the epic pandemic

Bird flu, Spanish flu, the flu- we have come up with just about every kind of flu imaginable. And now we are threatened yet again with The Swine Flu.

The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 is one of the most notable and influential flu's ever. During this time it is said at this time that 50 - 100 million people died world wide. In the US alone 675,000 people died due to this flu (195,000 just in the month of October). The disease killed more people than the black plague, and more than all the wars of the 20th century combined!

Throughout the history of America we have been plagued with flus of every kind, with a wide range of outcomes from millions of deaths to a quick and mild out break. Often over the past years the government and health officials have overreacted to "outrageous" cases of flu that have turned out to be nothing serious. But do they have just cause. The Spanish flu really scared everybody! they had no way of stopping it. It just infected so many people it eventually burned itself out. There was one positive outcome of the Spanish flu: scientists began to learn about strains and immunities. From this doctors and officials have begun to take immediate action concerning all possible pandemics.

Now you might be wondering what this all has to do with H1N1, well I'm going to tell you. Many people now are saying that the H1N1 virus will be similar, but I'm not so sure about it. I think that it is good to be cautious, but all the hype everyone's coming up with seems rediculous! We could be in danger of some serious outbreaks, but as long as everone stays home when they're sick and gets treatment ASAP, we'll all be ok.

As for the vaccine... well, lets just say they're working on that. You can only come up with new cures and vaccinations so fast. They have been on this since the beginning and have been working as fast as they can. I'm a little cautious on who should get it though. They are trying to rush daycare kids and pregnant women to get it as fast as they can, but they haven't even fully tested it! it seems rather hasty if you ask me! I don't think its safe if we don't really even know what it will do yet.

"The remedy is worse than the disease."
~Francis Bacon Of Seditions

I'm no expert but its certainly something to think on.



~K.C.

















http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AvianFlu/story?id=1183172


http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1FLU/


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1894950,00.html
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/images.htm