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My 15 year old watched that NHS advert about Swine Flu spreading through a lift, now he's scared to death. He's always been a bit of a germ-freak but now hes talking about not sharing knives and forks.

20 comments:

old know all said...

You can't convince a 15 year old of anything. Let him read the information on the NHS Direct web site. Whether we have a major outbreak or not, he's more likely to die from worrying about it.

jack g said...

I understand what you are going through - I answered a similar question a couple of days ago - I have copied my answer below for you - hope it helps in some way :0)
Maybe this will put it into perspective for you and help you calm down a bit - no I am not a nerd who researches ever question before anyone asks lol - My son is autistic and this flu thing is freaking him out so I looked up the info for him to try and help him sort it out
World Population today
6,776,598,499 (I can't even attempt to say this number!)http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock....
Stats on swine flu as of tonight
Mexico: 159 suspected deaths - seven confirmed cases
US: one death, at least 91 confirmed cases
Canada: 13 confirmed cases
UK: 5 confirmed cases
Spain: 10 confirmed cases
Germany, New Zea land: 3 confirmed cases each
Israel: 2 confirmed cases
Austria: 1 case
amount of people in the world killed EVERYDAY in road accidents
3000

neato197 said...

Let him know that the swine flu is no worse than the regular seasonal flu that goes around every year. This is a type of flu that hasn't really spread through the human population so very few have any immunity to it, which means more will get it than the seasonal flu. People die from the regular flu every year and this is no different. There is no reason not to use silverware that has been washed or freak out any worse than you do every flu season.

Betz said...

I think it's a valid worry and I think people who have answered on here are being very insensitive. At 15, you can't rationalise all the scary information in the media.
Try find the information on the BBC website, where it says about facts of SwineFlu. All the cases in the UK are being treated and the people are responding well to treatment, including 12 and 22 year olds (closest to him). The UK is very well prepared to cope for a pandemic, they have been organising for this sort of event for years, and all schools will have an emergency plan for closure should a pandemic start. In Devon, where the schoolgirl has got it, her entire year have been given anti-viral drugs just in case, so they really are well prepared for this.
Hope this helps x

37 weeks pregnant with a boy said...

More people die from the ordinary flu than from swine flu. Remeber foot & mouth, bird flu and all those other infections that came out that were supposed to be that infectious you'd die? Well your son didn't die from that.
If telling him the above doesn't work then just tell him to take precautions e.g. washing his hands all the time.

Bella's Mommy/Texas/Christia said...

Ask him how could he possibly die of swine flu if he doesn't even have it. Tell him when he gets it then y'all will start to worry. Look it up on the internet how there was an outbreak in the 70's and how people were over reacting, and more people died from the flu shot then the flu.

How To Plant Orchids? said...

at that age hes old enough to understand and worry about things, plus teenagers can be very dramatic lol i know because i have 2.i would just explain that we have very good healthcare , im not sure where you are but here in the uk no one has died and people are recovering . hes thought about it and decided he wants his own cutlery, hes growing up making a decision personally i would just let him

JM said...

Oh good grief. It's the freakin flu. Tell him to get a grip . He needs a figurative slap upside the head. There are like 100 people in the ENTIRE country of over 300,000,000 and no one has died. Geez. I can't believe the mess the news is making of this. They have people in a panic over nothing. Is he a math kid? His odds of dying 0% - NO one has died in the US. His odds of even catching it? 1 in 3 million. He has a better chance of being struck by lightening ( 1 in 700,000) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_o...

Danielle said...

well honeslty if you still cant convince him take you and your family to the doctor and get checkups to show him that everyone is fine and everything will be ohkayy
or tell him that alls he needs to do to prevent it is carry around some germex at school and stuff and use it and not to touch his eyes or mouth,.

Eegesig said...

give him cookies and tell him that NO ONE HAS DIED FROM IT IN THE U.S. not sure about other places and its just the flue, the news does the same stuff every year, they find a disease usually named after an animal and cover it like crazy to sell papers, its not a major illness.

magnevo said...

tell him there is a cure and that the only people who die are the ones who don't go to a doctor. Tell him it happened in the 70's, 60's, and many other times. tell him there are 2 drugs affective against it.

Pancho said...

Tell him the ratio of dieing from it to living from it through the cases there have been and the percentage of living through it.
Also just because it spreads easy doesn't mean it is going to kill him, if that's the way it worked then the common cold would kill but it doesn't.

Thee Ari said...

tell him its like a regular flu that there will be medicine to help him and that there can be a cure and that he hasnt died from regular flus has he? probably not so its just like a regular flu

Mazy said...

Well you shouldn't share eating utensils, that's gross. You should always wash utensils thoroughly before using them.

Baby Gear said...

Swine Flu is just as dangerous as the regular flu. Mexico has substandard health care.

chris s said...

well he is litterly going to die in about a week or so but give him every thing he ever wanted before he dies

Sparkz said...

tell him to stop watching the tv and get to school!!

SATANS BUDDY said...

buy him a pet pig.

ducky said...

ur sons pathectic im srry to say
ok tell him tht if he dies ull bury him next to a pig in a pet cemetary if he dies
if he is scared of the swine flu tell him tht ill hunt him down and show him real terror... (dirty sounding lol)
didnt mean to make tht sound dirty

ShadyL said...

Smack him around

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