Everything You Need to Know About the Flu

There is a lot of information out there about the plague but we forget that during this time of year other flus exist as well. There are so many types that it can get confusing. I thought you moms out there might appreciate this primer on the flu bug itself.
In terms of classification of the various different types of virus that we have so far isolated, influenza is what is known as an RNA virus, meaning that the virus itself is primarily made up of different variations of ribonucleic acid. Because there are different forms of RNA at the ‘core' of the influenza virus, there are three different classifications:
• Influenza virus A;
• Influenza virus B;
• Influenza virus C.
Influenza virus A is the one that causes the most severe disease as it is an extremely virulent human pathogen. A huge variety of influenza virus A strains are naturally hosted by wild aquatic birds, and the genus is subdivided into many different individual strains, with all known flu pandemics having been caused by a variation of the influenza virus A genus.
Each variation of the virus A genus is identified by its reaction to antibodies, and many variations are seen more than once in a slightly modified form.
For example, the H1N1 ‘swine flu' variety that was first identified in early 2009 was in fact a variation of the same strain as that which caused the infamous Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 that was notable for killing millions of otherwise healthy young adults all over the world. The Asian flu pandemic that originated in China in 1956 was H2N2, whereas the Hong Kong flu pandemic of the late 1960s was the H3N2 strain of the virus A genus.
Unlike the virus A genus, influenza virus B is almost exclusively limited to humans, meaning that there is no relationship between the infection and birds and pigs as there is with the virus A genus. Because there is little inter-reaction between the flu viruses carried by humans and other creatures, virus B influenza very rarely evolves or mutates, meaning that most people develop a degree of immunity to this particular form of influenza at a relatively young age.
Influenza virus C does however have the ability to cross from humans to animals (and vice versa), specifically to and from dogs and pigs. Consequently, virus C variants can cause serious illness and also local epidemics, although the only influenza genus that is known to have the ability to become a pandemic are variations of the A genus.
For reasons that are not fully understood, the most common forms of flu tend to be seasonal, with most people suffering ‘ordinary' seasonal influenza during the winter months. Despite what you may have heard this type of flu is actually more virulent than other forms, including the bird flu!!!

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A World With No Moms

Is it time to stop being a mother? Is being a mother redundant? Is being a mother bad for the environment? Many environmental experts are suggesting just that. In fact the idea that it is time for all mothers to become obsolete has been consolidated in a movement known as the childfree movement.
Can you imagine a world where there is no moms anymore because it becomes law to have sex with birth control. That could happen according to professor Hans Tammermagi, adjunct professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He says that making changes like using public transit or recycling are minor compared to what we can do for the environment simply by stopping breeding.
I find this a little disturbing, not only because I write a blog about moms and need an audience but because I am not so sure that the right to be a mom is something that should be controlled by law. For instance look what goes on in China. China has had one child laws for sometimes. This has brought that problem all kinds of ethical problems such as gender selective abortion, infanticide and forced sterilization. What I really don't like as well is the way sexism can play into this – with little girl babies being killed first.
Overpopulation might be a big problem but the human race has to go on somehow. Although I see the point of limiting the global population and the good it would do the environment we are not really factoring in what could happen if there was a world disaster and the human population was largely wiped out. We could be dealing with a situation where we need more humans to fight some kind of war or plight and just do not have them on hand.
My point is that children are not the problem. We are the problem. It is especially problematic that we don't teach our children to do things like recycle, turn the lights off and ride their bikes to work. Instead we teach them values that are wasteful – like eating fast-food, driving the biggest shiniest car and using cell phones.
Children can grow up to be adults. That is the real problem and the real crux behind the agenda of the childfree movement.
There are too many problems associated with stopping people from having children altogether. Furthermore it is a biological directive that is natural and hard to stop. Second of all if children are not allowed they could become big commodities on some kind of black market. The thought of trading children, paying money for them or raising them in secrecy to save the world is just too much for this adoring mom to bear.

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