The Swine Flu??

So, the swine flu is getting closer, six cases of the flu where recently discovered in Marshalltown Iowa. It is said that if one child from the school gets the swine flu, they have to shut down the school for two weeks at least, however if another child gets the flu in another school in that area, the school board has to shut down the whole school district for six weeks.
This being such a big issue, a couple of classes of mine have been discussing how we would act if the swine flu hit home, and they had to shut down our school for two weeks..... Being a senior in high school I can not even describe how bad that would be to have graduation post pone, because of the flu, I have waiting for this since I walked in the doors of high school. As well as cancelling prom, that would be a senior’s girl’s worst nightmare. Given that this post is about the swine flu I feel that I should probably give you some information regarding the flu, such as the symptoms and how to avoid getting the illness.

Swine Flu is a form of influenza. Although swine flu is normally virulent only in pigs, it is thought to have crossed over to humans in the early part of the 20th century, causing the Spanish Flu pandemic. The death toll from the Swine flu was particularly high among young, healthy adults.
In 1976, a swine flu scare provided the biggest embarrassment of US President Gerald Ford's administration. On February 5 an army recruit at Fort Dix said he felt tired and weak. The next day, he was dead and four of his fellow soldiers were later hospitalized. Two weeks after his death, health officials announced that swine flu was the cause of death.
The vaccine was blamed for 25 deaths (more people died from the vaccine than died from the "swine flu" itself) and a small, but statistically significant, rise in the incidence of a rare illness called Guillain-Barré syndrome or GBS.
As most of us know, there has been a number of outbreaks in Mexico, New York and had now reached Iowa.
The safest way to avoid catching the influenza would be the same way as not catching any other flu. Keep you hands clean, away from your mouth, nose and eyes, and cover your mouth when you sneeze to avoid spreading germs.