Swine Flu

This swine flu thing is really starting to get on my nerves. Everybody is worried about how this could turn into some big epidemic, and how it could kill thousands of people. The media is over hyping this to death. I think we should take a chill pill and get over this.

People are worried about this flu because it has a little flu from pigs, birds, and humans all wrapped into one. It is airborne, and is possibly lethal, just like the regular flu. The regular flu kills about 30,000 people a year in the United States. This new swine flu, 1 person dead in the U.S. Wow. I’m scared. I have a 1 in 300,000,000 chance of dying because of the swine flu. There is a greater possibility of getting eaten by a shark while looking for shells on the shore of Lake Michigan (not really, but still, you get my point (I hope)). So overall, to say the least, I am not worried.

I would be worried if I lived in a third world country, with no proper vaccine or health care or treatment. If I lived there and the swine flu came along, I would run away. And this is where the media should be focusing their attention, on the terrible conditions in which the people are living who catch the swine flu. This is where the real story is at. I feel sad for people who can’t take care of the simple flu because they don’t have the right treatments while the generous and benevolent United States hoards all of the flu vaccines.

The thing that actually worries me the most, since I don’t live in a third world country, is how the virus mutated so quickly. The virus went to a pig and a bird and is now in a human and it contains parts of the flu from all three. This shows that viruses can evolve and mutate quickly and efficiently. This is where the real problem is at. When the swine flu starts to show resistance to the drugs used to treat it, then there is the possibility of an epidemic. Then I will be scared because it won’t be too far off in the distance when other viruses and bacteria start to develop resistance to the drugs that treat them. I know that it is happening now, but it is happening rather slowly. If this swine flu was to evolve that quickly to resist drugs that were just introduced to it, then I will be worried. But until then, I’m just going to sit back and watch everybody get all worked up over nothing.