Pandemic of Fear, but not yet a Pandemic of Swine Flu

A pandemic of fear has taken the world by storm, as news of the disease known as Swine Flu and the disease itself spread across the globe. As of April 26, 2009 at 4:45 pm, per the CDC the disease is not currently at pandemic proportions. From Tweeting to speaking out in forums to Facebook, there is speculation over whether or not the current outbreak of Swine Flu is the result of a terrorist attack, a lab specimen inadvertently having been released or a natural occurrence.

Discussions mainly center on the unlikelihood of this new virus containing, "genes from North American swine and avian influenza, human influenza and swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe" having occurred naturally". OpenNews.com and other sites have caused more than an eyebrow to be raised when commenting on the "strange combination [of the Swine Flu components] never seen before and having less than 1/10% chance of being a natural event".

Swine Flu: A Natural Phenomenon

Although the combination of these components of Swine Flu occurring naturally is high, it does not mean it is not possible. People fear what they fail to understand. The Swine Flu that is spreading is a type of RNA virus. RNA virus readily mutates and therefore is impossible to control. There are other virus and biologic agents that could more easily controlled; other virus than Swine Flu are more deadly. Agents like Anthrax, are the types of virus that a terrorist would normally look to cause death and fear.

The World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as well as the Department of Homeland Security have no indication on their website that we are dealing with biological warfare. As far as these experts are concerned, this combination of components within Swine Flu is a natural phenomenon.

Facts on Swine Flu & Trusted Sources of Information

As of April 26, 2009, what is known is that Swine Flu continues to spread across the globe. Nations of the world are working towards ending this crisis. A vaccine is in the process of being made, but it will take time. There are antiviral medications that a physician can prescribe within the two days to help to fight the viral infection.

Precautions have been taken to be ready for the spread of this disease. One of those precautions is to free up funds and obtain supplies to help eradicate this disease. In order to put this precaution in place, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, announced that Health and Human Services (HHS) needed to issue a public health emergency. With this public health emergency declared, the CDC can ready to move millions of doses of the U.S. anti-virus stockpile to areas that are or may be hard hit.The CDC website will be updated at least daily on the topic of Swine Flu. If you have questions or concerns about this outbreak, go to trusted sources that were utilized to gather the information you have read. Reliable sources are WHO, CDC and the Department of Homeland Security. These websites are listed below:

http://www.who.int/en/http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/media/transcripts/2009/t090424.htm
http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm
http://www.who.int/en/

Additional Source:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Mexican-Swine-Flu--An-Adv-by-Lord-Stirling-090425-757.html