Wash Your Hands, People!

Public health officials around the world are paying close attention to the Swine flu outbreak in Mexico. This outbreak has claimed 68 lives as of about an hour ago (i.e. Saturday, noon EST). CNN reports that this "new strain of swine flu has resisted some antiviral drugs" (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu/index.html), which naturally makes the world anxious about whether the flu might become a global pandemic. Minimal contact with pigs should reduce the possibility of catching the flu, although direct contact with those already infected by the flu increases the odds. As we wait patiently for the WHO and our Federal govt. to issue useful advice and provide analysis of the situation, good personal hygiene is the way to go for now: cover your mouth when you cough/sneeze and wash your hands regularly with soap (especially after using the bathroom and before eating). Nevertheless, go ahead and shake hands at church tomorrow or if you meet your girlfriend's father. Remember, however, not to touch your face if you have not washed your hands.

Disease is scary. It is scary because we do not know how scary it can get. Because it is scary, it serves as a wakeup call to the complacent ones. Having visited several agencies that serve small children in this neighborhood, I noticed that the kids usually do not wash their hands before meals. I wonder if we have not being teaching our kids how to protect themselves, public health policies needing some tweaking, our attempt at saving water, or some combination of these possibilities.