Last spring, U.S. doctors’ offices were barraged with phone calls and worried patients packed into hospitals. Schools closed. Face masks and Tamiflu were suddenly in short supply. The country verged on an H1N1 panic.
The new flu virus, first widely reported in Mexico, was infecting the young and healthy, rather than those usually most at risk, the elderly and infirm. Beginning in April 2009, H1N1 flu fanned across the globe. The World Health Organization declared it a global pandemic in June.
Hand sanitizer was suddenly seen everywhere, and, heeding the often-repeated advice of top U.S. health officials, many people began coughing into their shoulders or elbows rather than covering their mouths with their hands.
Full story: H1N1: Pandemic was emotional as well as physical – CNN.com