It seems that the evil clutches of the almost pandemic Swine Flu has finally reached the giants of World Wide Web. The Hindu Business Line reports that Google India’s Hyderabad office has been shut down completely for a couple of days after a few of its employees were found to be infected with the H1N1 influenza. It is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. It regularly causes high flu outbreaks in pigs but with low death rates. There are four main sub-types of the virus, but the most recent isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.
An email was sent to all employees of the company as a quick decision was taken to sanitize the building for two days. The office, which is one of the two for Google in Hyderabad hosts a stuff numbering around 300. While the other office which has around 1500 people is functioning well as reported.
A praise worthy decision, it will help in curbing the viral spread to other stakeholders and the community. The infected person got it from his roommate who had just recently arrived from a Qatar Airways flight. One more positive step that has been taken by the IT community is that the Hyderabad Software Exporters’ Association has decided to conduct workshops and seminars to discuss matters on how to tackle the spread of the influenza virus.
“Awareness is happening among the IT employees. But (after seeing news of some IT pros down with H1N1 influenza) we have decided to talk about specific measures to be taken,” Mr. M. Narasimha Rao, President, HYSEA, told Business Line.
And if you are still on the dark side of the moon regarding this disease; here are some pointers on what do by using the new and friendly social media:
- You can check out the official website of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over on the U.S. shores. They keep you updated on tips, breaking news and infections in real time. You can have a look at their informational videos, podcasts, Swine Flu specific news feeds, accounts and Flickr images.
- You can check the Wikipedia pages for the flu pandemic which have grown from a one paragraph stub to 21 full fledged articles and 2.86 million page hits within a week.
And by the way, what has the Indian government been doing all this while?
I can not find a single page from the government regarding this; forget a website or social media updates. Oh please, Mr. Politicians if you can spend millions on ad campaigns for your elections, you can surely make a page to inform your voters. The only initiative from their wide till now has been – “Suspend foreign visits”
How ingenious. I wonder how that slipped our mind.
Update:
The US National Institutes of Health will host a training workshop from Wikimedia Foundation’s staff and workers on the ins and outs of using a wiki and formatting. This is great news for increasing the quality of health-related information and sharing it with others.
How can WATBlog readers avoid H1N1 influenza?
The symptoms are pretty similar to those of regular flu. So be more careful.
- Fever
- Lethargy
- Runny nose
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Lack of appetite
- Vomiting and diarrhea in some cases.
What you can do to protect yourself?
There is no vaccine available right now to protect against the A (H1N1) flu. However, you can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza by:
- Covering your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue or handkerchief when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the waste basket after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also helpful
- Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
- If you get sick with influenza, stay at home and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
- Consult your nearest healthcare facility if you think you have any of the symptoms.
(with inputs by Abhishek Kapoor)
