Swine Flu: 8 Ways to Get Your Family Ready

Reader Comments
Back to blog

Flu happens whether we ant it or not....take care and wash your hands...do not touch your face and hope for the best.
check out my Pandemic Podcasts at
http://www.marinaspodcast.com

marina kamen of NY 7:54AM November 02, 2009

lemyaskin rulezz

lemyaskin of FL 9:49PM September 22, 2009

Stock up now for fall pandemic wave
We really need to use this summer window of opportunity to tell folks to get ready for the fall. What a blessing that the first wave was mild and late in the spring. 1918 is a scary precedent with a mild wave in the spring and the wicked one in the fall. We can learn from that and use this precious time to get prepared.
CDC plans for at least 12 weeks per wave for a severe pandemic. The US Department of Homeland Security’s Pandemic Influenza: Best Practices and Model Protocols says on page 6 "The population may be directed to remain in their homes under self-quarantine for up to 90 days per wave of the outbreak to support social distancing practices."
The best defense for a family in a pandemic is social distancing, i.e. stay home. Think "snow days" in a blizzard. To stay home, you must have food. You should have at least three months of supplies.
The HHS pandemicflu.gov website advises families to stock only two weeks of food and supplies for the fall pandemic wave. Those who follow HHS's advice must leave home after two weeks to restock. Grocery stores are a hotspot for transmission. It is critically urgent to tell people now to stock up for the fall wave!
Jerry K. Hood, USPHS retired
6-12-2009

Jerry Hood of GA 10:18AM June 12, 2009

H1N1 2009 is not like seasonal flu.
It is hospitalizing and killing the 20-50 yr old age group - something seasonal flu does not do.
It is spreading very quickly since we have no immunity to it.
This talk of it being mild and going away until the fall is nonsense.
The entire messaging is designed to prevent an imagined panic and to keep the fragile economy moving.
The public is being kept in the dark. On purpose. We should be outraged.
if you want up to date reporting from around the world and see what is really happening, visit one of the flu boards where people are tracking the virus.
a popular gov visited site is http://www.newfluwiki2.com/frontPage.do

Goju Tye of NY 8:38AM June 12, 2009

If someone in your house is sick and you don't want it to spread to other household members, mix a small amount of clorox and water (about 30/70 so wear gloves!) and use a rag soaked in that mixture to wipe down surfaces like doorknobs, phones, refridgerator handles etc. Wring out the rag before using it or you'll have white spots on your carpet.
This can help prevent the spread of colds and flu within a home or office.

Courtney of NC 7:35AM May 13, 2009

We must remain on the alert for this Influenza virus and others. Influenza viruses by nature change easily and rapidly and unpredictably.
Although this Influenza virus does not currently show the virulence of even seasonal Influenza, it is not an ordinary Influenza virus either. This Influenza A (H1N1) behaves as a virus that is capable of causing a pandemic. Pandemics are defined not by the number of deaths they cause but by the way the disease moves in the population.
What is unusual about this Influenza virus?
1. It is a reassortment virus, as all pandemic Influenza viruses are
2. It has already recombined with Influenza viruses from 4 different sources, suggesting that it does this easily and may continue to do so. Continued reassortment and other genetic changes in the future may make this virus less of a problem, or may make it even more likely to cause illness and death -- its direction is not predictable at this time
3. It transmits easily from person to person, more easily than seasonal Influenza strains are transmitted.
4. It has infected pigs as well as humans, suggesting an increased host range. Also, pigs are a traditional host for reassortment of Influenza viruses and so we may see additional reassortment within pig populations, with the virus transmitted back into humans at some point in the future.
5. This virus is spreading into the Southern hemisphere, which is just entering its flu season. Again there is potential for this virus to reassort with human Influenza viruses and change in an unpredictable way.
The World Health Organization, the CDC, and our public health departments are correct to keep a close eye on this virus and continue to plan and prepare for a potential pandemic of increased severity.
The press should report a balanced, informative, description of the virus and not give in to false or misleading but catchy headlines that may only serve in the end to cause the public to tune out.
Everyone should take this opportunity to plan and prepare and practice good health habits.

E. Alm, microbiologist of MI 6:38PM May 11, 2009

Why the hysteria over Swine Flu. Regular flu causes a lot more death in a year than Swine Flu has shown and they don't start closing schools and busineses over regular flu. What gives? Is Swine Flu more virilent or does the media just need something to report on.

Ken Riley of MA 4:14PM May 01, 2009

I think that a lot of this panic is being caused by the news media==TV manages to make it sound more of a problem than it is. If all would just cool it for a few days the problem would be solved. I remember the panic Ford caused when we prepared for the epidemic that never happened--as an occupational health nurse at a large automotive company I gave about 1500 shots..The worst thing that happened was the side effects from the vaccine. So Lets just cool it for a while and save those masks for Halloween

Marilyn Hess of LA 3:32PM May 01, 2009

Moat of us with families prepare for the regular flu season as the author suggests--my call is that for the meantime, this H1N1 virus is milder and less dangerous than this season's "regular" flu, which for all intents and purposes is more deadly that H1N1. Further, most of the Mexico deaths were from secondary bacterial infections. This death rate is caused by a number of social and cultural conditions (underreporting of mild outbreaks, the lack of modern medical facilities in the poor sectors of Mexico, as well idiosyncratic Mexican habits like not seeing real doctors at real health clinics.
If the disease spreads the way it does in Mexico, it will be the urban poor who are most affected. People in the US have been reading too much Stephen King, and the media, for the sake of ad revenue, has been in a frenzy over what is a comparatively mild illness for most in the US and Europe. We should really go after the media for stoking hysteria.

Archie of OH 2:30PM May 01, 2009

uh -- maybe not.
The question of the day is -- why after all the talk last year about "bird flu" and pandemic planning -- which didn't cause that much of a reaction, is the whole world going crasy now over a flu that so far has shown none of the traints of the projected deadly pandemic flu?
Will this round of hysteria result in people being better prepared in the event of a real deadly pandemic or will it result in complancency after yet another round of the media screaming like chicken little?

njguardian of NJ 1:29PM May 01, 2009