Great. Infected Mexican pigs are spreading a virus around like mad. Last week I was watching CNN and heard something about a Swine Flu Virus going around in Mexico. I thought it was something minor and that maybe I'll lay off eating pork for a while.
Wrong.
As of today, April 29th, 2009, swine flu has spread across several American states as well as countries on several continents, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and New Zealand. I read this in the Los Angeles Times today:
Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan and Nevada joined the list of states with new cases. Texas said its total has now climbed to 16 cases; New York has 51, and California has 15.
This afternoon, the Marine Corps said that a Marine at the Twentynine Palms, Calif., base has been confirmed to have the virus. About 30 men at the base who have come into contact with him have been quarantined.
Riverside County Health Officer Eric Frykman also said that four probable cases have been identified in the county. Two of them, an 87-year-old woman and an unrelated 5-year-old girl, have been hospitalized. The other patients are teenage girls from Corona and Indio.
Living in LA with so many people who often visit Mexico on the weekends, let's face it: I'm scared. I just heard on the local news that a student at Cal State Long Beach who's exhibiting the symptoms is currently undergoing tests. This thing is moving closer and closer to home.
The World Health Organization had also announced in Geneva today that there is absolutely no sign that the spread of this Swine Flu/H1N1 Virus is slowing down. After hearing this, now I'm definitely scared. In addition, my don't eat pork theory has been proven irrelevant. There hasn't even been any proof yet that consuming tainted pork can cause one to develop the illness. I'm not sure if stocking up on masks is going to do much; it sounds pretty Y2K-let's-hoard-tons-of-food-and-water status to me.I guess all you can really do is keep washing your hands and stay away from any shady looking individuals. Trust me, I've been sanitizing like you would not believe lately. What can one really do? Go into hiding? Maybe I'll set up a bunker underneath my house.I hope the WHO and other researchers/scientists get this under control soon because this is clearly a force to be reckoned with.
Curse you, you wretched swine!
Alas, you can always count on my hero, Stephen T. Colbert, to make light of the situation:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Days of Swine and Doses | ||||
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i love you stephen colbert! sarina, i must admit that once i scrolled down and caught a glimpse of stephen, i stopped reading. i am sure you said many important things though..
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