Friday, June 12, 2009
A(H1N1) and Facial Masks
Extended vacation will be over soon. This week-long extension was due to the increasing number of confirmed A(H1N1) viral infection in the country. Last night, the evening news reported that in a span of 3 weeks, the number of confirmed A(H1N1) infections in the Philippines rose from 1 to 92. People might mistake the instant increase to be a sign that there is a rapid rate of human to human infection in the country but it may otherwise be interpreted as the result of the proactive contact-tracing of the Department of Health.
Medical and social concerns aside, this blog entry is reserved for the precautionary measure of wearing a mask (surgical or any mask that covers the nose and mouth) vis-a-vis viral infection. Does wearing a mask really help? For our purpose, I googled it and found the answer from the top result.
The site says that wearing a mask is found to be no helpful in preventing infection. It is recommended however, to cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough in public. The wisdom here is that covering your mouth stops the spread of any virus but wearing it does not affect your own immunity against the disease.
But given my idea of how a bacterium or virus could infiltrate the body (thanks to commercial ads by the likes of Lysol), I think I will still wear a mask come the resume of classes. My school is just a stone throw away from the De La Salle University. I might run into a DLSU student in some public transport.
Come to think of it, perhaps the real reason why they do not recommend wearing masks n public is because it may wreak fear among them. I may feel bad to cause fear to the commuters but I feel worse if I caused the spread of this dreaded virus.
Medical and social concerns aside, this blog entry is reserved for the precautionary measure of wearing a mask (surgical or any mask that covers the nose and mouth) vis-a-vis viral infection. Does wearing a mask really help? For our purpose, I googled it and found the answer from the top result.
The site says that wearing a mask is found to be no helpful in preventing infection. It is recommended however, to cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough in public. The wisdom here is that covering your mouth stops the spread of any virus but wearing it does not affect your own immunity against the disease.
But given my idea of how a bacterium or virus could infiltrate the body (thanks to commercial ads by the likes of Lysol), I think I will still wear a mask come the resume of classes. My school is just a stone throw away from the De La Salle University. I might run into a DLSU student in some public transport.
Come to think of it, perhaps the real reason why they do not recommend wearing masks n public is because it may wreak fear among them. I may feel bad to cause fear to the commuters but I feel worse if I caused the spread of this dreaded virus.
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