You’re probably sick of hearing about the swine flu. Or, maybe you’re just sick. If you get it, you’ll be down and out for almost a full week. And then you’ll have a lingering cough that persists for at least another week. And you’ll probably need one more week just to recover your energy.

I know this because we went through it in my house a few weeks ago. We spent a miserable week with two sick, feverish kids and two sick, despondent parents. We’ve almost recovered.

(I insist on calling it “swine flu” rather than the much less colorful and much more cumbersome term “novel H1N1 influenza.” Accuracy be damned!)

In late August, I spoke with an infectious disease specialist about swine flu. He explained that this flu more likely affects children and younger adults than the garden-variety seasonal flu, which typically hits older folks harder.

We now know why. The flu epidemic of 1918, which killed tens of millions worldwide, was a variant of today’s swine flu. That flu was more virulent, however. And, that flu essentially inoculated that generation and even those born as late as the 1940s. That’s why many older folks aren’t getting sick, and why younger adults and children are.

Children are walking Petri dishes. If you have them running around your house, and they get the swine flu, then I’d say (in my expert opinion) that your chances of getting it are about 102%.

Washing hands is always a good idea. But clean hands won’t guarantee you won’t get the swine flu. That’s because it’s largely transmitted by vapor droplets in the breath—or in a cough or a sneeze—and can travel up to six feet. So, unless you can stay two yards away from your sick children—or your sick patients—I think you’re going to get it.

Unless you’ve had it already.

So, does anyone out there have any swine flu horror stories? Did you have to call out of work for a week? Did half of your staff call out sick? Did you have to close down your office? Don’t be shy. Log in. Leave a comment. I told you my story. Tell me yours.