Swine Flu Strikes Back
Mike: I just got back from America and my sister was telling me – she
has two young children at school and she was telling me that they
haven’t made vaccinations for swine flu mandatory but they’re highly
recommended. The problem is – there’s not enough vaccination, so
they’re trying to get enough and then schedule it in schools.
Gareth: Do you know why they’re doing that for swine flu when
they don’t normally do it for flu? Because it’s my understanding that
swine flu is milder than normal flu.
Mary: It’s my understanding that if swine flu, mixes with –
what – bird flu or something like that, they mutate together, so it
goes into new territory which no one is prepared for.
Gareth: Also swine flu is incredibly contagious and as you
were saying if it mixed with something then it really would be
dangerous.
Mary Then it could be a real pandemic.
Michael: But I think that these things come up all the time. When I was
young it was Legionnaire’s Disease I think. One Saturday the entire
town that I lived in, 25,000 people, went to the high school for
mandatory vaccinations.
Mary: Was it universal in the US or just your area?
Michael: Well I was living on the East Coast and that was where
it broke out, so I don’t know if it was nationwide but I do remember
that people said it was some sort of test that the government was doing
to see if they could vaccinate people – you know, the entire nation in
time. That always comes up. Would the nation be able to get vaccinated
in time in case of some sort of biological thing?
Gareth: And, would you want to vaccinate the Midwest?
Michael: It’s true. They would probably wanna leave out the UK as well.
Jacy: Well in the US - going back to what you said about
vaccinations - many people every year get a regular flu vaccination.
Doctors are saying in the US that, there isn’t enough swine flu
vaccination available but get vaccinated for the regular flu anyway,
which should help you not get so sick if you do get swine flu or
regular flu or bird flu or whatever.
Beth: Actually, I believe regular flu still has a much higher mortality rate than either swine or bird flu.
Jacy: Well in the US I wanna say it’s around 35,000 people die every year just from normal flu.
Gareth: Still, most people just get a sniffle. It’s very similar to a
cold, you get a sore throat, a sniffle, a temperature or something like
that and then you go back to work a few days afterwards or back to
school.
Alex: I imagine the difference in attitude between America and
Britain is to do with the British government wanting to save money on
the NHS and American doctors wanting to make money by people having
vaccinations.
Jacy: I don’t know, but in the company that I worked for, they
brought a doctor into the office and every year on a certain day you
could get your flu shot and – it was either free or it was extremely
cheap and companies would do that so hopefully the employees wouldn’t
get sick. In the UK they’re not encouraging people to get vaccinated?
Alex: Not really I think only young children, the elderly.
Gareth: But I think I’ve only had proper flu honestly I’d say
once or twice in my life. Because I think most people say they’ve got
the flu when what they have is a cold or a different virus.
Michael: What about things like vitamins or daily things to prevent illness, does anyone…
Gareth: Garlic soup is great
Jacy: Every day?
Gareth: Not every day no, just - three times a day.
Jacy: You don’t have to worry about vampires either.
Alex: The man behind me in the grocers had been doing that I think.
Gareth: You mean he’d been a vampire?
Alex: I think he’d been eating garlic soup 3 times a day.
Jacy: Well I had read, if you’re trying to prevent swine flu you should
rinse your mouth and gargle with salt water I think at least once a day
because that will kill anything that might be floating around in there
and not give it a chance to develop further.
Michael: I swear by that, my grandmother taught me that.
Gargle with salt water, when you feel a cold coming on in the back of
your throat gargle with salt water and it really works.
Mary: What’s the recipe? How do you make it?
Michael: Salt and water.
Mary: No, I mean how much salt?
Michael: I take a glass of water, spill some salt in and shake it up.
Mary: You just put some shakes in rather than measure out the salt? You don’t put a cup in or something?
Michael: No, you just put in some salt in and when it looks
cloudy enough so I know that there’s enough salt in there. You have to
keep shaking up the water though, because otherwise all the salt sinks
to the bottom.
Gareth: Apparently honey is very good
Jacy: Oh really?
Gareth: Yeah, if I have a sore throat I’ll have a spoonful of honey.
Jacy: You don’t put it in tea or something like that?
Gareth: Yeah, you can do, but I just eat it like Winnie the
Pooh, from a cup or a jar or a mug. The other thing that I understand
is very good for a healthy immune system is exercise, regular exercise.
Not too much, not too little. Also, working very hard is good for you
because as soon as you stop work and go on holiday you get ill.
Jacy: It’s true, I remember when I was in university after every semester I would go home and immediately I would get sick.
Alex: Apparently if you just go to bed when you have a cold it makes it
worse. Because your body just thinks, oh, I can afford to be ill. But
if you just carry on then…
Gareth: The other debate is whether you have a cold or the flu
or the swine flu or the bird flu or anything really, is whether you
should go to the office because it doesn’t stop you working if you have
little cold and a sniffle, but your neighbours, colleagues, rather, are
sometimes a little bit miffed, if you do it. I prefer to go there and
let everyone else suffer with me. It’s very British thing.
Mi: Isn’t that one of the reasons when doctors, Czech doctors,
when they prescribe antibiotics, for example a student or someone at
work, they have them stay at home for five days, to contain it so they
don’t spread it to everyone else.
Beth: Antibiotics shouldn’t be prescribed for colds and flu because
they have no effect on viruses. They only work against bacteria.
Jacy: I think overprescribing antibiotics is a huge, huge
problem. Because once you put the antibiotic out - if your body becomes
used to it, it will not help you in the future anymore.
Alex: And I think bacteria can mutate so that they’re resistant to the antibiotics.
Jacy: Going back to what you were saying, when the doctors tell
you to stay home, I thought that you were most contagious, before you
really had the symptoms, meaning if I’m going to be sick in two or
three days, right now I feel fine, however, the bacteria or virus is in
me and I’m currently spreading it to everyone else in this room.
Michael: Thank you
Gareth: It’s a pleasure to sit next to you, Jacy
Jacy: So I don’t know, if you already have the symptoms, if staying home really does help you or not.
NOTE:
Midwest – a region within the US, consisting of twelve states
in the central and inland north-eastern US. The speaker (British) is
not really fond of this area of the States. He is suggesting that it
might be a good population to lose; Michael (American) suggested that
we could also lose the UK population to swine flu.
British and work – It’s part of the working culture to keep on
working if you can (i.e. a cold or cough shouldn't be an excuse). It's
very surprising to many Brits that the culture here is to get a week of
work just for being on antibiotics.
