Thoughts on Swine Flu

While I am prone to anxiety, someone must be stepping in and saying "look the other way girl", because I am not feeling too worried about this swine flu thing. Maybe it's because I have always loved pigs. For real, I can make a snorting , pig like noise that is the envy of my family. We have had a "few" competitions to see if anyone can make the snorting noise. Always good for laughs when I am in need .

But Seriously:
With the epicenter in Mexico City , looking at the health care available there compared to ours: poverty, no follow up, no wonder it's an epidemic there. In today's global world unfortunately one countries problems can become the world's problems due to a great invention known as air travel. All that said, current DNA research shows that the there is a protein missing that makes this flu less severe and similar to a strain in 1957 so older people are not at risk because they may have immunity due to the genetic similarity to a previous strain. That takes one of the risk groups out of the scenario. Historicaly most deaths from flu happen with the very young, the old and those with compromised health or immunity. One case in Fort Worth school district affects 80,000 students? doesn't seem to make sense to me. I do think this is a great exercise in public awareness as far as how quickly disease can spread in our global economy. Which also makes the point that world health problems can become ours-- literally overnight.