Unfortunately swine flu is spreading fast and WHO has raised the level to 5 (out of 6). Phase 6 is the pandemic phase. (click on the image below to learn more about WHO phases).
You can keep track of swine flu developments in a graphical form at BBC website, Swine Flu Outbreak Map page. It shows day to day developments on the flu.
Please take precautions when at work and commuting to work. Here is what the WHO officials want you to do:
- Wash your hands with soap and water often.
- Avoid close contact with other people as much as possible
- Wear a surgical mask if you are in contact with other people
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs spread that way.
- Avoid leaving your home while sick except to get local medical care.
- Always cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
Let’s hope that it will be over soon, InshAllah.
i will. Need more cautious!
Thanks for the timely info. I’ll be traveling with my family over the next couple of weeks and we’ll be taking precautions.
Are you talking about the MRSA strain? If so, the CDC may have something. If you want S. aureus outbreaks of all strains over history, it would pretty much be the entire map.
Ades,
Swine flu is definitely not something we all should be worried about.
Look. On the map you show, there has only been 9 deaths from the flu so far.
Do you know how many people die of Malaria each day ?
3,000 people – And that’s in Africa alone!
(http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr33/en/)
If Malaria is a raging forest fire, swine flu is just a puny flint from a wet matchstick.
I remembered when President Bush said that 2 million Americans will die from the bird flu. How many actually died ?
Google the answer and you’d be surprised.
In 1976, the Swine flu was detected in Fort Dix prison. Because of the terrible fear that it would be a pandemic, the late president Ford ordered mass vaccination for over 40 million US residents.
The vaccination end up killing more people than the flu.
flu is something we cannot see blingly. We should take care and be careful. Anything can happen todays.
Swine flu = something the government created to take everyones mind off the recession
and lo and behold, it worked!
@ iphone (the other one!) – How ridiculous, you really think the British gov ‘invented’ this story? Do you not realise pandemic means worldwide spread? The entire world could be affected by this, if it mutates into something more deadly. Of course the press coverage has taken a bit of the spotlight off of the economic problems but no-one has forgotten about them.
It is really very serious threat for the world. All the countries should do something to stop it.
Fortunately it seems the swine flu is not as virulent as initially feared and we should not see a huge international pandemic. Rather don’t go for any vaccinations, they are likely to cause more harm than good!
i hope it not reach epidemic case..
@Lela, you do raise good points.
I am not too worried about this. More people die each year from the regular influenza virus…and the aids virus…and a lot of other diseases unfortunately. I think it is more so a political thing, they are using the media to get the spotlight and heat off of them and the economy.
I am glad there are no flags in South Africa. The first chills of winter is just starting to bite hard, and lots of people got “regular” flu, so there is good conditions for the swine flu to spread this side.
A son of a friend of ours has the flu in Fredericksburg, Virginia, but it hasn’t officially been diagnosed as swine flu yet. Hopefully it’s not.
This outbreak is really worrying. I normally let these things wash over me, because I think along the lines of “it won’t happen to me…”. It is, however spreading fast and we should all be cautious. Fingers crossed that it’ll go away
I wish if someone can come with a powerful vaccine to prevent swine flu outbreak.
Mwuhaha, I laugh in the face of Swine Flu (or cough)
The human-to-human strain isn’t that bad. Be aware that you could contract it, be aware that you can carry it long before showing symptoms (that’s how it spreads so easily), and maintain basic cleanliness. If you have symptoms, go to a doctor.
hope my family will be fine. :)
Sneezing, coughing, runny nose sometimes, tiredness, heavy head feeling, chills sometimes headache for a about 10 seconds sometimes, and sometime aches in my legs and my arms.
The problem with the Swine Flu, is that we have no vaccines, and seeing as how we’ve never encountered it, we have no natural immunity to the virus.
I do wish that someone can come up with a powerful vaccine to prevent swine flu outbreak.