No Handshake? Just Another Sign of the Times
Health trends are something the certifed personal trainer is expected to keep an eye on. Cold and flu season present an obvious important trend, especially this past year as containers of alcohol-laden hand sanitizing gel have been popping everywhere from fast food service counters to self-service copy machine tables to computer labs and libraries.
Since June, many churches have been forgoing the customary “peace be with you” handshake greeting during services. It’s a sign of the times–one that shows that many people today may be taking the threat of a worldwide wave of flu more seriously than in times past.
On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that a global pandemic of H1N1 (Swine) flu was upon us. That means that two strains of flu, seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu, are known to be circulating in the United States. A third, highly lethal strain known as H5N1–or bird–flu is being monitored elsewhere.
The news shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise, however. For several years prior, health authorities such as those at the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) have urged people to be prepared in the event of an influenza pandemic, or worldwide outbreak. In mid-April 2009, it happened. The CDC determined that two people in Southern California were infected with a new strain of the H1N1flu virus that had long been suspected of becoming the next source of a pandemic. A few weeks later, the CDC advised curtailing any travel to Mexico, where the outbreak is believed to have begun. Also in late April, the nation’s first H1N1 death was reported to have occurred in Texas. The deceased was reported to have crossed the border from Mexico earlier that month.
Flu season typically lasts from October through February in the Northern hemisphere, but can linger on into the spring. Perhaps not surprisingly, sales of hand sanitize shot up in the spring of 2009. According to survey giant Nielsen, sales of the stuff hit a three-year high in the four-week span ending in the middle of May. From April 18 and May 16, U.S. sanitizer sales topped $27.4 million.
Media and government outreach campaigns urging preparedness in the face of an influenza pandemic seem to have had some impact. For its part, the U.S. federal government has launched flu.gov, a website aimed at educating the public on the dangers of flu outbreaks and urging precautionary measures. According to the site, in a typical year, approximately 5 to 20 percent of the population comes down with the seasonal flu, with approximately 36,000 flu-related deaths reported. In 2009, the government predicts that the H1N1 flu virus could cause a more dangerous flu season–more people becoming ill, being hospitalized and succumbing to the flu than during a “regular” flu season.
Like a seasonal flu, symptoms in people with H1N1 can vary from mild to severe. According to the present definition by health authorities, a flu pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus appears for which there is little or no human immunity. Unchecked, the virus causes illness and spreads readily from human to human contact worldwide. Most healthy people can recover from the flu without problems, but some people are at high risk for more serious complications.
Unlike past pandemics where little was known about flu viruses and how they spread, health authorities have had the opportunity to scrutinize viruses deemed most likely to cause an outbreak– new strains humans have the least immunity to.
And while hand sanitizers with over 60 percent alcohol concentration should kill a majority of germs and viruses, the CDC still offers some basic advice: wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. With the ability of many strains of virus to mutate, however, it’s unlikely we will ever be totally able to wash our hands of the flu.
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