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This story was nothing to sneeze at...

I'm happy to say that I’ve survived a few days in Mexico City and have none of the symptoms of swine flu. One thing however does feel different; how unconsciously alert I am to my own body and all sorts of warning signs/hazardous behaviors around me. Perhaps it is just a case of biological adaptation to increase your chances of survival in more dangerous environments (if anyone has research on that - please do send my way) or it is a layer of your subconscious that just heightens your peripheral awareness under changing circumstances, but it is oddly cool.

When our producer on the ground welcomed my outstretched hand at the airport with a warning that hand shakes should be avoided, that is when the story started to sink in. Saturday evening when I sneezed at a restaurant and people three tables over turned to look, it sunk in a little deeper.

By the time I woke up on Sunday, my body had gone into this state of being. I noticed a man coughing as he walked into the elevator and instinctively pressed the button with a knuckle instead of a fingertip. I didn’t touch the handrails on the way down to the lobby. I took notice of the doorman who sneezed and oddly I searched for him the next couple of days to make sure he still seemed healthy. I washed my hands far more often, became conscious of otherwise unconscious actions like how many times my fingers touched my eyes to relieve an itch(eight times since landing) or how many times I had coughed (three) or sneezed (seven) over the past few days.

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It's like a scene from a Michael Crichton novel: medical workers in biohazard suits and people wearing surgical masks in the streets.

These images on television seem to contradict President Obama's message - that swine flu is not a cause for alarm.

We do know the illness is serious. More than 100 people have died from it in Mexico, and there are several dozen cases right here in the United States.

That said, doctors say it responds well to traditional anti-viral medicine like Tami-flu. As of now, everyone in this country who has contracted it has recovered.

Here's an interesting statistic to keep in mind: The CDC reports that 36,000 people die from flu-related illnesses every year.

The flu is always a concern, especially for small children and the elderly.

As this outbreak runs its course, we need to stay informed, but we also need to remain calm.

A sense of perspective is nothing to sneeze at.

That's a page from my notebook.

Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative correspondent for CBS News.

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Yesterday I spoke to the families of young women who believe the Gardasil HPV vaccine may have – or did in fact – cause their child's serious illness. One of the cases involves a now 18-year old young woman named Amanda.

Amanda's parents say she developed a serious reaction to Gardasil after her first dose last summer. It began with soreness where she received the injection. The soreness eventually travelled down her arm, her legs, and led to a horrible autoimmune myofasciitis that is so painful Amanda had to go on morphine for the pain.

She was transformed, through the illness, from a high school varsity sport athlete to a chronically ill person who takes a handful of pills a day just to keep her illness tolerable. When she goes off the medicine, the excruciating pain and other debilitating symptoms return.

One thing that's different about Amanda's case than some of the others is that both of her parents medical doctors who didn't think twice about having their daughter get the shot – but are now second-guessing themselves. They call their daughter's illness after Gardasil "a very sobering experience."

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Sharyl Attkisson is the Capitol Hill Correspondent for CBS News.

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Our report tonight on wasteful spending at the Centers for Disease Control should come with a public health alert: "Warning: viewing this story on how the CDC is spending your tax dollars might make you sick."

With CDC asking taxpayers for a billion dollars more to be added to its $10 billion budget, some in Congress are asking tough questions about the agency's spending choices. Senator Tom Coburn, who oversees CDC funding, has produced a detailed investigative report with maddening examples of apparently extravagant spending. They include hundreds of millions of dollars spent on state-of-the-art facilities that are so top-of-the-line, they've won architectural awards... there's the new headquarters, the communications and visitors center, and the employee fitness center. The press person for CDC told me repeatedly that nothing there was "out of the ordinary" in these facilities. But some Americans might see it differently. For example, the massive fitness center rivals the nicest private clubs I've seen. And you really have to wonder who decided it was good idea to equip it with "quiet rooms" complete with "anti-gravity chairs" where stressed out employees can relax and watch a "mood-enhancing light show."

Another sore point for some is all the tax money being spent on things that seem to be pretty far off the beaten path to disease prevention and emergency response...

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