Flu is from pigs, I told you so!

While the rest of the world was looking at the Avian Flu as the source of the next pandemic, I indicated in my earlier blogs that the scientific facts all went against that theory.

Basically, when pigs fly then you might have a pandemic emerging from an Avian Flu.

I guess I can now look back and say "I told you so!". In fact, the only theory of mine that was wrong was the country of origin. I thought this would come from East Asia just like the previous influenza pandemics, but it cames from Mexico instead. To check out my predictions and other aspects of the risks related to influenza, check back on some of my previous post.

The real questions is: what now? My answer, do not panic!

In Canada we have 4,000 deaths during the flu season every year. In the States, there are close to 30,000 deaths. Even with 113 deaths in Mexico, one in the US, and over 1,200 people infected worldwide, we are still far away from the level of risk the annual flu represents.

The problem resides mainly with media. They are blowing this out of proportion. I ave to admit that we are all a bit guilty of pushing the media in that direction. We all long for sensationalism in the news. Good news is boring. Disasters are attractive. We have to remember that media is a business and they have to make profit. To do so they need people to watch, listen, and read. This in turn drives the cost of advertisement up.

We all have to take a step back and put this epidemic into perspective. Don't let the hype get to you. Consider good health habits, eating well, sleeping well, exercising, and generally building up your immune system. Then make sure you regularly wash your hands to reduce the spread of infection. Wash surfaces you work on such as your desktop, but also clean your computer keyboard, your telephone handset, and anything else that could have been handled by someone else.

For now that is the only precaution you can take. If this gets worse, and it probably will, then you may want to consider increased precautions, but I'll leave that for a future blog.

In the meantime, stay healthy.

Alain Normand