The flu H1N1 has actually made me sick without even infecting me. The news has been using the word pandemic to discuss the possible conclusion of this current disease drama, when instead they should be using the term “panicdemic”, the over-reaction of the people stimulated by breathless media coverage. 

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I used to work in an environment that encouraged taking free flu shots, and the way they convinced me to get one was with the argument that the shot may not stop me from getting the flu, but it may lessen the severity of full-fledged flu symptoms. And whatever doesn’t kill you makes you funnier, right? I found myself wondering, with every cold or sniffle I caught after being skewered, “is this a diminished flu? Is this the shot working? Am I getting my immune response’s worth?”
This season has been flu shot free, and so far so good. A severe cold here and there, but nothing that a doting partner, calls to Mommy and Thera-flu (the best product ever?) couldn’t handle. Apparently, we aren’t out of the Influenza woods yet, let alone, have entered them. Just in time for sweeps, the flu season has just begun says the NY Times…My winter without a flu-shot experiment continues.
It’s fascinating to me that we can even gauge when a flu season starts and ends, that it’s appearance is so regular, and where it may come from. A Science magazine article from last year describes the travel itinerary of a Ms. Influenza Jones:

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