NewsRemote.com Blog

One thing is certain each year there will be an influenza outbreak, a.k.a. “The Flu.” It’s nothing to sneeze at. Over the years, this dreaded virus which kills approximately 30,000 people nationally has had some type of fancy name attached it to it. Growing up as a young adult I recall it as the Hong Kong Flu. Over the years, there’ s been The Asian Flu, The Spanish Flu, and in 2004 out of Southeast Asia came the Avian Influenza or H5N1. This was also known as the Bird flu because it killed over 100 million birds within the year as it was then transferred into the human population. Do you recall the fears of eating poultry or eggs?
In addition to humans and birds getting and transferring the flu virus, did you know that pigs, tigers, leopards, ferrets, and domestic cats can be infected with the influenza in its many strains? I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to get sick from the flu, I want it to be something manly like the, Tiger Flu, or the Leopard Flu. Can you imagine calling in to work and saying, “hey boss, sorry I need to stay home today because I got a bad case of the ferret flu. Yeah, feeling a bit weasely, kinda of sore and sneezely.” Or, how about the feline flu? That’s where your office buddies tell your colleagues that you needed to stay home because you got the wussy flu. Just the name makes it sound like you’re a big wus to stay home. Instead this year we have The Swine Flu. That name in itself sounds filthy and disgusting. I certainly don’t want any of my colleagues coming to work spreading those germs around me. The ferrate flu, I don’t mind. The Tiger flu…I’d be proud to catch that one. But, the Swine Flu? To make it worse is that the media has taken this flu to an all time high, or in my humble estimation a new low. Is it really necessary to talk about it, in every newscast every day, Day and night? I think it’s the media causing the pandemic rather than the virus. Is it really necessary to shut down schools? Next, we’ll be shipping off all the sick people south of the boarder where this virus originated from. Want to stop this pandemic? Wash your hands, when you sneeze do so into your sleeve and make sure you keep your environment clean.