It's going to come, and it's going to be bad
It's fall in Canada, and thoughts are once again on hockey, cold weather, and the latest avian flu.Now I don't mean to scare people, but I'd like to point out some facts for your consideration.
Each year a new strain of influenza spreads out from China and east Asia. Each year our health officials sound the warning, and for the most part the situation is dealt with. The danger is that we are due for a pandemic of horrific proportions. Those aren't my words, they are the words of scientists around the world, who not only study biological and viral changes, but also know the historical events and tragedies of past pandemics. They say we are due, past due actually, and even they can not predict what the next strain will look like, or who will be most affected by it.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 took the lives of primarily those between the ages of 20 - 40.The elderly and the very young were largely unaffected. The devestation to both the population and the economies of the world are well documented - most experts put the total human loss at 50 million persons, some say more. Yet even today with all the advancements our present society holds over those just three generations removed, we are just as susceptible, even more so.
Mass transit puts us in direct physical contact with each other.Rapid international transit puts diverse cultures and peoples within mere hours of each other. Those are the facts, and they should give us pause. So is the next pandemic inevitable? Yes, it is. Will it only affect a certain median of the population, like the one of 1918? No one can predict.
So what are we to do?
Well, start with what you can control. Be dilligent with your own personal hygiene. Wash you hands and face before and after you eat, and do the same when you use a restroom. Don't assume your friends practise good hygene, that's not insulting, it's just preventative care on your part. Get a flu shot this fall, and every fall. It won't guarantee an immunity against an outbreak, but studies have shown that it may lessen the severity and duration of an influenza illness.
One last thing, if you are sick, for the love of mike - stay home! You can re-take an exam; there'll be another concert at another time; you're not that valuable to the running of a company; and heaven knows no job is worth your health or mine. Control what you can, and the rest is in the hands of providence.
Now go wash your hands!
Each year a new strain of influenza spreads out from China and east Asia. Each year our health officials sound the warning, and for the most part the situation is dealt with. The danger is that we are due for a pandemic of horrific proportions. Those aren't my words, they are the words of scientists around the world, who not only study biological and viral changes, but also know the historical events and tragedies of past pandemics. They say we are due, past due actually, and even they can not predict what the next strain will look like, or who will be most affected by it.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 took the lives of primarily those between the ages of 20 - 40.The elderly and the very young were largely unaffected. The devestation to both the population and the economies of the world are well documented - most experts put the total human loss at 50 million persons, some say more. Yet even today with all the advancements our present society holds over those just three generations removed, we are just as susceptible, even more so.
Mass transit puts us in direct physical contact with each other.Rapid international transit puts diverse cultures and peoples within mere hours of each other. Those are the facts, and they should give us pause. So is the next pandemic inevitable? Yes, it is. Will it only affect a certain median of the population, like the one of 1918? No one can predict.
So what are we to do?
Well, start with what you can control. Be dilligent with your own personal hygiene. Wash you hands and face before and after you eat, and do the same when you use a restroom. Don't assume your friends practise good hygene, that's not insulting, it's just preventative care on your part. Get a flu shot this fall, and every fall. It won't guarantee an immunity against an outbreak, but studies have shown that it may lessen the severity and duration of an influenza illness.
One last thing, if you are sick, for the love of mike - stay home! You can re-take an exam; there'll be another concert at another time; you're not that valuable to the running of a company; and heaven knows no job is worth your health or mine. Control what you can, and the rest is in the hands of providence.
Now go wash your hands!
posted by Anonymous at 6:46 PM
1 Comments:
I always get the shot.
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