I was watching the news when Ebola was breaking out in Africa and some cases had gotten into America. The reporter cautioned that if you had flu like symptoms and had been in contact with someone who just came back from Africa you should contact Center for Disease Control (CDC) immediately. The fact that I occasionally take public transportation and began to feel cold or flu-like symptoms made me panic. Oh no! I thought to myself. I forgot to ask all my fellow passengers if they had recently returned from Africa. Later that day on another cable channel a different reporter cautioned about Lyme disease. Again he said if you feel flu-like symptoms you should check for tick bites that leave a red circular outline. Call your doctor immediately. I stripped all my clothes off (good thing I was home alone) and began checking every inch of my skin in the tri-fold mirror in my bathroom. Whew! I thought, no red circles. But then realized I still was not out of the woods for the Ebola!
The next morning another reporter cautioned about West Nile Virus that you got from mosquito bites. Symptoms were, you guessed it, flu-like. Immediately I stripped naked looking for mosquito bites. This time I was also home. But, unknown to me my wife had someone from the PTA over. That was embarrassing. Over the next few days I saw reports on Dengue fever, SARS, MRSA and rabies. All start with flu-like symptoms. The only one I was definitely able to rule out was rabies as I was not afraid to take a shower. Just about all contagious diseases start with flu like symptoms. The flu, it seemed to me was the chicken of the disease world. All exotic diseases feel like the flu, and all exotic foods taste like chicken.