Don't Be a Twit, Keep Up on Flu News at Twitter

Depending on whom you ask, and whom you believe, the swine flu could be just another common cold ailment with little remedy except fever reducers or it could mark the newest plague virus strain.

While officials are readying a vaccine that will be available in October (mid flu season), officials at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) are trying their best to keep people informed and updated on what's happening.

So naturally they're embracing the latest social networking tool Twitter. The micro-blogging site's Twitter presence, CDCFlu, however, doesn't offer up much solace or insight at this point (there are just 67 tweets as of this morning). But there are some pretty neat data points and related content you might want to check out before you start experiencing a high fever that comes out of the blue.

One is a YouTube video that's darn informative. And of course, the running tab on how many have been infected (8,843) and how many people have died from the flu strain (556 as of August 28) is important. After all there were just two reported deaths as of early May.

Basically the focus now is telling people what your mother always told you when you were in elementary school: wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, and stay home when you're sick.

Common sense, as Mom said, always prevails.

Photo courtesy of CDC