Mawg
Contributor
It's influenza, people. Of *course* it's contagious! H1N1 isn't any more (or less) contagious than other forms of influenza and there isn't really much of anything to set it apart from other strains in terms of pathogenicity or disease course.
I will bet you that if the original outbreak had been in Germany or Italy or Canada we would barely have heard of it, if at all. This came right on the heels of the "Mexico is going to kill us all" drug cartel scare so it rode the tail of that hysteria to new heights.
I'm a physician who has several patients die each year of influenza (I treat the elderly). My wife is a molecular biologist who used to work with African hemorrhagic fever virus genome research. Each of us has plenty of respect for what viruses can do. Neither of us has seen or heard anything to make us think we need to do anything differently. The N95 face mask my hospital put on my desk is more dangerous to use than not to use since it fogs up my glasses and I can't properly see what I'm doing.
The voice of reason! How refreshing and unmistakeable. Had lunch with a friend over at NASA today who is in charge of the food research/dietary plan for shuttle/station and Mars exploration. One of the flight Doctors told her it was his opinion that the outbreak in Mexico City was heavier than elsewhere because of the very poor air quality in Mexico City. Peoples lungs there are already compromised/weakened from years of living there.