Thursday, April 30, 2009

Worried about the Swine Flu?

Everyone is concerned about the Swine Flu - and rightfully so. Yet, we know very little about it...and what to do to safeguard ourselves against this threat.

I found the following interesting leaflet being distributed by the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management, and thought I should share it.

Just click on the document on the left to see the larger version.

I also found this description of the Swine Flu (below) which visually shows the origins of Swine Flu, as well as the symptoms you need to be on the lookout for. (Source AFP/Yahoo)

The World Health Organization says it is going to stop referring to this strain of flu as "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger it poses to pigs....

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the flu name change comes after the agriculture industry and the U.N. food agency expressed concerns that the term “swine flu” was misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to order the slaughter of pigs.

So...what's in a name then?

Well, going forward it will be known by
its technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A. I guess it doesn't sound nearly as menacing as "Swine Flu!"

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