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6 Facts You Should Know About Swine Flu
As a member of the Twitter community, I'm in awe
of the wonderful friendships & networking aspects of social media.
As a medical physician in this community, I also see that there is
much misconception & misinformation about the swine flu and I
sense fear in many. Because I was closely involved with medical
care of patients when SARS hit South East Asia in 2003, I understand
this fear particularly well. It is out of my concern that this article is
written. My references are from theCenter for Disease Control &
Prevention and World Health Organization.
At the time of writing, these highly regarded health authorities advise the following:-
1. Common sense precautions only are required
to protect you and your family from the swine flu. For example,
• wash your hands often with soap
and water or with alcohol-based hand cleaners, such as after you
cough or sneeze.
• avoid close contact with sick people,
if possible. Stay home if you are sick.
2. There is no need to take Tamiflu as a
precaution
3. Go and see the doctor if you are not well
4. There is no need to wear a mask if you have
not been advised to do so by medical professionals or health
authorities
5. Eating pork is fine. Transmission of this
disease is by air-borne vapors caused by coughing or sneezing.
You won't get swine flu if you eat pork
6. If you would like more information, I
recommend you read about the swine flu at the Center for Disease
Control & Prevention and the Whole Health Organization internet
sites.
For those who would like more information about the swine flu:-
• The common flu & the swine flu share similar
symptoms, such as fever, cough, sore throat, headache, tiredness,
backache. Some have also reported vomiting & diarrhoea.
• Both are caused by a group of viruses called
the influenza viruses. However, they are not borne by the same
organisms, which means that your common flu vaccine will not work
against the swine flu.
• To keep this in perspective, this is a table
which compares the common flu with the swine flu:-
| The Common Flu | Swine Flu | |
| Numbers of people affected | About 53 Million people (5-20% of US population per year) |
40617 cases in the US (as of July 10, 2009) |
| Numbers of people who die from flu-related causes | 36,000 deaths | 263 deaths in the US (as of July 10, 2009) |
SURVEY : How Do You Feel about the H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic?
Read more: How to Sneeze or Cough Correctly...
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