<p>I think it's a load of hogwash. Yes, WHO just went from phase 3 to 4, and yes, 14 more people in the US got it.. but it's not even that severe and I'm not scared.
I live in Southern Alaska, so I've sort of been through the whole bird flu thing and I was laughing the whole time. It was so over dramatized and overhyped, and I never saw no birds or people with it. Plus, we're coming up on summer, which is not key flu season.</p>
<p>So in conclusion, swine flu=not a concern and we should just stop worrying about it. oink oink.</p>
<p>Do you dis/agree?</p>
<p>OH GOD there are suspected cases in kansas OH GOD!!!</p>
<p>DISAGREE.
You may not be worrying because you live in ALASKA. I live within 10 miles on the Mexican border, so yeah.
This sounds like the begining of the end of the world-> 2012
My friend stayed home from school today, and I texted her why and she said she was sick with similar symptoms. Scary.
We have no immunity to this swine flu. It’s a strain combined with bird, swine, and human flu all put into together in one. </p>
<p>Sorry, I’m just really nervous about this whole thing…</p>
<p>Just because the boy cried wolf when there were none doesn’t mean that there can’t be any wolves.</p>
<p>Let’s remember that the Spanish Flu in 1918 killed more people than World War I. It was either a bird or swine flu (or a mixture of both) that mutated such that it was able to infect humans. Such viruses become as contagious as regular flu, but have much higher mortality rates, and may the young and healthy rather than just vulnerable groups such as the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.</p>
<p>The big worry with H5N1 bird flu was that it would become transmissible from human to human, thus affecting as many people as regular flu but killing many more. It never gained this ability. </p>
<p>However, swine flu already has.</p>
<p>Have there been many false alarms, with the virus only resulting in localized epidemics or even less? Yes. (1976 swine flu, SARS, H5N1 bird flu etc.)</p>
<p>Could this be another one of them? Yes.</p>
<p>Are we better prepared to prevent a possible pandemic now? Yes (Antiviral drugs, better governmental responses, better communication.) But remember that travel is also more rapid and a pandemic can spread much more quickly.</p>
<p>Can we absolutely rule out the possibility of a potentially catastrophic flu pandemic–if not this time, then another? Unfortunately, no.</p>
<p>There is also a national outbreak of Salmonella in Alfalfa Sprouts.</p>