Follow this link to see a map of the places being affected.

That is a great link. I never thought to check maps.
So it seems to be spreading with people flying back from their spring break holidays?
Still nothing out of Asia or India, could that be because they didn't travel, or are they just not reporting it?

Nice link, but who is authenticating the reports of swine flu? In any outbreak there are alot of suspected cases that will end up un-related. A fair number of the reported cases in Mexico so far can be attributed to things other than swine flu.

And geo-tracking the flu is probably not so necessary, unless you think they can stop a pandemic in its early tracks. If this flu is human transmittable, it will get around, it will be in your neighborhood and your zip code before you know to track it.

Remember the STOP acronym when lost?

This might be appropo here before panic sets in.

Rumour has it various survivalist websites are discussing what

effect Lysol has on assault rifles.

Yep, we just sold out over the weekend.

What I find fascinating about the media reaction such as the news media to the Swine influenza outbreak is the way this is being portrayed as a purely Mexican issue. It would appear that on the main outbreak was centred around the huge industrial scale pig farms in the area operated by a subsidiary of a large US corporate interest in the La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico. Movement of pigs from La Gloria area to other sites in the southern US states would explain the disease vector in the early weeks of the outbreak of the swine flu. Yet there appears a complete lack of interest by the news media in what might ultimately be the root cause of this outbreak, which could lead to a world wide pandemic.

http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosu...-of-events.html



How do you get the bird flu gene into old swine flu to create this new Swine Flu virus - feed rendered birds with bird flu imported from the far east to sick pigs in central America with old style swine flu on an industrial scale. I honestly really wouldn't be surprised.

I forgot which forum I found these on...

A google map for new strain (multiline link... sorry):

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5

And Healthmap at: http://healthmap.org/en Just select influenza for the map display.

Reports from Mexico City are scary, but cases in the US are not so scary. This is definite watch closely event but not quit the run to the cave scenario proposed on other forums.

-Tommy

Business has been rather slow this year.

I wonder if I should set up a stand by the off-ramp to the airport.

Big sign, with bold red letters:

Swine Flu Epidemic!
What is your life worth? Your children's?
Be smart, not sorry!
NIOSH Certified Masks -- $5.00
[Lemonade too, weather permitting]
[Psychiatric help $5.00, free mask with every consultation]

:-)

(P.S., I hope this is still funny a month from now.)

Agreed...

"Twitter is great for watching uninformed panics unfold live."

twitter [swine flu] search

http://xkcd.com/574/

I was quite wrong on my guess at the fatality rate. After looking at it again it seems to be about 8% in Mexico and 5% over all.
If this does spread widely it will have serious economic consequences for a lot of the countries who get it.
So far it is next to nothing though, 100 dead out 6 billion is not even a blip. Normally influenza kills about 50,000 a year around the world.

Does anybody have any more accurate numbers?

Center for Disease Control, Influenza pages
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm

CDC Human Swine Influenza Investigation,April 26, 2009 12:45 ET
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm

CDC Health advisory pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/pdf/HAN_042509.pdf

World Health Organization, Influenza pages,
Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/en/

WHO Swine Influenza pages
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

Anyway, other than trying not to get sneezed on, washing our hands, and not hanging out in crowds of sick people, there is not much else we seem really able to do about it as individuals.

Except maybe being ready to provide basic health care if we or our dear ones do get it.
So for most of us this next is likely the most important page from CDC.

Interim Guidance for Swine influenza A (H1N1): Taking Care of a Sick Person in Your Home, April 25, 2009 18:30 EDT
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidance_homecare.htm

This document provides interim guidance and will be updated as needed

Now for a bit of history to put it into perspective.

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

That is why there is so much fear about this.
We are even more crowded together now and the result is the effect could be even worse than the Spanish Flu. This Mexican Flu has already shown itself to have just as high of a mortality rate.
______
Oh No, now I am starting to really think about this.

Afternote:
Wikipedia now has a page up for this and it has quite a list of links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_Flu

(The Wiki page seems a bit rushed so if it seems unclear take a look at the discussion page on it too.)