Today we have changed our routine for the first time since the outbreak. I have kept my 5yo home from school even though he only has a dry cough. If there wasn't the H1N1 virus outbreak I would have sent him. But my 2yo is also slightly under the weather and I also started to get a bit of a sore throat last night. So today i am just being conservative until I can establish where we are all "at". We live very close to Melbourne's "Ground Zero" for the virus (northern suburbs). If we lived in a rural area of Victoria I would have sent my son to school today.

I think Flowerchild's post is spot on. No use being panicky... but it's wise not to be complacent.

Another factor for me is that I have a chronic health condition (thyroid disease) that could get significantly worse if I develop a bad case of flu. I just don't want to risk that. I am already thyrotoxic and any extra stress/illness will make it worse.

But if we were a healthy family I wouldn't be as concerned.... but still vigilant. My DH still catches the train. You mainly just have to be observant (notice is someone seems ill around you) and extra cautious about hygiene. He has upped the hand washing. The first thing he does when he gets home of an evening is "wash the public off" his hands. Infact we've alll been doing that for a while now.

They say that 1 in 5 will end up contracting H1N1 in Australia before the epidemic is over but I don't know where they pulled that figure from. If we get it then I guess we'll deal... and at least see the positives in that our bodies will create their own antibodies which like Niliac said: might serve to protect us in the long run.