H1N1 Virus: Paranoia going too far?

In regards to your first comment, the point I'm trying to convey is not trifling with death by being careless about your public and personal health...aka don't dance around taunting H1N1 like you're invincible.

And the big difference between viruses and bacteria is the fact that bacterium can actually be killed once inside the body (in most natural cases at least), due to the fact that they have a peptidoglycan cell wall and not a protein membrane like viruses. The antiviral drugs we have now for any virus simply inhibit the virus from carrying out its mechanisms, usually by blocking some receptor on our own cells. But that doesn't mean the viral particles are incapable and rendered useless; stop taking the drugs and you open yourself up to symptoms all over again.

Now yes, the probability increases for mutation as bacterium reproduce, but again they can be killed...it's much easier since they're living organisms, compared to non-living viruses.

And don't give me the GM superbacterium story or the .01% drug resistance, as, while they are true areas of concern in bacteriology, they don't justify a lax attitude towards virology.

Always one extreme or the other with you eh? I'm well aware of reality (and I don't need a biology lesson because I already know all of this, plus my parents AND cousins are all nurses). Of course I'm not immune to H1N1, and it's the same way how I'm not immune to food poisoning or diabetes. Who knows! Maybe the next puddle of water can be my undoing! Let's face it though: the chances of me dying from H1N1 are quite very low, and if it somehow were to mutate in the near future to the point where it is even 30% lethal, damn that is one impressive virus.

Bacteria can thrive and multiply in a lot more places than viruses can. Just something to point out. Oh, and the pathogens must have come from some place when humans were around in the stone age.

And wth is the GM superbacterium story? o.O I've heard of Stephen King, but not the GM thing.