The Flu

I am a little concerned by the current outbreak of Swine flu. Most people underestimate this virus, which, in its multitude of forms has probably killed more people than any other.
It used to annoy me terribly when i was working, that colleagues whom I will not name, regularly took a couple of days off work claiming to have had the flu. I had it once and I felt as if i was dying. Flu is nothing like the heavy colds that can lay one low for a couple of days. With a cold it is still possible to function, with flu it isn't. It is a debilitating and dangerous disease and a pandemic is long overdue. never has there been a time when the spread of disease has been so likely. International travel is easy and it does not take long for a pathogen to be spread worldwide. With a long incubation period, the disease can be spread unwittingly from continent to continent and although this outbreak was first noted in Mexico, it has already been discovered in Canada, the UK, Brazil and Australia. People with flu like symptoms are advised to isolate themselves but will they? It doesn't take many thoughtless individuals to infect hundreds and they in their turn hundreds more. Thus is the nature of the pandemic.
We can only hope that it burns itself out before millions are infected and there are significant fatalities. Gone are the days when people were as selfless as those in Eyam, who knowing that they were infected with the plague, isolated themselves so that others in surrounding villages would be spared. People with the infection will still go to work and use public transport. Ignorance is expensive.