Thursday, April 30, 2009

Swine Flu

It's flu season. A new strain is coming into the country, this time from Mexico. Supposedly it's more virulent than most strains. Supposedly it is a killer. No evidence of either of these things has yet been presented. Numbers of cases are small, as are the numbers of deaths. The deaths are among those groups that you would expect. The very young. The very old. Those with compromised immune systems. The kill rate isn't very high, even in Mexico, where preventive innoculation and therapeutic medications are not always available to everyone. There are several anti viral medications stockpiled that work effectively against this flu.

Why the huge amount of news coverage? Why are they cracking down on the borders, issuing travelers alerts and cancelling cruises to Mexico? I don't get it.

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