Feeling a touch of the flu? Don't panic

by Larry McDermott

Sunday May 03, 2009, 5:00 AM

Hysteria is a sign that common sense is AWOL. What else accounts for the irrational behavior of some people in the wake of news that a few cases of influenza, this one called swine flu, have occurred in the United States?



You can expect few in the media to give you the important context to keep this in perspective. So, for the record, as of noon Friday the federal government had reported 109 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States and 1 death. The government also reported that the population was 306,329,891 people with 1 birth being reported every 8 seconds and 1 death every 12 seconds.



That means that while 109 people had swine flu, 306,328,782 did not.

Instead, we have Vice President Joe Biden, who apparently contracted the non-fatal foot-in-mouth disease many years ago, telling a national television audience that he would tell members of his own family not to go anywhere and be in confined places now, especially like flying on airplanes or riding in subways. His boss, President Barack Obama, got it right by giving Americans common sense advice: wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, stay home from work if you're sick and keep children home from school if they are sick.



"Doctor" Biden also told his national TV audience that, "If you're out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes, that's one thing. If you're in a closed aircraft or a closed container, a closed car, a closed classroom, it's a different thing."



Obama's "cover your mouth" advice probably should have been the first step taken by the vice president.



Harvard closed its dental schools' treatment clinic and suspended classes at all three major schools on its medical campus because it believed a student had developed "a possible case" of swine flu, but it also had good advice for those who listened. "We are all concerned, but there's no need for panic," Dr. David Rosenthal, director of Harvard University Health Services, told the Boston Globe.



Springfield's health czar, Helen R. Caulton-Harris, also was a voice of reason and common sense on Thursday. The city's director of health and human services said, "We want people to know that they should not panic."



That's right. There is no need for people to panic, and no need to panic the people, even though the national cable news networks are doing just that with their non-stop updates. It leaves the impression that a pandemic is sweeping the nation. That is followed by people developing copycat symptoms, leading some to rush to hospital emergency rooms.



Can everyone just calm down?



Think about it - if everyone who called in sick last year because they had "the flu" really had influenza, that would have been an epidemic. I know people who claim year after year that they have "the flu." Sometimes they say they had "a touch of the flu." They might have been suffering from some type of virus, but trust me - they weren't suffering from influenza.



As news spread this week about swine flu, many companies, including ours, referred inquiring employees to the Internet site for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC.gov provides regularly updated information as well as a helpful Q&A. The CDC's job is to monitor and prevent.



I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't take seriously the government's cautions and warnings. Communication is a key part of its prevention plan, and a pandemic is a possibility. But instead of doing a lot of hand-wringing and Twittering about it, take my advice and do these things in the name of common sense and motherhood:



--DO get a flu shot every year.



--DO wash your hands often.



--DO cover your mouth and nose (with tissue, a handkerchief or the sleeve of your shirt/blouse) before you cough or sneeze.



--DO stay home if you are sick.



--DO practice good health habits.



--DON'T put your fingers in your eyes, nose, ears or mouth.



--DON'T put your tongue on doorknobs.



--DON'T put your hands on the bottom of your shoes and then put your fingers in your mouth.



--DON'T listen to Joe Biden.