A(H1N1) Pandemic - Part 2

The A(H1N1) pandemic level have been raised by another notch few weeks ago. It is now at WHO Phase 6 - The pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is under way. (source: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/)

When I was in India, for the whole week I did not have the chance to grab hold of any newspaper and hence was not being up to date with the latest. However, when I came back, at the first glance of the local newspaper at home, I was surprise to see that several schools have been closed due to the outbreak.

Even until today, as I am writing this post, there were still some schools that is still close. One thing that hit me is how can such virus spread in school? Well, the obvious answers is simply there is one sick family member which had got back from oversea and spread the virus to the unsuspecting student and hence, when the student have a fever, the parents ignorantly still insist the student to go to school and alas... it start to spread in the school.

Similar situation can also happen at work especially if you are working in a company that people spend more days sleeping in hotels more then their home. With almost all offices now with air conditioner system, all you need is just one person who had been infected while travelling oversea to come to work and the next thing you know it, your whole office will get a 7 days unrecorded leave and everyone will need to go for blood test.

So to all out there, don't be a 'kiasu'. Work or school will not run away or disappear. If you are feeling unwell, please take time to rest and stay at home and if you have any fever / flu, do visit the doctor and stay away from human contact as much as possible. Don't spread the virus.

Let us all work together and 'fight' this bug.... I hope the next time I write about this A(H1N1) is a post-pandemic phase already.