Pandemic or no pandemic? That is the question...

For those of you who have been reading European news, you've probably seen that Ukraine has declared a swine flu pandemic earlier this week. The outbreak began last week, with thousands having been infected already.

To date, there have been about 40+ officially reported deaths from swine flu in several of our western oblasts (provinces) and there is talk about declaring a state of emergency in at least 3 of them soon.

In the meantime, all schools and universities are closed for 3 weeks and all mass gatherings have been banned in order to reduce the rate of transmission. Hospitals and clinics have been temporarily taken over by the government and people are asked to avoid all unnecessary travel from infected oblasts, although so far that has not been enforced.

On the streets, far fewer people are out and about, and many are wearing face masks to protect themselves (or others) against disease (although there is a big question as to how much wearing a mask (not a respirator) really helps protect the wearer, if at all).

There is also talk of closing all small businesses and only allowing essential services and large super-stores to remain open (although in my opinion, that would only exacerbate the problem as that would be congregating large masses of people together, duh!! - I'd opt for leaving the open markets/bazaars open, since fresh air helps prevent the spread of air-borne pathogens).

Additionally, I've heard that pharmacies have run out of vitamins and anti-viral medicines already with everyone rushing to buy them up. In some regions, citrus fruits are now scarce or prices have skyrocketed. People are buying lots of onions, garlic, and lemons to boost immune systems and kill germs (a huge truckload of lemons was shipped to our local super market this week).

But, is it really a swine flu *pandemic*? According to dictionary.com, a pandemic is: occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population. So far, I'd say that we're not at that stage yet. Yes, we have a crisis, but thankfully so far the percentage of the population effected is not exceptionally high. And compared to neighboring countries, we've been very fortunate so far.

However, that doesn't mean that we should throw all precaution to the wind. Avoiding unnecessary contact with large groups of potentially ill people; boosting one's immune system through a healthy diet, anti-septic foods (such as garlic, onions, etc.), vitamins, lots of warm liquids, salt-baking soda-iodine-water rinses for nose and throat, and getting plenty of sleep; closing schools/universities in order to reduce risk of transmission; and avoiding unnecessary travel to unaffected regions are all great advice to follow...

In the end, common sense and keeping calm go a long way to preventing a crisis from becoming an out-and-out panic.