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I am watching the news reports, blogs, and medical websites and witnessing an enormous amount of interest in the outbreak of swine fever in Mexico. Swine fever is a version of the H1N1 strain of influenza type A. Apparently these symptoms can be treated by the vaccines Tamiflu and Relenza and we are told that there are adequate stocks of these vaccines. 

For the 2003 pandemic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) there were 8096 cases with a total of 774 deaths, a fatality ratio of 9.6%. Latest mortality figures for swine fever are around 160 deaths in Mexico but only a handful outside that country. 

So what should one do to manage the stress and reduce anxiety? We decided on four courses of action. We are not visiting any pig farms in the foreseeable future. We’re certainly not going to Mexico as the chances of being shot in the drug war or catching swine fever seem to be monumentally high. We will buy face masks even though medical experts say for the person in the street they are ineffective. Just buying the masks made us feel better (and yesterday when mowing the lawn full of volcanic ash the masks were indeed very helpful). We will certainly make sure that we wash our hands frequently; especially with an alcohol-based hand cleanser (no we will wash with the hand cleanser – not drink it). And we will try to avoid passing any infections to our mouth, nose or eyes. 

More than any of this, we will relax, manage our anxiety and stress, and get on with our lives. We have seen a range of exotic and potentially lethal viruses in the last few years including avian flu, SARS, and now swine fever. I wonder what’s next?

For more strategies on stress relief refer to some of my other articles: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr_Jeff_Bailey

Warm regards

Dr Jeff

For the team at mightydigitaldownloads.com 

Dr Jeff Bailey, psychologist, helps stressed patients. Why put up with stress? Learn stress management skills now.  Click here for the free What is Stress by Dr Jeff. Don’t waste another minute stressed and burnt out. Act now – learn how to relieve stress. 

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 9:48 am and is filed under Dr Jeff on Emotional Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.