Tuesday Talking Points: Not Regular Flu, No Not Regular Flu, but SWINE FLU

If a person was to simply watch the news, they would be led to believe that millions of people were dying from swine-flu, but this is simply not the case. World-wide the H1N1 strain of influenza has led to only 28,000 deaths, most of these in third-world countries with little to no healthcare available. Even in those countries the majority of deaths occur among the elderly and infant populations, just like the normal flu.

Now keep in mind that that number, 28,000 is WORLDWIDE; the normal strain of flu hospitalizes 300,000 and kills 36,000 people on average every year in the US alone.

The big news right now is that the government has developed a vaccine to combat the H1N1 virus and it is being hailed as the miracle drug that will save us all. The problem with that: Science. H1N1 is a virus, which is to say that it is constantly evolving just like the regular flu virus, which is why people have to get a new flu shot every year, it will be the same case with the H1N1 “vaccination” (which they should really just start calling the “Swine-flu-shot”). This is great but do not let the media lead you to believe that this will be the end-all be-all of cures for the Swine-Flu; it simply is not true.

And this is the real tragedy of how the media has handled the information on the H1N1 disease; it completely contradicts what the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and every other medical professional has been saying. The CDC says to treat the H1N1 strain as any other flu; bed-rest, liquids, no heavy activity, that sort of thing and you will probably be fine. It really is that simple.

So next time you turn on CNN, or MSNBC, or (shudder) Fox News, and they turn Canada a bright fiery red because of a few reported cases of H1N1 remember that according to the CDC 98% of all reported cases of influenza this year were in fact Swine-Flu, and most of the people were fine. Just do a little research, and get your facts straight.