Pig headed or bird brained?

It took almost 100 days of the new era of America but it finally happened, Obama is not the most oft typed word in headlines around the world. While his coverage, especially here in the United States, has been constant, those who would have answered "when pigs fly" to the proposition of his being supplanted by the common cold are now singing a new tune along with the recently made over Susan Boyle. The only headline that even is even remotely related to the president is one chiding the administration for their fly by of the Statue of Liberty with Air Force One. That will teach them to let Goose and Maverick at the helm.

I'm not letting any cat out of the bag (yes, this is a pig reference and it was used in a previous post, I know) to say the world is a buzz with coverage of the swine flu. It would be unfounded and irresponsible to criticize some level concern being expressed in the mass media of the world. Left unchecked this influenza could reach pandemic proportion. But after recent threats of similar worldwide spreading of SARS and the Bird Flu failed to take flight, I am feeling a bit like the farmer watching chicken little run from news conference to news conference saying the stye is falling.

Depending what news source you believe, deaths in Mexico range from 60 to 130 with up to 1000 more infected. The discrepency comes from the fact not all the deaths have been confirmed to have resulted from the Swine Flu. Cases of the H1N1 variant have reached as far away as New Zealand where students returning from a trip to Mexico have succumbed to the illness. The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its Pandemic alert to level 4 (on a scale of what nobody has said) to indicate the seriousness of this threat. You know, it is like writing a letter to North Korea saying you are disappointed that they shot off an intercontinental ballistic missile.

It is fair to say you can't swing a cat, er pig, without hitting a reporter busy reporting on this most serious of threats. Here's some advice, if you aren't currently sitting in a Mexican bus depot, take a deep breath and relax. Take several breaths but be careful not to let out too much CO2 when you exhale, we don't want Al Gore showing up with a chart. At the current level of infection and allowing for some level of exponential growth, the Swine Flu is doubtful to reach its previous high water mark of 1918 where 20 million died worldwide. Even without universal healthcare here in the States, medical care here and worldwide has improved well beyond what it was back then. What we don't need is a repeat of how the most recent flare up was handled in 1976. Gerald Ford's botching of that is a topic still being debated by people who sit around debating the flu.

When the bird flu was last making its rounds throughout Asia, cautionary articles abounded about the potential for a great leap from bird to human. Already, articles of the potential of this latest Swine Flu strain to mutate are appearing. So far, the Bird Flu has not taken the flying leap from animal to human that was predicted. Human deaths from this disease since 1997 number around 200. In the last series of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2004, 128 deaths were reported although some of them are now believed to have been Bird Flu as well. I guess even diseases have to add to their numbers. Kind of like the Gay and Lesbian movements from the 70's and 80's now adding the Bisexual and Transgendered to swell their ranks. So, while it is possible for the current strain of Swine Flu to mutate in to a disease capable of herding the world's population more efficiently than a New Zealand "Babe", it remains just a hypothetical.

Every life is precious. I feel for anyone who loses a loved one to a disease, to an accident or to a low life flying a jet into a building. Just to placate those still believing we are wrong to prosecute a war on terror, let it be known I grieve for the innocents killed in that action too. But not a tear is shed for the active combatants. But, again, I digress. Yes, every life is precious, but in the grand scheme, this potential pandemic is nothing more than a pimple on the nose of a sneezing giant. Between 250,000 and 500,000 people worldwide die each year from your average, every day, plain vanilla type flu. They just don't do it all at once and they don't make headlines. You've a better chance of catching Dengue Fever in Argentina than the Swine Flu anywhere else in the world.

Face it, it is more likely the students from New Zealand brought back more cases of a social disease from Mexico than Swine Flu infections and while the Pacific Rim countries of Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines are playing a live version of the popular web "hot or not" with arriving international passengers as a precautionary measure, the vast majority of us are in no danger. Let's not throw the baby wrapped in a typhoid blanket out with the bath water. Calls have been made to shut the border with Mexico and so many fingers are being pointed in Washington, DC (here, here and here) that you'd think the city was filled with nothing but Alzhiemers sufferers asking directions. There are, most likely, meetings in government offices the world over discussing how to best take political advantage of this situation. Bastards.

Let us hope cooler, less feverished heads prevail and we take a rational approach to this situation. Obama went golfing while yesterday's news conference about this outbreak was being held. Some have complained this was inappropriate. They need to get a life. If you really are concerned there are several steps you can take to protect yourself. Read here and avoid making out with (insensitive illegal alien stereotype coming) the gardener.

S2