Personal Injury Law

H1N1.....The Best is Yet to Come

By Barbara Tubridy Lombardi

Summer is officially here, at least in our minds since Memorial Day is behind us. Who is worried or even thinking about the flu season that will inevitably be here this fall? Ex-Iowa flu guru, Johan Hultin is and says that one thing is certain, 'this new strain of flu is scaring the willies out of scientists'. According to Hultin, H1N1 is a descendant of the 1918 Spanish flu which killed as estimated 50 million people worldwide. Hultin has been studying the 1918 Spanish flu since1951 when he traveled to a remote Alaskan village, Brevig Mission, where 90% of the village's residents died during the 1918 pandemic. He is not optimistic about the future of H1N1, stating, '[t]he swine virus itself is unstable and can mutate easily and can pick up genes from other viruses. It could become extremely virulent.'

In complete opposition to this statement, microbiologists at New York Medical College under the direction of Dr. Doris Bucher, have created a sample virus that officials from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say could be used against H1N1. Testing could begin by late June and immunizations could be ready before the beginning of the flu season this fall. Bucher states 'there are no signs [that] the virus [is] changing.'

So far are you feeling the same way about flu expert opinions as you do about economic expert opinions?

As previously stated on this blog site, 'The best defense against the flu is thorough hand washing, covering your nose and mouth when you cough and sneeze, and tossing those tissues after using.' The CDC continues to support this recommendation in addition to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

So what is the truth about H1N1? Who can we trust? Hollywood would have you believe that pandemics can and will happen tomorrow. Public health officials are cautiously optimistic that if we don't panic, wash our hands, and get the flu shot when available that H1N1 will be nothing more than a blip on the flu screen. We will continue to follow this story and update as information becomes available, meanwhile…..the best is yet to come. In the meantime continue to wash your hands and put away the plastic.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on June 01, 2009 (boomark / email).