What ever happened to Swine Flu?

 

The trouble with predicting a pandemic is that when it doesn’t suddenly result in tens of thousands of cases almost immediately, people become disenchanted with the process and think that someone has cried wolf.

The truth is, the H1N1 (aka Swine) flu is a novel virus from which pandemics do rise. The fact that information flows rapidly in this global society helps tremendously to control an outbreak and prevent the disastrous results implied by the name pandemic, or so they say.

Information and Education are Key

Education about how to prevent the spread is essential and disseminating this information rapidly is key to preventing the serious situation that could possibly come to pass, an example are the two recorded outbreaks in Kenya which were controlled quite quickly by the government.

The fact is that simply following good hygiene practices can be so easily ignored and overlooked. Handwashing by itself can control the spread of germs in so many instances of illness. Greeting people in and out the office with the closed fist (aka Pound) can prevent cross contamination. Covering the mouth and nose during coughs and sneezes is not only polite, but also helps to contain the droplets that carry the germs from human to human, as long as you are fast enough for your own sneezes.

Disposing of tissues immediately and once again washing hands after contact is necessary and sometimes ignored especially by the person too ill to care to worry about housekeeping.