Swine flu

Unless you been living under a rock for the last week, you will have heard of Swine Flu, which from what I understand from watching Sixty Minutes last night, it is combination of a pig (swine) virus; a bird virus; has been passed from pigs to humans and now can be passed from human to human.

It is officially known as Influenza A(H1N1) and more information can be found on the World Health Organisation website.

Obviously any new disease is a concern, particularly when there is no vaccine. But this is a time when I think the news is doing more harm than good in terms of causing panic.

According to the WHO, as at 06:00GMT 4 May 2009, 20 countries have reported 985 cases. There have been 25 deaths, all in Mexico. There haven’t been any deaths in any other countries.

Obviously it’s upsetting that people have died, but in the grand scheme of things – and this will sound callous - but 25 people really isn't that many. My hearts go out to the families of the people who have died, but the way it is being discussed on the news/current affairs, you would think there are people lying dead in the streets worldwide.

In 2006 there was Bird Flu; and in 2004 there was SARS – and yet we have survived.

In the last week signs have gone up in all the toilets at the uni I work at, saying protect yourself from Flu by covering your mouth when you cough; using tissues; disposing of tissues properly; and washing your hands. Shouldn’t people be doing that anyway? I mean, I work at a university – if people are university students and don’t know to wash their hands and to use tissues – heaven help us.

So far the WHO hasn’t released any information on the economic impact of Swine Flu, but with the economy the way it is, and even just the flu season in general, I think people will be going to
work even when they are sick.

If you are a casual employee and take a sick day, you don’t get any pay, I’ve already heard of a lot of casuals getting their hours reduced so they won’t want to lose any more.

Even if you get sick leave, if you are concerned about redundancies, you may not want to take any sick days in case your boss thinks you are just “chucking a sickie”.