Swine Flu

There is a lot of buzz lately about the H1N1 'Swine Flu' "pandemic". I got Curiouser about this new trendy disease (similar to the 'bird flu' scare of past years), and decided to do some research. What is swine Flu? according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) Its a flu Virus that rarely spreads from Pig to Human and from Human to Pig, then of course from human to human and so forth. Most of these cases are common among pig farmers and people who are around pigs a lot. 'Swine Flu' is just a nick name for this particular strain of flu, made up because many of the test samples showed genes that are most common in pigs. There are 286 confirmed cases of the 'Swine Flu' in 36 states, and only 1 death, with only 1 case in Utah thus far (the death was not in Utah). I think the odds really are in our favor according to the CIA website (cia.gov) there are 307,212, 123 (July 2009 est.) people in the united states, so out of over 300 million people there are only 286 cases of the flu, I'd say that's a good thing. of course there are those people that out of a million to one odds are that one that will get sick, but thank goodness there are ways to prevent catching or spreading the Flu.

• Cover your mouth with a tissue when you sneeze or cough, then toss the tissue
• wash hands often especially after coughing or sneezing and before preparing food
• avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth as that is how the virus can sneek in
  
• and avoid contact with sick people

I think that these are things that we do anyway right so its more of a common sense thing. Stay heathly!!