2009+Swine+Flu+Epidemic

The swine flu epidemic in 2009 caught Mexico, Canada, and the United States all by surprise. The swine flu started in Mexico and slowly began to move North towards the United States. Within the first few weeks of finding out the news about the virus, people in the United States began to panic in the thought of a rapidly spreading disease that not many people knew much about. There were recorded infections around the world, but after the initial few weeks health officials realized it was much less infectious than expected. This still lead to the United States giving out and having people receive vaccinations, which were available to the public a few months after the virus began to spread, in order to try to keep it at a minimum in the United States. The first to receive the vaccinations were important government officials and their families. The wave of people coming to get the swine flu vaccination eventually led to a shortage, which created another scare for people who didn't already have the vaccination, but the vaccine was extremely available by the end of the year. The spread at that point seemed very limited as many people who had not been vaccinated did not get the virus. Although the disease did not seem to be affecting or hurting anyone anymore than the regular flu, there were still many people who took great precautions. People began to see swine flu masks worn by people in airports. Also, some people would wear latex gloves in public to prevent the spread of germs. All in all the swine flu scare turned out to be no more dangerous or catchable than the regular flu.