Its official — the world is experiencing a pandemic for the first time since 1968, the World Health Organization declared today.
The USG talking points seem to be “reassure, reassure, reassure.” Their take is basically right, for now — though it has spread rapidly, H1N1 is not a particularly lethal flu.
But the virus is affecting many young people who are otherwise healthy. More troubling is that its future course is completely unpredictable. With Tamiflu-resistant influenza circulating — as well as the H5N1 avian flu pathogen out there, which IS incredibly deadly — and the potential for recombinations, I worry. Practice the elbow cough and teach it to your kids. Wash your hands for a really long time. And stockpile food.
06/11/2009 :: 07:25:13 PM
The Melancholy Poet Says:
Theme of The Outer Thought-Strand Encompassing The Collective Body of The Main Portion Of The Piece:
“they still–with those (potentially) useful ingredients which partake, in this World, of the Nature of the Divine–-might change the colors of the Present Understanding into a few new vistas denoting Medical and Technological Landscapes revealing new Horizons…”