starts attacking your organs.
That still doesn’t explain why it has only happened in Mexico though.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30471035/?GT1=43001
The first Swine Flu death in the US. It was a toddler, unlike Mexico where they were 20 to 40 year old males.
Jhet, if you’re referring to the toddler in Philadelphia, PA be advised that that child had a mild case and has recovered.
I believe that is a different one. The one I was talking about was in Texas.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6400864.html
And that was a Mexican citizen coming to the US for medical help. The first US citizen death occured in Texas as well:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/05/AR2009050501905.html
I have a relative who got the Swine Flu in Mexico. It is a good thing that he already recovered from this disease.