It’s being reported (Seattle Times, Seattle PI) that the H1N1 “swine flu” influenza virus has taken the life of a man in Snohomish County, the third death in the US from the virus. He was in his 30s and had an underlying heart condition. Apparently, there are 101 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the state of Washington, with about 75% of them striking children under 19 years of age. There are several more cases considered “probable”.
I know a lot of people are concerned about this, but a little perspective is in order: the “swine flu” is not particularly different from any other strain of flu. They all operate the same way: influenza is an infectious disease caused by a family of viruses that affect birds and mammals. All flus have the same common symptoms: chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, headaches, coughing, weakness and general discomfort. All flus can cause pneumonia, which is what this man ultimately died of. All flus in the United States cause about 36,000 deaths per year. Most of us recover from the flu just fine, which is why everyone thinks it’s no big deal, and most people I know don’t even think that it kills anyone (so when they hear the media reporting on swine flu deaths, they freak out, thinking it’s a “different” kind of flu). But it does, all the time, usually the very young and the very old, who tend to have compromised immune systems. Many more deaths occur in people who already have pre-existing health conditions.
Some people are concerned that it was not reported exactly who this man is, where he lives or what community he hails from. But it doesn’t matter where he lives – flus spread easily over the air and with so many cases in the state at any given time, there is no way to avoid the flu by staying away from certain areas or communities. It is everywhere already. The flu is not something that is practical to try and contain; there are thousands of active cases at all times of the year. If you want to try and avoid the flu (and you should), you do the usual things you do to avoid all sickness: wash your hands, cover your face when you cough or sneeze, avoid others who are coughing or sneezing, and for crying out loud, if you’re sick or your children are sick, stay home from work and keep the kids out of school! Nothing drives me more crazy than selfish oafs who feel they have to show up to work or ship their kids off to school with snot running down their swollen faces – think of others and keep your flu to yourself.
It’s important to note that the swine flu is just that – another flu. It’s no different or especially dangerous compared to other flu viruses. It is not something you want to get, just like you don’t want to get any kind of flu, but I am not sure why the media is making such a big deal out of this particular flu. New strains pop up all the time. Around the world, flu spreads every year in seasonal epidemics and kills hundreds of thousands – a big deal, to be sure, but it’s no bigger with the swine flu than any other. I guess particular attention is being paid to the swine flu because it’s new, but I know people who are especially worried about this particular flu, when in reality it presents no more danger than any other flu.
So, if you’re worried about the swine flu, you should be worried about all flu, and if you’re going to worry about all flu, well, that’s a pretty good way to needlessly make yourself paranoid and miserable for no good reason. “Worry is like interest paid on a debt that never comes due.” Pretty much all of us will get the flu several times in our lives, and it’s just part of being a living biological animal on this planet. Most of us will not die from it – our bodies are pretty good at fighting this sort of thing off. This is not to say the flu need not be taken seriously. If you get sick, you should definitely take good care of yourself with lots of rest and liquids, and if you’re feeling especially bad you should see your doctor and follow his advice to the letter. The flu does kill and should be taken seriously. But you need not worry about it excessively, no more than you’d worry about being involved in a fatal automobile accident or suffering a heart attack or any other of the hundreds of myriad events that could claim your life each and every day. If you worry about those things all the time, see a therapist. 
More information on the swine flu at Wikipedia, King County Public Health Department, Seattle Local Health Guide, and the World Health Organization.
[...] swine flu? It’s just another influenza. The flu kills approximately half a million people worldwide every year. There is nothing [...]