posted on May, 5 2009 @ 12:07 PM
Just like a ton of other things, these cases have multiple sides. It's impossible to take one side and stand by it. For example, right now we should
probably wash our hands when it comes to the A/H1N1 virus, because if we don't, chances are thousands of us get infected - and that increases the
chance of mutating to a more dangerous variant by a huge factor. Consider an infected person as a breeding and mutating ground for viruses - 1
infected person contains thousands of specimens, each of which may mutate. When he washes his hands, the stronger ones survive: but because they are
small in number after washing, they have less chance of infecting another person. There is a small chance, and it would lead to the doom-scenario -
but with just 1 person, that chance is tiny. However, when thousands are infected, the chance is not so tiny anymore.
..
For a frontal approach to this paradox, let's say we would abstain from washing. In that case, viruses get a free homerun to all our bodies. This
pretty much equals the case in which the viruses have mutated in a way that makes them immune to whatever we're fighting them with. So, not washing
is as bad as the doom scenario for washing. Obviously the best thing we can do lies in-between: try to be safe through washing, and if we still get
sick, we need to keep our eye on that particular strain.