Pandemic

Following the first World War, the flu swept across the world like one of the Plagues of Egypt. Conservative estimates have the numbers starting at 20 Million killed by the Spanish Flu virus. This virus was actually worse on the bodies of the young and healthy, as it caused an overreaction of the immune system. Thus, the stronger your immune system was, the greater effect it had on your body.

Current concerns over the swine flu have everyone starting to get riled. Should they be?

According to the CDC, the U.S. has some 30,000+ flu related deaths annually. While one could argue the figure, since the deaths are "flu related", which seems to me to be ambiguous. Nonetheless, it can be argued that death from/by/associated with the flu is still significant enough to be a concern.

This year, the swine flu, so named because it has proteins that emulate the flu found in piggies, has been responsible for one death in the U.S. While one is too many....well....one, thirty thousand....one.....is it really more disconcerting than the general flu?

Some say we should close the borders to stop this pandemic from spreading here, since it is primarily found in Mexico at this time. Since it is primarily found in Central Mexico and most legal border crossers come from Northern Mexico, that may not really help. Maybe stopping the illegal crossers, a great many of whom are from Central Mexico, it could make a difference.

However, I am still not convinced that it is an epidemic of Biblical proportions just yet. I am waiting to see the rivers of blood and the swarms of locusts and the murrain on cattle before I become alarmed. Unfortunately, I am not certain I would recognize a murrain if I saw one. Maybe it is one of those once you see it you will know what it is sort of thing.