UnMasking the H1N1, Swine Flu Virus

As with virtually any subject, there is controversy as to the efficacy of the N95 surgical masks. If it doesn't work, you might well ask, why do surgeons wear it. Good question. Here's another, if the mask would prevent you from getting a disease, why doesn't the patient wear it? Doesn't it seem reasonable, that when you are vulnerable on the operating table, that we would want to prevent usually harmless germs from getting to a place they would generally have no direct access-your insides? This is not to say that the mask will have no effect but rather, they may not have exactly the effect the thousands of people who wear them in public intend. If you wore mask to prevent yourself from coughing and sneezing on others that would be one thing. If you wear them because you think they will stop some of the tiniest pathogens known to man, viruses from entering your mouth and lungs, your might be in for a rude awakening.

If you insist on wearing a mask then it appears that using a mask correctly and consistently and not relying on it to do something that you would otherwise not do would be the way to go. There are two kinds of masks that you will likely see more often. The cheap surgical looking mask and the expensive N-95 respirator. You will hear all kinds of advice but some that might be relevant is that you need to change the masks once in awhile and facial hair might make the mask less effective.

Smarter things to do would be to avoid crowds that you don't need to be in such as concerts and wash your hands frequently.

A pandemic or worldwide out break of the H1N1 Swine Flu would probably not be stopped by closing the border between the United States and Mexico. But such action could conceivably slow the spread by presenting fewer vectors for transmission. This brings into sharp focus a point about the border. Whether it's Republicans or Democrats, our politicians are far more interested that the flow of illegal drugs, illegal aliens, and violence over the border not be reduced at any time for any reason. The bribes government officials must be taking to leave us all vulnerable must be substantial.

If you think about it, world wide pandemics are inevitable. As was pointed out in the movie Twelve Monkeys, world wide travel equals world wide contagion. We have had scares with SARS, bird flu, Ebola and now Swine Flu. In the movie Demolition Man it was pointed out those continuing plagues might well spell the end of human contact in general and sex in particular. In some future world, hundreds of years from now, a technologically advanced people may create a Matrix-like situation on purpose. Everyone would live online in an electronic dream world. It would begin with people staying in their houses, working from home and never venturing out into to crowds.

Some of the things we are doing now could force us to this brave new world pre-maturely. There are far too many anti-bacterial products around. The overuse of anti bacterial and anti flu medicines is making stronger bugs. Sooner or later they will be so strong that nothing we have on hand can defeat them. On the other end of the scale we may not be developing new medicines fast enough. Law suits and questions over who owns what and who pays may cause a fatal delay in the production of the next generation of medicines.

Even if we there were no impediments in developing the next penicillin, there may be man made bugs on the horizon that have no vulnerability to any drugs. There is a concept called the attack of the gray goo. It turns out that we are constructing sub microscopic robots in our laboratories that will do things like clean out our arteries so that we may continue eating all the fatty foods we want. The problem is if these bugs go haywire or if they are maliciously programmed they could destroy the cells in our body and it might be difficult or impossible to stop them. If they were self replicating and life seeking, they and not the cockroaches might one day rule the earth.

One of the main ways to ensure the survival of the human race might well be to colonize space as some have said. The spaced cadets usually point to a planetary extinction event such as a collision with a large heavenly body as a reason to be more places that just here. But contagion works as a motivator as well.