Well... Looking at the proliferation of zombie invasion and EMP threads I must be among the more conservative members here but I certainly don't take the swine flu pandemic lightly.

I'm no doctor but it doesn't seem to be "just" flu. Maybe the symptoms are mild right now and that is good, but we will see what happens during the winter. Where I live, the official standing right now is that a major outbreak is expected during the following months, with as much as 30% of the population infected. I'm not sure about everybody else but we have had flu epidemics before and they never affected that many people. Nor can I ever remember flu spreading that fast globally.

Also, I see a lot of people talking the talk but few have any direct experience with swine flu whatsoever. A colleague at work got infected last month abroad and after all she's gone through she says it's a lot worse than regular flu. Mind you, she is a young, healthy and reasonably fit individual aged 25. What are the odds of the general population though, the infirm, overweight, chronically ill? If anything, I'd suspect the health officials are trying to keep it down so as not to scare the public.

That doesn't mean I'm about to quit my job and retreat to a log cabin in the woods but I do perceive swine flu as a significant threat right now. Not so much to me personally but my two elderly grandmothers and my brother, who is disabled and suffers from immunodeficiency. In the event of a major flu outbreak their chances wouldn't be all that great. Especially if the health services become overburdened and one could no longer rely on prompt and proper medical assistance.

So it's really not just an academic issue to me. I very much hope the swine flu doesn't get any worse but I still see it as a substantial danger to some of the people I care about. Whether I can do anything about it is a different question. Maybe not as interesting as bracing myself for a zombie invasion but it strikes uncomfortably close to heart nonetheless.