Public health officials have a tough dilemma in dealing with the H1N1 flu ; they want to make people aware of the problem and get people to do the common-sense precautions that will help slow the spread of not only H1N1 but a variety of garden-variety bugs without creating undue panic. Schools will often close down if the flu hits ; even during a normal flu season, if a school hits a critical mass of absenteeism (10% is often enough), they will close the school for a week. That will be long enough to let everyone who has the flu get over it so it doesn’t spread any further. For schools, sports can be an issue; sick players are going to be in close proximity to healthy teammates and foes alike. When the flu hit the University of Florida’s football team, ill players, including star quarterback Tim Tebow, flew to ...

For many, living with allergy is a way of life. About 36 million American claim to suffer from allergy regardless of the season. It runs in families where parents and children react similarly to certain elements. But what really is an allergy? Allergy is when our body react to harmless intruders, such as pollen, as if it was an enemy. The body produces an antibody which attacks the intruder and binds with him. Our body releases a chemical into the blood stream called Histamine. This substance causes most of the symptoms we call allergy. There are many kinds of allergies; seasonal allergies that are connected to pollen, dander allergy connected to reactions to animals like cats and dogs, food allergies and insect sting allergies. When the symptoms are mild, the allergy goes almost unnoticed. Moderate allergy is when you feel like you have a cold or a flu. Severe allergies ...