The news from WHO (World Health Organization) that the level for the H1N1 "Swine flu" Virus was raised from Level 4 to 5, indicating that a pandemic is imminent, has caused the U.S. Government and many other countries to implement precautionary protocols to prevent and decrease risks of the virus spreading to thousands and potentially millions of people. This has caused many to panic at the thought of a possible repeat of the 1918 pandemic flu that killed millions of people. The question we need to address and to put into perspective when discussing the new virus threat is how much risk are we really facing, considering that the last potential pandemic scare during the SARS virus outbreak just fizzled out over a short period of time and that each year thousands of people die from the common household flu. We have been inundated and saturated with mass media coverage about the Swine flu virus, and although it is better to be informed and educated on this subject, I do believe it has contributed to the mass panic that has ensued in both our local and global communities. In this article I will offer some tips on how to prevent the Swine flu virus panic.
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