My Swine Whine
As if this topic hasn't been done to death (seriously, no tasteless pun intended),I feel compelled to add my two dollars worth.
This story caught my eye this morning and I just about blew coffee out my nose.
Come on people...were you beating the crap out of each other for sneezing and coughing a year ago? NO?
Consider this:
The seasonal flu is more likely to lead to hospitalization or even death, as it kills roughly 35,000 each year. (source: MSN Health)
How about a few more:
I'm at a loss. Why the media hype? Why the hysteria about THIS particular disease?
There are a lot of theories...a government conspiracy to try to distract the everyman away from war in the Middle East and the disaster that is the economy; pharaceutical companies looking to make money off the panic of a gullible public.
I'm not sure but I was in bed for the past week with what was likely the seasonal flu. At the times I could sit up and see straight, I found myself slipping into a state of panic, endlessly surfing the web, obsessively checking my symptoms against those listed by WHO and the CDC.
Worried that I had the dreaded Swine flu, I locked myself away from my family in the fear that I would kill them all.
Looking back and reviewing the real life stats, I wonder about my laissez-faire attitude regarding the flu in seasons past. Perhaps my paranoia about the Swine has led to my family and I actually being better protected from the seasonal flu as well...and that's not a bad thing.
But please, don't beat on your neighbor for breathing on you. Just wash your hands, don't touch your eyes, nose or mouth, and for heaven's sake, get vaccinated.
This story caught my eye this morning and I just about blew coffee out my nose.
Come on people...were you beating the crap out of each other for sneezing and coughing a year ago? NO?
Consider this:
The seasonal flu is more likely to lead to hospitalization or even death, as it kills roughly 35,000 each year. (source: MSN Health)
How about a few more:
- More than 25 million people have died from AIDs (up to July 2007)
- 50 000 people die EACH month from AIDs in Africa
- Every year 80 000 people die from tuberculosis
- Malaria is one of the planet's deadliest diseases and one of the leading causes of sickness and death in the developing world. According to the World Health Organization there are 300 to 500 million clinical cases of malaria each year resulting in 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths.
I'm at a loss. Why the media hype? Why the hysteria about THIS particular disease?
There are a lot of theories...a government conspiracy to try to distract the everyman away from war in the Middle East and the disaster that is the economy; pharaceutical companies looking to make money off the panic of a gullible public.
I'm not sure but I was in bed for the past week with what was likely the seasonal flu. At the times I could sit up and see straight, I found myself slipping into a state of panic, endlessly surfing the web, obsessively checking my symptoms against those listed by WHO and the CDC.
Worried that I had the dreaded Swine flu, I locked myself away from my family in the fear that I would kill them all.
Looking back and reviewing the real life stats, I wonder about my laissez-faire attitude regarding the flu in seasons past. Perhaps my paranoia about the Swine has led to my family and I actually being better protected from the seasonal flu as well...and that's not a bad thing.
But please, don't beat on your neighbor for breathing on you. Just wash your hands, don't touch your eyes, nose or mouth, and for heaven's sake, get vaccinated.
Comments
I'm now calling it "Swinethrax".