Health articles

Swine flu, time to panic?

We all are aware of the deadly swine flu disease. Whenever we switch on the television or read the newspaper, the reports regarding swine flu are there. Even when we are sitting in some public place, almost everyone is discussing this pandemic.

The horrific news flashes and the word to mouth element caused by these group discussion make this disease even more dreadful. People are becoming more and more terrified from it. Panic, is a good word to use when describing the mood in the street nowadays especially, when people see the remark "pandemic" associated with swine flu, featured on the screen, they panic even more. This article's propose is strictly to let you know that the word pandemic is not something to be dreaded of frightened by. Pandemic just means that the infection has grown to be prevalent all around the world.

Following facts will clear the concept in your minds---

First, the definite number of contagion is pretty low. No doubt, a few people are dying from swine flu, but no one is even bothers to look at the death rate from the usual seasonal flu at this time of the year. No one takes notice of other appalling issues that should actually give us good grounds to panic such as car accidents, cancer, HIV and many more. If you compare all these conditions then you will put the swine flu in its proper perspective and realize that there is actually nothing to panic about.

Not panicking doesn't give us the privilege of being careless. One should be careful and concerned rather than panic. People must take safety measures in everyday life. Precautions like washing your hands properly with some sort of medicinal/disinfecting soap and not touching your face or eyes or mouth in public places are important and will keep you healthy. Take a small bottle of hand antiseptic or disinfectant with you and use it if you touch anything that others may have touched (toilets, water coolers and other public facilities you may use). If the cough and cold (which are the prime symptoms of swine flu) persist for more than a week, then get yourself checked.

There are still many people who don't even know how harmful swine flu actually is?  The main thing to be aware of is that Swine flu may affect people who have weak immune systems. Case casualty is not really that high. Case fatality is a systematic and scientific gauge of how many people suffered from the swine flu and how many of them died.

Doctors today have a vaccine for the fresh strain of swine flu and the antiviral treatment Tamiflu will surely help to reduce the symptoms. It is estimated that the swine flu drift will start to turn down in the next couple of months.