If you have opened a newspaper, turned on your television or browsed the Internet during the last two weeks, then you know that it has not taken long for the swine flu virus to make its way through a large percentage of the United States. When you combine this fact with the almost non-stop media coverage of the swine flu spread, it can seem like there is no good news out there and that all we have is doom and gloom. However, if you take a minute to cut through some of the non-stop hype, you will see that things aren’t necessarily as bad as they initially seem.

Although the swine flu has claimed lives in the United States as well as other countries, there are good things that have come out of this unfortunate situation. According to a survey that was conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, out of one thousand adults who were questioned for the survey, sixty-seven percent reported that at least one member of their household has improved their hygiene habits. This means that the swine flu virus has caused at least one person in their household (if not more) to start washing their hands or using an alcohol based hand sanitizer on a more regular basis than prior to the swine flu outbreak.

As a result, the director of the CDC (Dr. Besser) has this to say:

“If they can make hand washing something that is routine, if they can make covering their coughs appropriately something that is routine … they will protect themselves not only from influenza but so many respiratory infections.”