We are now at the highest alert, the World Health Organisation today raised the alert level to 6, officially the swine flu outbreak is at pandemic status. The virus is spreading virulently across 2 continents, America and Australia. The number of cases increase everyday. Although the flu is seen to be mild, it is affecting younger adn healthier people.
Governments that have pursued a policy of containment have now to consider abandoning this policy and moving towards a more pro-active treatment of those who are most vulnerable to infection health officials in the UK stated today.
Read the WHO statement here.
People who want some protection from swine flu can buy masks to cover the nose and mouth. These act as a barrier to the transmission of particals that may cause infection, however you need to know what type of flu mask to buy.
Many of us have seen news footage and/pictures of mask wearing police and army officers in Mexico, or of people coming off planes with masks over their noses, the most popular masks seem to be the surgical type or the respirator type, which I will discuss further. Read more
A second person outside of Mexico has died. Whilst doctors haven’t confirmed that the 33 year old woman from Texas died of swine flu, she is thought to have been infected by the disease and died as a result of complications. She had recently given birth to a new baby. Whilst no strictly speaking a swine flu death, we can presume that the respiratory problems associated with swine flu may have contributed to her death. A state department health official is quoted as saying that she had “chronic underlying health conditions”, but would not divulge any further details. Doctors knew she had flu but swine flu was not confirmed until just before she died.
I got up this morning and the BBC reports stated that 5 schools have been closed today as pupils have been found to be infected with the H1N1 virus. One of the closed schools is about a mile away from where I live so I know that swine flu is closeby and there is a realistic chance that I will at some point in time succomb.
Over the weekend, I had a touch of fever, aches and pains in my stomach, some coughing as well, however much I tried to dismiss the worse case scenario thoughts at the time, I couldn’t helpp thinking, bloody hell, I’m coming down with something. Read more
There is a leaflet available in pdf format that explains what swine flu is and how to take precautions against getting infected, and what to do if you develop some of the symptoms. Read more
To date, Mexico is the only country that has reported deaths from the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, most commonly known around the world and reported as swine flu.
Although this is the case, according to the latest WHO update, 15 countries have reported cases amounting to 615 confirmed. The World Health Organization is still reporting that there is no danger from eating well cooked pork meat and are not recommending that borders be closed or that travel to countries reporting infections are limited. Read more
Well Swine flu is not on the front page of this morning’s Metro newspaper, I have to get to page 4 before the first story appears, but it’s a double pager with various swine flu related items including one on 3M, the company who makes the N95 Masks I talked about a few days ago.
If you’ve been following the papers then you will notice that the tone has mellowed considerably, and we are getting signs of action from the government, putting out information to doctors and health professionals to pass on to the public. Read more
I seem to have got over my paranoia from yesterday, and am back to my usual -’when you’re number’s up’ - type philosophy on life and death. However I do know that I can’t afford as a freelancer to be laid up in bed for weeks on end, quarantined with Swine Flu, and not being able to get anything or see anyone.
I know that internet services will come into their own then, meaning I’ll be able to do my shopping online and have it delivered, so I won’t starve to death if I should be unfortunate enough to contract swine flu or the H1N1 virus. Read more
Well today I had my first mini panic about swine flu. My journey to work everyday involves train tube tube one way and tube tube train the other.
If you’ve ever been on London Underground in particular, then you know our system is old, it’s packed during rush hour and it’s quite the incubator, as being the oldest underground network in the world, as we like to brag, it don’t have the greatest air ventilation system. Read more
The headlines are getting bigger, however I am still feeling that the current swine flu stories coming from newspapers is like the Avian flu panic that came around a few years ago. If you follow the headlines, you’ll never come out of your house.
I did a little research today and found out that WHO, have raised the threat level to four (out of six) Read more
