Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ABC KID]

Swine Flu seems to be increasing dramatically. When we took our two year child for a regular medical check-up today, not only did they say it was impossible due to swine flu but when we probed about when the vaccination would be available they said that it might be March or later, especially for those not living in Seoul. This came as a shock as the TV news has been suggesting much earlier. It has got us thinking a lot as we are due to take a trip to England in February...

Given the current climate, would you be prepared to travel abroad with a child that has yet to be vaccinated? What would be your thought process?

[bbb0777]

I would.

My thought process is: OK, so what's the mortality rate for swine flu, is it higher than say...the average flu? A: No, it's not. (~6,000 people die every month in the US of general flu, and the WHO has described swine flue as "fairly mild").

If you're not convinced of swine flu's relativity benign status (reasonable - as it is indeed *one more thing* a child could catch, thus one more thing to worry about)- you could check, does England have a higher infection rate than S. Korea?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_by_country

It appears that at least the UK's infection rate is actually slightly *lower* than S. Korea's...so all things held equal, a child would possibly be slightly *safer* in England.

For negative factors though there's the plane ride - a fairly high-risk environment for catching something...and possibly the stress of busy travel making a child more susceptible.

To me then - the only additional risks are that you'd be putting a child on a long plane ride, then upon arrival a possibly busy itinerary that may stress them. Although, even if they did catch swine flu - it would "only" be about as worrisome if your child caught normal flu anyway.

That's my exact thought process. To me it seems like a quite small risk, and so is acceptable - but of course you may disagree.