Monday, 14 September 2009

H1N1-Worry or Party?

In the wake of the Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak, many people have been seen wearing face mask in the public areas to protect against the virus. lately.

In the beginning, some unscrupulous merchants are trying to cash in on the spread of this new pandemic by offering products that they claimed can prevent and cure the illness. Some businessmen have hiked up the prices for face mask by 2 to 3 folds in view of the high demand and shortage of supplies before the government stepped in to control the price. There seemed to be losers and gainers, in any adverse world conditions. The losers are those people who are kiasu (afraid to lose) and kiasi (afraid to die). As they do not mind paying higher and taking all sort of preventive formula to provide for peace of mind. The gainers are those who introduced miracle cures for the ones who are not sicked by the virus but the confused minds.


H1N1 is no different than any other diseases which is capable of taking life. Human beings have been ungodly promoting ways in disrupting the balance of the ecology. The destruction of the earth by the human works have made the world unbearable for the living beings. The emergence of new virus and diseases are merely the working of causal of effect. Some lives have to be taken away to unload the burden in this world.

N
ewspaper have screaming headlines and all medias seemed to be talking about how deadly and contagious the virus could be. There is no research that says H1N1 kills more people than any other types of flu. As we have been bombarded with so much information about H1N1 almost on daily basis, many people have the misconception that they thought once they are contacted with the virus, they will surely die. In fact, there are many types of influenza which will proclaim life more dreadly than H1N1. The vulnerable groups such as the aged adults, young children, pregnant women and those with prolonged health impairment are more susceptible to get the virus as their immunity is low . Usually people died of complications such as pneumonia, asthma, heart attack and not died because of contacting with H1N1 virus itself.

The news about the increasing death toll worldwide seems to be disturbing. Many are not able to cope with the news and are unduly worrying about it. Put it this way, if we are destined to die young, whether die of cancer or H1N1 or meet an accident and die, we will just have to die. There is no prevention as to when God will take our life.

There are many companies including the shopping complex that introduce "non-rinse hand sanitizer" and have encouraged frequent use to rid the virus. In fact, the hand sanitizer which are basically made of alcohol solution is only capable to kill bacteria and not virus. There is no cure for viral infection and the only solution is to let our body fights on its own.

Another myth is that some Chinese family believes that drinking cooling herbal tea can help to prevent the disease. Hence the mothers when getting the "cure all" H1N1 magic formula will boil the cooling herbal tea as preventive measure. In fact according to my cousin brother who is a certified Chinese physician, this practice will do more harms than good. Reason being that our body when it is healthy the Ying and Yang energy will be in a balance state. However, when we over-consume the cooling herbal concoction, the "ying and yang state will be disturbed and when the balance gets awry, hence we will be more susceptible to any virus attack. The clues for prevention of H1N1 according to him are:-

1) Have enough rest and sleep
2) Have a healthy diet
3) Do more exercise

Recently, my hubby, son and I have flu bouts and developed some high degree fever for a few days. Finally my hubby and I was diagnosed as tonsilitis which is a type of bacteria infection. However, my son's fever cannot be cured by antibiotics. Finally my family doctor advised us to seek treatment in Specialist Clinic (Klinik Pakar) in the Sg Buloh Hospital . Apparently, there are 'fever clinics" being established in all the GH in the wake of H1N1 outbreak. When anyone of the vulnerable categories develop a fever, the clinic will automatically prescribe antiviral cure for 5 days consumption, in this case, Tamiflu by default. You do not have to spend hefty bill in private clinic to get the medicine. It only costs RM1 for registration. The clinic opens from morning till 11pm. I was told to go around 6-7.30pm as that was the time when the Muslim break their fast and true enough there was no queue at all. In this respect, I was actually quite grateful for our government to introduce this measure to prevent the spread of the flu. Whether Tamiflu is the right remedy is secondary. Afterall, Tamiflu did help effectively in bringing down the fever of my son.

Well, whether my son had the H1N1 remains unknown as the doctor refused to perform the screening. According to the doctor, screening will be carried out for the admitted patients only. Well, I didn't worry much about it at all. Had my son contacted with the H1N1 virus, it would be a blessing in disguise as I believe by now my entire family will get some mild level of infection and be immuned to the virus. I have heard that there are "H1N1 party" in overseas when someone gets the virus, everyone rejoice and deliberately gather together to be immunized. So why worry? Let's get sick and have party together!!

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