So, the Swine flu (or H1N1 as the World Health Organization is now dubbing it) hit Mexico pretty hard. A lot of people sick, several hundred dead, and a huge chunk of Mexico's economy down the crapper due to imposed restrictions. And unfortunately, a few tourists who had visited the country went back to their homes and spread the disease. Naturally, the media got a hold of this story and decided to report about it.
Now here is where it starts to go crazy.
Over the next few days, every station I turned on and every news outlet I surfed online had the basic headline of, "SWINE FLU IS SPREADING!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!" WHO did not help with the hype, either. They were talking about past pandemics, such as the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 100 million people. Egypt demanded all of the pigs in the country slaughtered (I didn't even know that pigs could thrive in desert climates). People were told by Joe Biden himself to stay out of confined spaced. I would be lying, being a self-diagnosed hypochondriac, if I said that I didn't get sucked into the worry.
Of course, this hasn't come true. Millions of people every year get the flu, and thousands in the United States alone pass away from complications from influenza. Of course, though, the media cashes in on the opportunity to make money when hysteria is involved. Especially when it comes to a virus usually everybody gots at some point in their lifetime (if not more) with an ethnic flair.
Swine flu just SOUNDS bad.
In the end, it hasn't been catastrophic. Worldwide cases are around 900, which on paper sounds like a lot, but when you're speaking about 7 billion people, you'd expect a little bit higher number after about a week or so. And they started to repent, saying that "America doesn't need to worry now, we blew it out of proportion!" Oie.
At least they told us that pork was safe to eat. I had some the other night. It was delicious.