by Beatrix Kiddo

Created on: May 27, 2009

When it comes to influenza, or flu, should we panic or listen to past common sense knowledge?

Swine flu, now known as H1N1, began with a Mexican five-year-old testing positive. H1N1 infected parts of Mexico with illness, death and spread fear across the globe as it shattered lives before it's arrival.

A company in Egypt killed a total of 300,000 pigs following the news of H1N1 outbreak. All tests from Egypt were negative yet the Egypt business decided to take no chances as others began to consider the same. A good example of mass hysteria when it comes to the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.

The CDC, Centers for Disease Control, shares animals of concern when it comes to influenza.

1. Avian, birds with influenza A virus that can be passed to humans.

2. Canine, respiratory disease in dogs caused by a specific influenza A.

3. Swine, respiratory disease of pigs caused by type-A influenza. H1N1 was the name given to swine flu due to a combination of meaning that separates the two.

4. Pandemic, the human flu that has the potential to spread across the globe causing serious illness.

To catch the latest flu information by Podcast visit CDC's Seasonal FluView Update.

Time takes us to New Jersey in 1976. Gerald Ford was in office facing government panic surrounding swine flu, Fort Dix soldiers and a possible outbreak. The first death was that of a 19-year-old soldier, David Lewis. Only when four other Fort Dix soldiers had fallen ill to swine flu did government panic set in. The four soldiers recovered, but not soon enough. President Ford informed America of the government's goal to inoculate 220,000 Americans as citizens flocked to New Jersey and Pennsylvania hospitals, firehouses, schools and barns.

The New Jersey politician to receive the first inoculation was Jim Florio. Following him came the many citizens, elderly and children first, including I.

Young children were given inoculations mainly through schools. A school bus would take the children to a barn in the country to receive inoculations, scaring most as they screamed in line when forced to be injected by a mini-machine. Children also threw their bodies onto the concrete floor of the large barn to fight getting the inoculation. Madness within panic, like dominoes they fell.

The young and the old fell victim by death due to their pre-existing conditions combined with the inoculation. This is when the government realized that the inoculation should cease. After the smoke cleared and there

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