New Bugs Scare Me.....

Holli White leading the Chancel Choir.



Holli White, Godspeed Praise Band

Last Spring when the H1N1 virus was just starting to hit the news, I felt a shiver go down my spine. H1N1 was a new virus that started in a small village in Mexico. It quickly spread across the country and very soon across the world. The CDC and Public Health Service started to sound the alarm. This virus was new, and NO ONE had immunity to it. Very quickly the news was out that we had a new virus circulating about the world. Not only was it a new virus, but we knew that that it had the capability to become a killer. Immediately, the money was made available to get a vaccination rolling in order to protect the health of the US public.

Soon, many people were laughing at the sudden alarm this funny little virus was creating. Schools were closed, trips were cancelled and news channels spent hours covering it. Most people said that the CDC was over reacting and started to make light of this new killer virus.

Not me. On May 21, 2009 I wrote the following:

Any new virus which has the potential to kill, or any old contagious illness which causes death or disability is enough to get this cycle going. We know that measles kills people and can leave them permanently disabled. It is known that H1N1 kills, but we have no idea how fast or if it can cause permanent disability. Please give public health, the CDC, and the WHO a break. They are working overtime with an unknown entity. They are working to protect the entire population of the world. Do you want that job?

Remember the horror this county felt when it was discovered that Rubella, the mild 3-day German measles left the human unborn fetus with horrible birth defects? I remember and guess what? I was pregnant with my first baby and there was no preventable vaccine. Did I worry, well yea...I was in nurses training taking care of sick children.

During 1964 and 1965 a rubella epidemic in the United States caused an estimated 12.5million cases of rubella and 20,000 cases of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) which led to more than 11,600 babies born deaf, 11,250 fetal deaths, 2,100 neonatal deaths, 3,580 babies born blind and 1,800 babies born mentally challenged.

My hope is that H1N1 will turn out to be less potent. But, in the mean time, is it better to have too much information than not enough? Is it better to be too cautious?

Yes!


Today I was informed of a young friend who is currently clinging to life. She is in a coma, and on a ventilator at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. She has been diagnosed with H1N1.


Please people, take this virus seriously. And, please pray for Holli White.