Swine Flu Parties

[xxstardust]

I won't go/send my (hypothetical, since I am an unmarried 20 year old ) children to a swine flu party, but I really do think the whole swine flu paranoia is drastically overblown. If you don't have an underlying condition, the swine flu is no more or less harmful on average then the regular flu (which, FYI, kills over 250,000 people worldwide every year).

The reason there was such concern initially is because it was at that point unknown what strain of H1N1 this flu was; another type of H1N1 is the Spanish Flu which once killed 50 million people in 2 years ... which is obviously much more serious. However, now that it's known to be the far less threatening swine flu variant of H1N1, the mass hysteria is totally unnecessary. Yes, take the same precautions you'd take for the flu; if you get/are in the target group for the regular flu shot, get the swine flu shot as well. I got them both, as I have asthma and when I get sick, I get real good and sick and end up in the ER.

Parents did this for years with the chicken pox, before the vaccine was available ... way better then having it as an adult!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by xxstardust

I won't go/send my (hypothetical, since I am an unmarried 20 year old ) children to a swine flu party, but I really do think the whole swine flu paranoia is drastically overblown. If you don't have an underlying condition, the swine flu is no more or less harmful on average then the regular flu (which, FYI, kills over 250,000 people worldwide every year).

They had a story on NBC tonight where they were, in effect, castigating university students for not being psychotically worried over the flu and going on with their normal lives. One of the girls was like "I got it, it was over in 3 days, I'm fine."