Answering Your Questions About Swine Flu

As news of the swine flu outbreak increases daily, many of you still have a lot of questions about how this may affect you.  We have some answers.
      First, you want to know how the swine flu spreads. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, swine flu spreads the same way as the seasonal flu.  It spreads person to person through coughing, sneezing or touching infected people.
  The second question you have is there a vaccine? The answer is no.  There are treatments. The CDC has the drugs and they are currently releasing some of them to the states.  These are prescription drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza.  They can be purchased with a prescription at your pharmacy.
    Third question, how bad could this get? The Associated Press recently looked into government documents and found our government says a full global pandemic would mean nearly two million Americans would die from the virus and ten million admitted to the hospital.
    So we are prepared? Health and Human Services officials say they have a plan thanks to Hurricane Katrina and the bird flu scare.  It would involve mass quarantines, giving out the stockpiles of anti-flu the government has stored and rapidly creating a vaccine.  They say we are much more prepared for this problem today than we were just three years ago.
    As of right now, the CDC has not ordered the creation of a vaccine.
    The government says they are watching this situation very carefully, but they believe even the worst case scenario can be avoided with proper planning.
    If you would like to prepare your family for a possible pandemic, experts say there are steps you can take now to reduce the impact it has on you.  For more information click here.

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