The recent discovery of 'swine flu' has put the entire world on alert. People in every country around the globe are flocking to pharmacies for hand sanitizer and surgical masks. They are making appointments with their doctors to have an examination and frantically searching the Internet to find out if they 'have it'. In fact, swine flu has caused such a buzz in recent days that it remains the most popular topic of discussion on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.
The searches are being performed in all languages. Swine flu, schweinegrippe, gripe porcina, H1N1, and grippe porcine are just some of the terms that people are looking for. However, if people would spend their time researching swine flu in a more thorough way, they would realize how unfounded and seemingly far fetched their fears truly are.
Presently, in the US, there are 226 confirmed cases of H1N1 or swine flu. For a country with a population of 306B, that's not even a drop in the bucket. However, the hysteria that this recent outbreak has caused has resulted in school closures in many states, postponement of many activities and events, and people being afraid to even venture out in public.
In contrast, there are presently one million people living with AIDS and many more that are infected with HIV in the United States. Surprisingly, condom usage is on the decline while occurrences of risky sexual behavior and promiscuity are on a sharp incline. Unprotected sexual contact between men is the number one risk factor in contracting HIV. This is followed by intravenous drug use and sharing infected needles. The majority of the people who are infected with HIV live with it for years before they realize it, thus infecting potentially dozens of partners during that time frame. In 2006, an estimated 56,000 people were newly infected with HIV. In 2007, an estimated 37,000 people were diagnosed with full blown AIDS. This brought the total number of Americans living with AIDS in the United States to an estimated 1,051,000.
So why aren't the condoms flying off the shelves like the surgical masks are? Why aren't the rehab centers at full capacity with IV drug users wanting to get straight? Why are there still prostitutes on the street exposing themselves and others to a host of known and unknown maladies?
Most importantly, why are people so afraid of an illness that is easily treated and cured within days with anti-virus medications such as Tami Flu while far uglier illnesses that still have no cure, but are easily prevented - aren't given a second thought?
Perhaps it's the ick factor. You can look at a sick person and, from their appearance, wonder if they have swine flu or any other kind of flu. Red flags go off and you know to stay away from them. Perhaps if HIV produced similar symptoms, it wouldn't be the epidemic that is has become today.
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