Swine Flu: Potential Pandemic or Just a Load of Hogwash?

Since it was first reported in the United States, there have been 2254 confirmed cases located in 44 states resulting in a grand total of two deaths. This is the major outbreak that was feared, resulting pretty much in panic across the U.S? Of course, those 2254 confirmed cases are only a fraction of the suspected cases that occurred as the entire populace freaked out. For a two-week stretch there, it was pretty much the end of the world as we knew it. Then the CDC restored some calm. Turns out the swine flu is apparently no worse than regular influenza. In fact, it is highly probable that more people have died from influenza this past week than have died from the swine flu.

Of course, I really shouldn’t be calling it swine flu, should I? Its real name is the H1N1 Influenza. Part of the problem was that the pigs were getting horrible PR from having the word “swine” associated with this disease. Hogs were being slaughtered en masse in Egypt. Pork products were way down in sales. People actually believed that they could get sick from eating pork. They were only following the lead of Paris Hilton. Hilton said,” I don’t have to worry about swine flu because I don’t eat meat.” Really, Paris? That’s very logical. It’s also absurd. The only way humans can contract H1N1 is from other humans. The only reason this disease carried the moniker of “swine flu” at all was due to the fact it is very similar to the strain of influenza that spreads amongst pigs.

And then there’s the sage advice of our wise Vice-President, Joe Biden. Biden told America that we should avoid confined travel, like subways and aircraft. Joe should know about diseases. He seems to have a persistent case of foot-in-mouth-itis. His idea was laughable, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg proved that as he took a New York subway to work the next day. As far as I know, he still hasn’t come down with swine flu yet. In fact, the only negative stemming from that jaunt appears to be a stepped-on big toe.

The biggest problem with the swine flu has been that it occurred during a dry spell for the news media. The Somali pirates are taking a much-needed vacation. The economy has remained stable for a while now. And apparently the media decided to cover something other than how President Obama successfully dressed himself this morning. Their infatuation with him is borderline sickening, but that’s another topic for another time. So the media had nothing else to cover. Then this strain of flu that’s a mosaic of pig, human, and wild-bird flu appeared in Mexico, killing a small number but infecting hundreds. Next thing we know, it’s the end of the world as we know it. 

It’s really funny actually. True, there is nothing about the swine flu that should be laughed at. It is a disease that has proven it can be deadly. But it’s nowhere near as bad as what they were predicting it could be. The funny part is how the CDC had to come out and correct themselves saying that it’s probably unnecessary to close the schools in the event of suspected or confirmed cases. Whoops! They’re bad. And we can snort at those who went hogwild, butchering pigs for fear that they could get sick from them. All I have to say is that was a lot of good bacon killed because people panicked. They got frightened, squealed, and ran for cover. We’ve seen this scenario before. Recently, even, with the SARS scare a few years ago. Let’s just hope next time people don’t run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Or in this case, maybe the appropriate simile is like pigs with their heads cut off.