The words “epidemic” and “pandemic” are scary things. We are conditioned to fear them. In a way, pandemic is something we associate—and rightly so—with people dying almost daily. Of course, back in April when we first heard about the dreaded swine flu, there was a slight panic that rippled throughout the world.
Even now, people fear it as much as the bubonic plague.
We are asking you to please calm down, just a little bit, and look at the statistics. The swine flu is actually similar to the normal flu, except that it has a few mutations that make it spread faster and last a little longer. Currently, it has a lower fatality rate than other strains of the flu we experience every winter. Is it completely miserable? You bet. But we really want to stress that worrying about it isn’t going to make it any better. Just because someone sneezes next to you in math class doesn’t neccessarily mean they have swine flu.
However, we do think it is extremely important that you take precautions to protect yourself against it. Washing your hands, avoiding touching your mouth and nose and getting enough sleep are all great ways to keep your immune system in prime pathogen-fighting condition.
Keep healthy and try not to worry too much. After all, stress does weaken the immune system.