What happened to Swine Flu?
A(H1N1) or more commonly known as Swine Flu Influenza has caused panic around the world. In 2009, the number of confirmed cases of Pandemic virus has increase rapidly and world seem helpless. I remember the temperature check was implemented for people entering certain establishment. I remember feeling irritated and paranoid when someone near me was not covering their mouth and nose when they were coughing or sneezing. It was a worldwide panic. The world was unprepared for this virus.
In May 21, 2009, the first Swine Flu case in the Philippines was confirmed. A 10 year old girl who arrived in the Philippines on May 18 of last year after visiting the US and Canada tested positive of A(H1N1). People started getting scared. Alcohol sales must have increased during that time since more people were applying it as a precaution. Certain teaching campaigns on how to wash ones hands was conducted by the Department of Health. Several schools suspended their classes due to fears that the virus might spread on a wider scale.
In order to control that Panic, Health organizations has stopped giving out information on the virus. The news has stopped giving statistics on how many people are infected. It was effective. People's lives have normalized. The People's fear about the virus was averted. Now I wonder what the real score is. So I checked several websites including the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) and US Center for Disease control and Prevention. There were no updates.
Finally I found the World health Organization website. As of Jan 24, there were at least 14711 deaths worldwide. The virus transmission remains active but the good news is that the number of confirmed cases is declining. Oseltamivir or Zanamivir are the Antiviral drugs that combat the Swine Flu Virus. There is still no vaccines that specifically targets HIN1 and people are advised to use Seasonal Flu Vaccine to increase a person’s immunity against the new Virus.
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