Sad... Shocked... Scared....

It is a sad day. A sad day as our country suffered the first fatality due to the H1N1 flu. The details and the circumstances are in the news. Upon this news was made public, the internet was and still is full of blame game. Sad as we are about this loss, blame game is the last thing we want. Add to this news another 27 new cases, we have almost a century of cases now. Scared? Worried? Most, if not all, will be ..... Mixed emotions .....

Early in the morning, most if not all the people I came across were alarmed on the sudden rise in the number of H1N1 cases. Some people say it is inevitable. Just look at the United Kingdom where they have given up in preventing the spread. Now, they have moved into the treatment phase in managing this outbreak, treating the ever increasing numbers affected by the flu. It is projected, by August, over 100,000 cases per day will be seen. I guess any plan to go the UK will have to wait for now.

While it is very worrying to see the trend, the good news is that vaccines may be available as early as August this year. A consolation, if we can call it one, the experts acknowledged H1N1 is a mild flu and with early detection and treatment, most will recover. Follow the advice, keep good standard of personal hygiene. No more of the favourite past time of picking the noses for now. Wash our hands with the ever increasingly difficult to find hand sanitisers. Check the body temperatures twice remembering the flexible thermometers you used for the armpits not being used in the mouth. Better to get the ear digital thermometer which is running out fast like the Fun Donuts when it arrived here. Put the masks on, it is trendy now to have one on. Stay home if we are not well. Exercise self quarantine for at least seven days if you have just arrived from an affected area. I am sure many will take this offer of extended leave which I regretted not taking. Have adequate rest. Avoid crowded areas, for now, a perfect excuse not to attend weddings, functions etc. Regularly clean our work area and equipments. I must keep this in mind... should not take the mobile to the toilet. So no more Twitter and Facebook updates “live” from the BilekTermenung.

In our office, as in many other offices across the country, the various action plans or SOPs were activated. To be honest, the plans were for the Bird Flu. I suppose the action plans would be similar for H1N1, just a matter it is swine this time not the birds being the culprit. With the modern technology, it is not difficult to convert the Bird Flu action plan to Swine Flu. Just click “search and replaced” bird with H1N1, we will have an action plan for the H1N1. And do not forget to delete the part on when we find dead birds lying about.

Everyone, everybody is doing their best to counter the H1N1 threat. One thing we must not forget, is PRAY.... pray and doa so we, the whole country will be spared from H1N1. Amin .............

PS:
to those in MOH, keep up the good job.... you have done the best.....