Get Your Flu Diagnosis Online!

Putting everything online leads one to the conclusion that eventually, a person will be able to do almost anything, at anytime, without human intervention.

To some that is a wonder, to others anathema. Where ever you stand, you must admit that much of what can be accomplished online can be classified as adding to the richness of our lives.

Now perhaps additional safety is being added, with the ability of online diagnosis of the H1N1 flu. This is no doubt available because of the current economy, and the declaration of the pandemic status of this flu.

The full details of the online advisor are given in the PCWorld story -

Feeling sick? Wondering if it’s the H1N1 flu or just a regular old go-away-don’t-come-near-me, flu?

Face it, your doctor may not be able to squeeze you right in. But you may be able to figure it out using a Web-based self-assessment tool developed by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta. The tool is now available on several national Web sites, including flu.gov , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Microsoft’s H1N1 Response Center .

The online test includes questions like, do you have a fever? Have you been short of breath? Do you have a pain or pressure in your chest that you didn’t have before? Were you feeling better and now a fever or cough is returning?

The H1N1 flu , also widely known as the swine flu, is a fairly new influenza virus that has spread around the world. The CDC reports that it first appeared in the United States this past April. By June 11, the World Health Organization categorized it as a pandemic . Because its extremely contagious, hospitals and health care workers have been bracing for the H1N1 to hit hard this fall.

With concerns about the new flu running high , health care providers expect to get slammed with a mounting wave of people rushing in to find out if they have the H1N1 virus.

The online test, dubbed the Strategy for Off-Site Rapid Triage, is designed to help a lot of people figure out if they need to see their doctor or go to a hospital.

Perhaps it is an appeal to those inner hypochondriacs in many of us, but it also is a money and energy saving device. By bypassing the trip to the doctor, having been reasonably assured of your everyday flu symptoms, you save money, the gas taken for a trip to the doctor’s office or hospital, and you alleviate the wait you’d suffer at the waiting room.

By removing the possible packed emergency rooms, or waiting rooms in the doctor’s office, another mode of transmission is removed, making the rest of us, who are doing our best to stay germ free a little safer.

Imagine how well controlled the plague could be, if we had never seen it until today. No matter the best efforts of the Hollywood directors, with movies about disastrous epidemics, the very best time to be alive, and stay well, is right now!

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he’s just gotten a clean bill of health from Hello Kitty!

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