Report: if you had summer flu it was probably swine flu

A report at the link below says, “despite fears, many have had – and recovered from – the new strain (H1N1).”

If you're wondering whether your sniffling co-worker's bout of flu is indeed the swine flu, then wonder no more.

Doctors across the nation are saying people who came down with the flu this summer probably had the new swine flu (H1N1) strain.

"In the U.S., all the flu that is circulating now is the H1N1 virus," said ABC News Senior Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser on "Good Morning America" Wednesday. "If you've had the flu; you've had the swine flu."

The report gives two main reasons why the public should not worry more about swine flu than the typical seasonal flu.

Reason one:

The CDC estimates that 1 million people in the U.S. have had swine flu so far, and of those infected, the government has documented 593 deaths.

This is a relatively low death rate when compared with seasonal flu. The public is still edgy about swine flu because of the appropriate precautions taken in May before we fully understood the level of danger.

The swine flu strain has also shown it does not often cause serious symptoms.

Reason two:

Swine flu survivors may be immune to reinfection.

With a few months of investigation under their belt, immunologists are saying that the swine flu comes with more good news: it appears people who get sick with swine flu may not become sick from the same strain again.

What's more, even people who were sick in the past with a slightly different virus may have some protection against the current strain.

So why all the effort to spread fear of swine flu?

A swine flu scare will make most Americans take precautions even if no more than washing hands more often and cover their mouths when coughing and sneezing.

Also, the media is not blind to the realization that perpetuating the swine flu scare may help Americans become a little more inclined to embrace ObamaCare.

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