don't panic, but "SWINE FLU COULD SPREAD GLOBALLY"

tommorow's breaking news:
atomic bomb on mexico city...

CNN: "Magnitude 6.0 earthquake reported 50 miles northeast of Acapulco, Mexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey."

i'll speculate minimal damage in mexico city, if the epicenter was that far away. but yeah, if it results in a serious disruption of the public health infrastructure, then there may be some problems

my friend on AIM --

Becky: omg i overheard this lady at the coffee shop talking to her friend saying that no one is going to die in the US of swine flu because we're not a third world country
what an idiot!

tommorow's breaking news:
atomic bomb on mexico city...

a bit OTT just to eradicate swine flu

with possible danger of creating RADIOACTIVE SWINE FLU

Swine Flu confirmed in Scotland; patients not v. ill, symptoms mild.

Seven of their friends showing mild symptoms

Aren't "i like to fart and i am crazy" two of the symptoms?

we are all vectors

Swine Flu confirmed in Scotland; patients not v. ill, symptoms mild.

Seven of their friends showing mild symptoms

So. This is either the beginning of a hellish pandemic or a lot of people sniffing, coughing and spending a couple of days in bed.

Good news for: makers of man-size tissues, soup, daytime TV.

Bad news for: bosses everywhere. "No, I don't think I can come in today ... *feeble cough* ... might be that pig-flu thing ... *sniff* ... better not risk it, eh? *Pathetic splutter*"

With the ability of flu virus to mutate quickly, this isn't and either/or proposition. We could have six months of widespread relatively mild flu that spreads rapidly, followed by a year of hellishly virulent flu that spreads just as rapidly and re-infects people who had the first variant.

There's no simple storyline here except that public health officials need to work this hard and try to contain it as best they can.

http://gizmodo.com/5229314/follow-the-swine-flu-in-real-time-with-google-maps

What's great about public health officials is that they freak out about these things so we don't have to.

I mean, average citizens should really not match their freak-out thresholds to public health officials. Our freak-out thresholds should be way, way higher. It's the circle of life / freak-out thresholds.

didn't read the whole thread so sorry if this is a repeat but they might want to consider calling this something other than "swine flu" if only because people still seem convinced you get this by eating pork

i love how the article in a local newspaper screamed "OMG WE ARE GONNA DIE PORKIE STYLE" but then when you read the article it assured we wouldn't.

http://twitter.com/veratect

big boy was warning everyone on hot 97 that you dont get this from eating pork and that guys saying "oh i dont eat swine" should be less self-congratulatory

Guys, the thing is that if we freak out about this, we'll look like total wimps in front of the pigs

They will never let us forget it

they should call it Bacon Flu

did ppl think avian flu was transmitted from eating birds?

walking back from dropping my laundry off just now i coughed and this lady looked at me sideways and picked up her pace

Do as many people know "avian" = "bird-related" as know "swine" = "pig"? (A: No)

Since I work a door down from the ER and my roommate is about to start working at a restaurant where the staff frequently travels to and from Mexico, I figure we're just racing to see who can get swine flu first.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/49/186102293_763e58959f.jpg

true. . . but didn't most news orgs refer to it as bird flu in headlines

did ppl think avian flu was transmitted from eating birds?

Don't ever underestimate how fucking stupid people are.

"Belgium: Six suspected swine influenza cases reported by national authorities. #swineflu"

the newspaper article claimed the risk here in belgium was minimal. LIARS.

There's no simple storyline here except that public health officials need to work this hard and try to contain it as best they can

Agreed, but I don't think that's going too well right now, given that A&Es are going to be chock-full of sniffling bell-ends panicking their little hypochondriac heads off. For every reasonable and sensible thing I read, I'm reading two that make me want to inject people's fucking eyes with ebola.

i'm gonna start coughing on the street when i'm walking around, just for fun

i stopped eating sarsage for a while a few years back

just overheard: mum complaining at dad that he didn't buy some facemasks on Ebay for 25 quid

like, ffs

i'm gonna start coughing on the street when i'm walking around, just for fun

^ This. While eating bacon sandwiches. Genius.

Yeah, but I'm guessing "bird" just doesn't sound like food to most people, which seems like the functional bit here -- like "chicken flu" would probably make some people afraid of biting into chicken, whereas "monkey pox" makes people afraid of getting bit by a monkey -- beautiful beautiful context

cm, you're kidding, right?

buying used facemasks on Ebay=great idea

you don't know who wore it!

oh chirst, fiction and reality are mixing it up big style in my head. i just had a pic of that swine scene from damages.

kidding

Official soundtrackers to the 2009 swine-flu pandemic:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/2576714064_2e479b9771.jpg?v=0

http://www.frightcatalog.com/i/360x360/1217003.jpg

how about this?

I have brainiac in my head now.

Anyone read/know how long the disease takes to begin showing symptoms in someone? I read that the first cases in Mexico were reported in March. Does that mean it's likely that the infected people got the virus in March, or perhaps February?

u hav pork flu and r going to die sry

Dr. Icey over here

Last night my Mom got on the phone and said, "We should probably just kill all Mexicans. That would solve a lot of problems at once." Me = o_O

Is that a pic of Pig Destroyer, Grimly?

The band he posted? That's Clinic, I think.