Greeting others and the H1N1 flu… What makes sense?

Here is an article to read… kind of interesting. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/health/views/04greet.html?th&emc=th

Chan suggests we re-examine our cultural behaviors in greeting, given that the H1N1 flu continues to circulate this year. Interpreting the article in this way offers some interesting considerations of how we greet others, and of how this is done in a variety of cultures. I actually do like the idea of considering these common behaviors and how other cultures handle things like greetings and showing respect. Some of the comments are interesting. I do find our culture continues to become more casual and less formal over time. I enjoy many of the effects of that, but having and showing respect for others is also very important to me.

Unfortunately some of the comments take this to a more disturbing level… which to me moves towards a bit of misophobia (fear of germs, thank you phobialist.com!). Of course you might expect individuals with anxiety related to germs to be more apt to comment on an article like this. The rate of confirmed cases of H1N1 in the US is not among the top 10 in the world (see Wikipedia link to data below). Does the rate of H1N1 we see in that table relate to cultural practices and greetings (i.e. Brunei, Australia, and New Zealand have the highest rates)?

I suggest we take a common sense approach to preventing illness…
• Cough or sneeze into your elbow or shoulder, or use a tissue/handkerchief to not disperse your germs
• Wash your hands frequently and particularly at mealtime
• Stay at home if you are sick or have cold/flu symptoms (which of course is a problem for workers if absences are not tolerated)

Stay aware of the ‘facts’ of the flu…
• How prevalent is it in your area at this time?
• What are the symptoms?
• What is the severity?

Try not to get caught up in the media frenzy! This article reports the swine flu has killed about 2000 people worldwide this year, but does not tell us any comparative information. This compares to approximately 36,000 influenza deaths annually and over 226,000 influenza related hospitalizations annually in the US alone! (reference: August 2008 ACIP Recommendations on Prevention and Control of Influenza, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5707a1.htm ). Always check out the facts…

Actually Wikipedia nicely presents what looks like excellent validated data on the H1N1 flu and reports approximately 3,300 deaths have been confirmed worldwide. Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_by_country and thank you to whoever is keeping that Wikipedia page going with some good data! The references used here look very good!