H1N1 Aka Swine Flu

H1N1 is an airborne virus that has the potential to leave someone in a fatal condition. If you follow the media one would believe that everyone is in danger of either death or serious injury from the virus. The media reports suggest that H1N1 virus is more serious than any other flu virus and we are facing the next pandemic. During the past few days we have all seen the news reports where hundreds of people were waiting in lines up to four hours long for the H1N1 vaccine. The Public Health departments are putting full page ads in the newspapers and flyers in the mail to warn everyone about the risks of the virus. I am not a medical expert but I am starting to think that the H1N1 virus is getting much unnecessary hype. When the virus first appeared last year in Mexico everyone was scared but that seem to settle down quickly and millions of people didn’t die. However, following the tragic death of a 13 year old boy in Etobicoke everyone seems scared almost to the point of paranoid. Initially, I was frightened and considered lining up for the vaccine, but then I had to stop and think. The flu virus has been around forever, more people have died from the regular seasonal flu than the H1N1 virus. Most healthy people do not die from the flu so what’s all the fear about? It seems that the media attention is making the drug companies who make the vaccine rich and the companies that make hand sanitizers. So lets calm down and look at the facts before we panic. Remember SARS and the Bird flu they were all supposed to the be the next pandemic but that never happened.