How about a Little Swine with that Cheese

The swine flu!!!!!!!  Yes, “the” swine flu.  It’s here. It’s everywhere.  I’m hearing words such as plague, and pandemic.  I don’t want to hear those words.  Sometimes I really think the media in general are terrorizing us.  For instance, we always get the dramatic headline, “150 DEAD IN MEXICO.”  And of course, panic sets in, people begin stockpiling soup and water, the company that makes those ridiculous masks watches their stock double overnight, and people begin avoiding animals in general.  I suppose it makes sense.  The media has to shock and awe their audience, otherwise why would we read.  The article we don’t see, “3000 PEOPLE IN MEXICO ARE OK,”  just doesn’t have the mass appeal a media outlet is looking for.  Thousands of people in Mexico had contracted swine flu, but only a very small percentage have died.  The threat of a major outbreak is of course a scary prospect, but all this talk of threat levels and quarantines, reminds me why its a pain in the ass to go to the airport.  I think the media should be proactive, discuss the entire issue, bring in some experts, and provide some advice for the globe.  You really have to watch every media outlet, read every paper, listen to every radio show and after doing that, you may have a better picture of what’s going on.  Most of us don’t have time to do that, so we flip on one station, listen to the anchor with the bad hairpiece interview a guy who used to clean the test tubes at a lab in Iowa give his explanation of the 2009 plague of doom.  It’s overwhelming, and perhaps a bit irresponsible to report only half of the story, or just the bits and pieces that provide the most punch.  Perhaps that statement will open a can of worms, and I hope not, because I don’t want to read a bunch of responses that have nothing to do with the swine flu.  This is a swine flu only post.  Perhaps, this outbreak may turn out to be a big deal, a global pandemic as they are saying.  Frankly, I doubt it.  The strain appears to be weaker the more global it gets.  Sometimes influenza strains get stronger, sometimes they don’t, but they mutate, and evidence suggests it’s spreading, but not strengthening. 

Which reminds me, IT’S NOT A BIOTERRORIST ATTACK!  Just in case you were thinking that.  If it was a bioterrorist attack, the people responsible are complete morons.  There are literally millions of pathogens that would make more sense as a bioterrorists choice.  Choosing a strain of volitale influenza, would be like training a chicken as an attack dog.  It might work, but it may just as likely do nothing but crap all over your yard.  Influenza spreads rapidly, for sure, but mutates quickly as well, so it may never do what it is intended to do…which is why its unlikely to be a biological weapon.  Likely, this strain was strong in Mexico, which appears now to be ground zero, and as it has mutated, it has weakened.  Which is why the death toll is higher in Mexico than anywhere around the world. 

I believe universal precautions are in order.  I think if you are sick you should stay home.  I do not believe you need to run through the streets screaming, or holding signs that say the end is near.  If in fact, it turns out i’m wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time….I believe it would be the second.