now im really worried...

I'm not worried about it at all. I still think my highest risk of death is getting into my car, or onto my bike, each day. The media enjoy stirring up the pot and selling panic, but in reality I think my life is put at risk in other, more realistic ways, many times over before some obscure malady from a foreign country ever will.

There will always be some sickness or malady to worry about if you look hard enough. In this case, I consider it to be widespread hypochondria. If it develops to something more than that, so be it, but I still think the odds of my personally being affected are minimal to non-existent. Generally, people don't take much action to prevent themselves from other, more realistic maladies, but suddenly there is this expectation that people should dramatically alter their lives solely because a more trendy and contemporary virus has come along. It all seems very silly and irrelevant to me.

It's funny, people are either taking it very seriously or not seriously at all. And in a way that's how life works, you can sit and be worried or go out and live and figure the odds are against you dying.

My eyebrows are definitely raised and a little phobia is coming. I find I'm washing my hands more and paying attention to this, especially since I work with homeless and addicts who are not generally known to hang around the high ends of town. My wife works in a bank and we all know how dirty and germ infested money can be.

I don't see this as SARS or the Bird Flu... call me paranoid but there's something about this one that has my attention, not quite to total paranoia levels but close.

We foster a child in Mexico City, and I'm concerned for his well-being. Gotta trust his host family to act responsibly.

Selfishly, I'm most worried that governments might start restricting travel. I'm scheduled to fly through Amsterdam on the way to Liverpool in a few weeks. If European leaders lose their cool over this, you'll see how I earned my name!

Just saw on the news, there has been 2 confirmed cases of person to person airborne contact. So now, it's a whole new ballgame!

WHO raises pandemic level to Phase 5: pandemic imminent
 

WHO Raises Swine Flu Alert - Forbes.com

The number of cases in the Toronto area has increased by another 3. These are all cases of young people (20s) coming in from Cancun, however, and their cases are relatively mild, so it seems limited in scope.

Remember the bird flu?

Remember the West Nile Virus.

Remember all the fucking political and media hype associated with them?

I'm completely fed up with the total media circus surrounding this illness. When 13,000 people die from the seasonal variety of the flu and it get's mentioned once or twice for about 30 seconds on the evening news and then we are exposed to this media BS there's a screw loose somewhere.

Okay, guys, I work at the Department of Health and Human Services.

I was just on a conference call with a couple people who are dealing with this firsthand - clinical testing of individuals suspected to have H1N1, and those distributing the pharmaceuticals to treat it.

Their worry is not that everything is going to go batshit crazy right now. Their concern, and the concern of most public health agencies, is that we are nearing the end of the flu season right now. In all likelihood, if it is not contained and destroyed now, we will see a LOT of swine flu in the fall when flu season rears its sneezy, nasty, fevery head again. And then it will be more dangerous.

Understand?

Capisce.

Masks sell out across Australia over swine flu fears | Swine flu | News.com.au

i knew i should have bought those shares in the mask manufacturing company

I know, i figure stock in Johnson & Johnson (makers of Purell, hand sanitizer) must be going through the roof!

I just saw on the evening news that the possible case of the woman here in my county was confirmed. They say she is 34 yrs. old and is doing fine. I am assuming that all of the cases that have popped up across the globe are all from people that have travelled from Mexico or had contact with someone who had.

As I said in my other post, I am mostly concerned because Hubs is supposed to be going to Mexico City in about a week. I'll just keep watching and waiting to see what come's from this.

I haven't needed to break out my biosuit yet, but I am trying to figure out how many people woud have to die before I wasn't considered crazy for wearing it.

http://www.saferamerica.com/images/products/368.jpg

Since Tamifu cures it, I'm not quite as paranoid as if it were an Ebola or some other virus that had no cure.


Edit: Maybe this is patient zero. I wonder how freaked out the parents would be if this happened today.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...etswineflu.jpg

Tamiflu only works if it is administered in the first 48 hours. It's not a cure it only shortens the duration and lessens the severity.

Even still, I am not at all worried about this. It would take a lot to get me to.

I am concerned about where this is going, but more concerned about the implications to the economies of the world, and about the panic induced stupidity this could cause than the sickness itself......

Taken from Quest Diagnostics, as it appears after I log in at work:



---------- Post added at 11:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 PM ----------

I don't think we're supposed to have pics of anyone under 18+ on here

thank you, pony! :D

Yes, I mean, that's all very reasonable. That, however, is not what any of the "buzz" has been about, nor what any of the WHO's releases have been about. Being worried that NEXT YEAR's flu season will be more severe and more dangerous because we have a new variety of flu out there that we may be less prepared to deal with is worlds away from the "IMMEDIATE GLOBAL EPIDEMIC FEAR FOR YOUR LIVES" stuff that has been so widespread since this first hit.

I'm glad there are people who are actually dealing with this rationally and looking at the big picture, but I wish the message was a little more clear so people can behave rationally about it all.

Don't burn anyone... yet.

Tully's fine. He's been diving with his daughter in Cancun. Which is basically a ghost town. Haven't seen or heard of anyone here even getting a head cold. But the people at this resort turned on CNN and left en mass earlier this week.

I did notice at dinner last night the other dinners and wait staff were wearing masks. I though about getting a mask out of my bag in my truck but then how do you eat dinner? If you do what's the point of the mask.

I'm driving home this afternoon. The on-line rate at my house is much cheaper then here at the resort.

Write more when I get home.

Tully.

Home, just read through the whole thread. Pony makes sense IMO. They're doing a lot here to contain things. Check at the state boarder to see if you have any signs. So far not one case in the state of Yucatan. Couple suspected cases in Cancun and the state of Q. Roo. Cancun is a ghost town. Bet you could get a great last minute deal on a room this week. Two days ago they gave me 6 dives for the price of 4. Including a night and wreck dive.

If I didn't have stuff already planned I'd head back for more diving next week. Maybe I'll take a day or two to go check out some of the tourist infested cenotes.

It is sad to know that it is getting worse and spreading around the globe... hope they could provide something to stop this outbreak.

They are getting increasingly serious about it here. In addition to the mandatory screening at the airport (thermal scanning all arrivals) they are also instituting workplace safety. All visitors to the building I work in have to have their temperature checked prior to entering the building.

The schools are also in on it. All children have to have their temperature checked before going to school and have their temperature entered into their school agenda to be checked by the teacher. If their temperature is over 37.9°C (for children aged 12 and below) or 37.6°C (for children above 12 or adults) they are to stay home.

We have similar policies in my office. If you have flu symptoms you are requested to stay home. All unnecessary business travel has been cancelled. All personal travel must be reported. If the destinations are to be made to affected areas you must take a 7 days vacation (your vacation time) upon return before returning to the office.

I know that SARS really hit hard here but geez... this just seems to be over the top.

Of course someone had to try to make money from this media scrum:

Flu scare triggers rash of fake drugs | smh.com.au

I also heard a government spokesman in Oz on the radio saying that if there was a huge outbreak here, the drugs would be made available free of charge.

All over my university the Student Health Service has posted signs reminding everyone to wash their hands, cover their coughs, and stay home if they're sick. A student at a nearby university came down with it, and they closed that campus entirely. It hasn't come here yet, but we'll see. I wouldn't mind staying home for a few days. :)

I'm not too worried. I already wash my hands plenty often and worrying about it really won't help me any.

From across the pond...
 

..It claimed a good friend....deeply troubled by his own demons the incessant reporting, lists, and media hype helped in some way to tip him over the edge..he had complied lists, based on media reports of what to do, how to avoid it...obsessive lists, scribbled in a panicked fear........

Get real, take normal health precautions.....

The swine flu death toll will go nowhere dear the death toll caused by depression and the darkness we ignore in our society...

I wasn't worried in 76, why should I be worried now?

why do i get the feeling that the worst is over and this news story almost just fell off the edge?

smells like a drummed up story if you ask me.

sold a lot of papers though...and meds.

The story isn't now. The story is this fall, when we see what kind of mutations have taken place from the people who were infected from this pandemic. Might be nothing.

The part about this that scares the CDC types is that it's cross-species combinations of DNA. This is fairly unusual as most viruses stay species-specific. This one is sort of choosing ala carte and combining in scary ways. So far the combinations haven't been particularly lethal, but the stage is set in a way that worries anybody who studies this sort of stuff.

So...no need to start looting in the streets for Tamiflu just yet, but if you're sick, stay home. Wash your hands frequently. Cover your mouth when you cough. And stop making fun of people who do all those things.

what do you do for work shaindra??

im seriously curious

Rush Limbaugh says this is just a ruse to keep people from seeing how Obama is taking the country down the road to socialism.........he he

So, all the conservatives & GOPers said that we'll get to have a black President when "Pigs Fly"!
.....and on Obama's 98th day,Swine Flu[/I]!!! :oogle:

you dont mean to say a fat white conservative would lie....... are you?

Ha Ha....nope. But forgive me cuz I'm in Y-town too.

you have my condolences for sure......
:shakehead:

the river of love isnt the mahoning river is it?????

yeeeeck

wait for fall

I'm just a garden-variety web geek.

Haha, Singapore's lowered the level to yellow. I'm not too afraid of the H1N1 virus. The only reason why the world's panicking is because this particular strain seems to be capable of extreme virulence as well as being able to easily mutate and create novel genetic variants that are harder to control in the future. Every 10-15 years, the flu virus, well, "evolves" and scientists generally can predict how it's going to be and come up with a suitable counter against it, but when faced with a mutant strain that has genetic material from strains that infect different species of animals, it's going to be much harder to predict what kind of strain it will turn out to become.

Therefore it makes sense to try to avoid getting the population infected because it spreads, and it spreads fast.

I also noticed that certain individuals in the scientific community have posited that it would be better to be infected with it (as in, inoculated) because once our bodies recognise the strain, we might be protected against it in the future.

Then again, as with all inoculations, there comes a risk... and basically the medical and scientific community would rather err on the side of caution.

Better to prevent masses from getting it rather than deliberately infecting them so that they will gain immunity because it is not exactly confirmed that the infected WILL gain immunity and/or NOT die from it.

But in any case, it makes good reason for me to skip work... but that's a different story for a different day

*grins*

Do I have a right to be worried, seeing as I supposedly have a compromised immune system to begin with (splenectomy in infancy), have just come down with a bitch of a sore throat, and my doctor mother is checking in on me incessantly and filling my head with her own paranoia?

Maybe I'll stay home from work on Monday. :)

I have to say that I find this funny. What are the chances the person checking temps is washing their hands/using sanitizer between each person? I say about nil. Not to mention that most people who use hand sanitizers do not use them properly. Good way to spread an infection if you ask me.

As I understand it there have been about 4000 cases in the USA so far and 3 deaths. I calculate that if it were to spread and half the people in the USA caught it there would be about 112,000 deaths....in it's present mild form. ( 300M/2 x 3/4000 = 112,500)

In 1918 Spanish flue also started out mild. Then in the fall it came back and killed millions world wide. We need time to make a vaccine.

A lot of the people who have died didn't die from the swine flu. Their immune reaction to the virus damages their lungs, and they then get bacterial pnuemonia.

My mom (a doctor) came down with swine flu 2 weeks ago, and is now being treated for pnuemonia. She's still hacking and coughing and has a hard time even walking across a room. It's a little scary, but I think they caught it quick enough (about a week after she got sick they started the antibiotics).

She suggested that if I do start getting symptoms I should take Tamiflu.

hope she gets better soon lindsey.

My tiny South Dakota mentality says:

Go to work.

Getting sick in response to the news is.

Regarding the deaths, there have been relatively few. Tripe isn't nourishing. Think about living. It's fun, right? Why succumb to that which will only eventually afflict you when you don't have to?

The new bug is the same as the old bug & we'll work through all of them.

Have a good weekend.

It's growing fast.

Overall... this doesn't seem to be too bad for us in the developed world (some are more at risk than others though). I'm worried about it's effect on poorer countries, where there are less medical supplies.

World in swine flu pandemic: WHO
 

World in swine flu pandemic, WHO tells countries

Well, I guess it's official. It's the first pandemic in 41 years. But don't panic. The effects are fairly moderate, and this is more or less confirming what many have suspected would happen for a while anyway.

I suppose the best thing to come out of this is that it perhaps will encourage us to take more precautions.

Wash your hands!

We got a memo yesterday that someone in my office building has it. The fileroom staff here is under orders to clean all doorknobs on the hour every hour.

Meh.

If the swine flu pandemic finally came true, where's my flying car?

meet you halfway:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z...41f55418dd.jpg

what's that saying: "When pigs fly.."? Very similarly describes the blown-proportions and supposed statistics that quantify this as the foretold strain that will crush humanity. It's even gotten to the point where this story seems plausible to the general audience:

Jetee: my new hero.

The news broke today that someone in our office was officially diagnosed. I was out the door about 10 minutes later to head out to a ball game, but there was definitely a sense of panic in general in the office. I month ago, I think I would have been a little more concerned. Now? Meh.

Why don't people use sick time and stay home? Can I use my sick time and stay away from the other sick people in my office?

I played golf this week with a guy who recently retired from quite high up in the NSW health dept. His take? People die every year from the flu - why is this any different? In fact, it is quite a mild flu from most accounts.

From a friend at the CT National Guard's annual two-week training:

6-10 7:48PM "suspected h1n1 outbreak: army issues nurse masks to those suspected of having it... i am in a room packed with about" message cut off
6-11 6:57AM "Giving a group of 3/4 veterans of 'stan an unexploded ordinence briefing worth spreading swine flu to them? wasnt sick yesterday"
6-11 7:03AM "Am sick now - when i bitched at leadership they asked if i woulda halted training i said no just quarenteen infected/sick"

I'm surprised the local news isn't all over this.

My friend just called me and told me he just got back from the hospital, he has swine flu. We hung out with him a few days ago. I have been feeling kind of off today and so has my SO. Damn, I hope we didn't get it from him, neither one of us has insurance.

Its just a different strand of Flu, as long as you dont have a weakened immune system from AIDS, old age, or some other disease it shouldnt kill you. I am pretty sure I had it, I am a manager at a grocery store and am in contact with nasty people and there money all day. I never get the flu, but happened to get it shortly after a couple confirmed cases came into my town from canada. Its the sickest I have been in 10+yrs, but it was still just a flu.

I'm not worried about dieing, just hope neither one of us need to go to the doctor. I'm sure we'll be fine though. All I have right now is a really bad sore throat that started last night. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it, we may not even get sick.

Update, it did make it to the news, but then the Swine Flu outbreak was downgraded to regular flu outbreak.

You probably have it. Just keep checking your temperature.

I am sure we will get it soon enough as it has started to spread through our island nation...

My family and I are traveling ot Vietnam next week and am sure exposure will occur at the airport.

This is not about swine flu, but in a way, it is.

Grancey got stuck in a women's room this afternoon.

We were on the interstate and heading to a Labor Day arts and crafts show, and as we crossed into Georgia, Grancey told me to pull into the official rest stop at the state line. It was the last true restroom before we got into the Georgia back-country and had to face the horror of the arts and crafts show port-a-potty.

Grancey grabbed a napkin from the car to use as a germ-barrier between her hand and the restroom door, and I watched her push open the door to the women's room and go inside. I went inside the men's room, took care of business, and went back out in the lobby, but I was not surprised to notice that Grancey hadn't come out yet. Happens all the time that way - I finish first.

I waited and waited. I started browsing the travel brochures. A family of strangers began to get magically interested in whatever display I was looking at. I would move to another display to get away from them, and suddenly they'd be right behind me again.

I chatted with the ladies at the reception desk. I signed the guest book (with my own pen, not the community pen on the desk). I finally gave up and went back into the lobby.

FINALLY, the door to the women's room opened up, and a big fat soccer mom barrelled out with Grancey right on her heels. She bounded up to me.

She said, "I got stuck in there and I couldn't get out."

"What?"

She explained that she saved the napkin she'd used to push the door in order to have something to turn the faucets. She wasn't about to touch ANYTHING that might have been touched by another human's potentially deadly hands. After washing her hands (and using the napkin to turn off the faucets), she tossed the napkin and had to drip dry her hands since there were no paper towels - only the hot air wall-mounted dryer.

That's when she noticed that the door had to be PULLED in order to get out of the restroom - and she'd tossed her napkin. She was stuck. So, she waited. And waited.

She waited for another woman to come in, use the restroom, and leave so that she could jump out the door right behind her before it closed again without having to touch the handle. And while waiting, she continued to wash her hands over and over and over in order to give her something to do so she wouldn't look like a creepo hanging out in the women's room.

You just know you're going to have a kick-ass afternoon when it starts with your wife getting stuck in a women's room. The moral? According to Grancey - take more than one napkin to the restroom next time.

Hah, Your immune system is going to get weak if you never expose it to germs!

Funny though, I had to use a nasty public restroom at a themepark last month. I ended up flushing the toilet with my foot and turned off the sink with my elbows and then followed someone out the door without touching it.

Still not really worried about swine flu. I'm going to get sick or I won't. Not much I can do about it.

Presbyterian much?

That's actually one of those misquoted medical facts that confuse a lot of people. What you said is true, if you're talking about a toddler with a still-developing immune system. Adults, not so much. It's never a bad idea, nor bad form, to play it safe.

Still, there is playing it safe and there is stuck in a bathroom because you won't touch the door...

EDITED: I promised to behave, so I erased my reply.

/note to self: funny anecdotal posts about wife and germophobia = bad idea.

I laughed at the story, I promise.

I'm still laughing at the story. I will be watching carefully for the next few days as she tries to secretly stockpile extra napkins in the car.

I used to grab a bit of extra toilet paper from rest stops for that very reason... and because there was no telling if the next one would have any.

Swine flu has erupted around here now that school started again, and the pharmacies are out of liquid Tamiflu for the kids. I'm not that worried, because I catch everything already, so I'm just expectant and follow normal "eew that's disgusting" protocol regarding contact with other people. I monitor myself and go from there. The strain here isn't causing as high of a fever as elsewhere and people aren't getting treated as quickly. So we've had non-elderly, non-children deaths. It's the doctor-phobic people I worry about. The hospitals here have cracked down on visitors and there are designated entrances for those who have "flu-like" symptoms.

I had a dream the other night that the swine flu pulled a Rage Virus and we all turned into pigs. :lol:

My doctor's son got H1N1. They were able to get it confirmed by the CDC. She says it's not much worse than regular flu. So unless you are really old or really young or your immune system is otherwise compromised there's not much to worry about I think.

Unfortunately, your info about susceptibility is exactly backwards. They are warning that the very old and very young stand a better chance than the "young and strapping." It looks like high school, college, and early 20's will be the hardest hit demographic.

The college where I teach held a major inservice on our campus-wide response to H1N1. They've told us to be very liberal in our attendance policies, as we want to encourage any student with symptoms to stay home without penalty. They're also telling us that doctor's offices are sending people home when they arrive with symptoms, because A) there's really nothing they can do for them at that point, and B) they don't want the entire waiting room infected. Therefore, we are supposed to drop any attendance requirements we have about doctor's excuses to accompany an absence for this semester.

I was speaking more about survivability rather than susceptibility. 70% of the 300 or so deaths from H1N1 (so far) have been among people who were already at risk of death even from regular flu (this includes the very old, the very young and immune compromised).

Older people (60+), for once, have the advantage--ie, some sort of pre-existing immunity.

The unofficial (and internal) word today from one of the hospitals locally was that they're seeing another strain that's causing more problems.
Not to be alarmist, but they said this is the one that has a lower fever and lasts longer and is taking out more people.
Any one else hear this?

It seems to have gone off the radar in the UK - I have a feeling it will come back with a bang when the 'naturla flu season' draws in...

I don't understand the stampede to the flu shot locations. It's just a fucking flu. Get over it. Unless you're 80 years old, you'll be fine.

I had a flu last week. I still have a cough, but I'm fine. I just made sure not to visit my grandma.

Minor illnesses like the flu aren't a big deal if you're generally in good health.

It's been running rampant where I work. Last saturday, we had 5 patients with influenza A. We weren't sending out any nasal washes to labs to confirm it's H1N1, it's just presumed it is, as that's all that's going around out here. Yesterday, myself, another coworker, and 5 other patients all tested positive for influenza A, up to the point I was sent home from work. There may have been more, who knows. I'm all medicated right now, so I don't feel nearly as bad as when I woke up this morning.

Famous last words.

I deal with a lot of invincible people who are convinced that the common sniffles and fever-y ache-y feelings they get from time to time must be the flu. Trust me, you're in for a serious ass kicking the first time you catch the flu. The first time you catch the actual flu (any strain, it doesn't matter), then you'll finally know what everybody's talking about.

I've only had it once in my adult life - and I would rather have spikes screwed slowly into my eye sockets than EVER go through that again. I'm normally a big, strong, healthy motherfucker, but in the Fall of 1985 when I finally caught the flu somehow, I was reduced to jelly, and my opinion of the flu was changed forever. For two solid weeks, I had constant high fever, no ability to keep down any food, joints and muscles that felt like Marcellus Wallace had gotten medieval on my ass, and a constant headache that chewed up and spit out migraines for breakfast. Add to that a runny nose that was bloody and raw after the first two days. I spent the bulk of the two weeks on the couch and on the toilet, unable to drag myself to do much more than that. My cough and congestion didn't stop for a full month AFTER I got better, and even then I could still taste blood every time I coughed.

I have college students come up to me all the time and say, "I wasn't here Monday and Tuesday because I had the flu." I just wish I could say to them, "Shut the fuck up, you didn't have no goddamned flu. You wouldn't be fucking standing here in front of me for the rest of this month if you'd had the fucking flu. Idiot."

While I agree that the true flu really, really sucks (I work in healthcare, I've had it, despite regular vaccination), I also agree that true risk of serious problems is to the young, old, and people with immunodeficiency. Most healthy adults will be fine.

On a side note, if you wanto waste some time playing a game and learning about pandemic flu, check this out.

The Great Flu

Uh, okay. I've had the real flu many, many times. The one where I was in bed for a week. I think I know what I'm talking about.

I think a lot of swine flu stuff is blow out of proportion. I won't try to quote statistics or get all quoty on you, but the regular flu, year over year, takes a lot of lives worldwide. The focus that you see in the news are the cases where the worst things happen and you only see that because the "flu" has a "swine" prefix and is "extra scary" because its NEW!

Just like the regular flu, the young, old or those sick already are the most susceptible to seriously life threatening illness.

This article is all over the AP wire today.

As I read this article, I kept thinking of all the famous last words I've been reading on TFP about how the swine flu is overblown, and is no big deal, and won't be that bad on the young/strong/healthy.

So go ahead and drink that orange juice, and wallow in all those germs/bacteria/viruses to make your immune system stronger. Go ahead. You'll be fine.

Actually, 50% of the swine flu deaths were people 20-49. Compare that to 90% of the deaths of seasonal flu are people over 65 years.

Source please?

On Friday, one of my co-workers who is a good friend and fellow guitarist died from complications he developed from H1N1. He was 31, extremely athletic and in fantastic shape. He struggled and suffered quite a lot over the past month (spent in ICU) before finally becoming too weak to fight anymore. His family couldn't do anything except watch him get weaker and weaker each day.

Yeah, we know a woman who died - she was 40. Had a bit of asthma but otherwise in good shape. Went downhill fast.

---------- Post added at 08:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:25 AM ----------

Agree with that. Every time you get a sniffle it isn't the flu, numpties. Flu lays people out for several days and it's pretty miserable.

The Swine Flu Emergency/Pandemic IS overblown. It's a great story for the media because it invariably involves human tragedy, always good for getting attention. And it is a tragedy for any family losing a member, particularly a healthy young adult in the prime of life. BUT... there is no pandemic. The WHO itself now characterises this as a mild outbreak. The definition of a pandemic has itself been changed in recent years and watered down from epidemics spreading throughout huge/multiple geographic areas to simply a single disease appearing in multiple geographic areas in a very short period of time (can you say air travel?). There need not be true epidemics anywhere for it now to be a pandemic.

While H1N1 is killing what are considered non-traditional populations (the young & healthy) more so than other forms of flu, it is not striking the population with markedly greater intensity than other highly virulent forms of the flu, and it's not the orders of magnitude more deadly that most people seem to think it is. Some (a large part, perhaps) IS due to the media focus, which has prompted people to take the common-sense precautions of washing hands frequently, and dealing with sneezing or coughing more effectively.

As I said, it is a tragedy for any family to lose anyone, especially those in the prime of life. I do speak from personal experience, my mother died of the flu at age 29. But H1N1 is simply NOT the killer threat it is made out to be.

I'll give your thoughts to the family tomorrow at the funeral. I'm sure it will be a great comfort to them to know that we have overreacted.

2.5 million people gathered for the annual hajj pilgrimage in saudi last week with only 5 reported deaths, though more could be reported once the pilgrims returned home.

As I said, it is a tragedy to any family that loses someone. It is, and I offer my heartfelt condolences to the family on their loss. I meant absolutely no disrespect to them or any other family that suffers as a result of H1N1.

I do, however, feel that the media is playing this up beyond it's true societal impact (as opposed to the very real individual familial impacts). I stand by my statement that the MEDIA is using H1N1 to their advantage, far beyond what it merits from the point of view of its overall impact.

I have a handfull of friends who've been diagnosed, and recovered from H1N1. I'm not worried. Theres a kid that died in my city from it, but again, I'm not worried. Not yet.