and it might come as a shock to that bunch of right-wing anti-science fundies out there but those germs are changing due to evolution. Of course, those idiots who run the Creation Museum in Kentucky (where Adam and Eve co-exist with dinosaurs) will tell you that these new super germs are not the result of that wacky theory of evolution but, rather, they were created by God to smite us for our evil ways. So, look out you sinners, that extra strong flu is God's way of telling you to keep your hands to yourselves.

We don't have mandatory sick, paid leave AND many times if one happens to have "sick pd time off", the kiddo's who get sick and can't go to school or daycare aren't covered as "sick leave".

I would say we are seeing what a flu epidemic looks like because people can't take the proper time off that they need to rest and recover. And so many work in customer service, exchanging money (germs) or food (direct ingestion)... Its amazing that we can't get ourselves together enough to demand simple things like paid sick leave, paid vacation time (4 wks minimum), paid maternity/ paternity leave, and a full time pd week = 30hrs (we have enough people to make this possible and we have many families out of the house more than ever, producing more than ever, wages need to increase to living wages, and the time spent at work should decrease, otherwise, what's the point of all the wonderful technology that we have, if we aren't using it to create more utopic time to do what we want with our lives - have free time to live while we have young bodies and allow our children to see and explore the world while they are young and yes, impressionable - we are too secluded in this country - people seeing the world and meeting other people would be a good idea).

Is getting weaker? I've read countless articles that mention that the medicines we take also hurt us by making the system weaker. In a sense its true since we don't allow the system to get stronger by fighting on its own. I also know that with some medicine people would simply die. Some germs/virus you simply need the medicine.

In some scientific article I read not to long ago, some scientists predict that the common cold could be our undoing. That the immune system would be so weak, that no medicine could help us.