People are freaked out, afraid of the swine flu. What to know, what's being done about it and what's the truth? That's today on Bod Beat.
Hi! I'm Doctor Loretta. I can't tell you how many of my patients are worried and distressed about all the stories of the swine flu pandemic. Especially the latest news, that the flu vaccines may not be ready in time and if they are, they may not even work.
What's worse? The media doesn't know how to report this. Half the time they are scaring the be-Jesus out of us, and then the other half they are saying it's just like any other flu that's come down the pike. And what's worse when you look at the numbers they're reporting something they miss here folks. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control have counted 4700 cases. Really? Look at the reports from the World Health Organization, they show upwards of 100,000 Americans have gotten swine flu this far. What gives?
So most importantly, what's being done about it? The new strategy by the World Health Organization and the CDC is a variation of what's called herd immunity. The idea, that if you can't vaccinate an entire population, you can achieve nearly complete disease control by vaccinating at least the overwhelming portion of it.
That's because every inoculated person serves as a sort of firebreak against the virus. Surround the disease with enough people who are immune to stop its spread, and it simply snuffs it out, never spreading to people who still aren't immune.
Who's first? The super spreaders. These are the kids the 5-19 year old and the adults, their parents of 30 to 39 years old, that's because school age kids catch everything. They take it home and they give it to their folks. Both of this population can infect everyone else. Knock these links out of the transmission chain and the spread of the virus slows down considerably.
Why can't they vaccinate everyone? And reportedly there is only 40 million, 40 million doses would be likely to be ready, not quite enough for over 300 million people here in the US. But there is a wrinkle. Those doses may not even fight the latest strain of H1N1. The case in point in Chile, the strain is changing. It's getting more fit, meaning less people are immune there.
The bad news is for everybody. So what does this mean? If you get a flu shot with the H1N1, don't be lulled into a false sense of comfort. You still need to do as much as you can for yourself to protect and boost your immune system.
How do you that? Watch the next episode of Bod Beat and I'll lay out for you. Before we finish, I just have one pet peeve. Paper surgical masks only maintain a barrier of protection for approximately 45 minutes. The moisture from your breath will allow pathogens to enter after that time. You need to change your mask at least once an hour if you're around active forms of the flu. Until then, I'm Dr. Loretta. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week.
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