When Pigs Fly
I will always remember one of the rhymes of my childhood, picked up in what used to be a green and pleasant land (and still is, in parts):
Little birdie flying high
Dropped a message from the sky
Angry farmer wiping eye
Thanking God that cows don't fly
But cows jump over the moon; they don't fly. Rather, we often talk about 'when pigs fly', and we talk of cabbages and kings while thinking of whether pigs have wings. Unfortunately, as events of the last 48 hours have unfolded in all their diseased authority, it's not about whether pigs fly, but whither swine flu.
The basic facts can be found at the CDC website and the WHO website. Swine flu is an old disease; it has been known for almost a century. But the virus that has manifested in Mexico City, killed nearly a hundred people and migrated for parts unknown, ah, well... that H1N1 virus is a mutant which seems to have combined avian, pig and human flu viruses in one multipotent package that won't do humans, pigs, birds (or pigs with wings) any good.
Think of it this way: it is like the SARS virus of recent memory, with one difference. That difference is a significant one. SARS victims who were infectious could be detected by their high fevers. The new mutant makes you infectious possibly before anything can be detected. It also seems to spread just as quickly.
Even as I type this, I am conscious that confirmed cases have now spread from Mexico into their large and internationally-connected northern neighbour. The United States now has confirmed and suspected cases from California in the West, to Kansas in the Midwest, Texas in the South and New York in the East. Sea to shining sea, indeed.
The genie is out of the bottle while the disease centres of the world (like failing lymph nodes or flailing neurons) attempt to play catch-up. It is obvious that since the virus first emerged in March, nobody knew how bad it would be. And now, suddenly, it is bad, and it is everywhere.
Maybe we're wrong and it will peter out under our careful and widespread measures. But maybe not. Maybe the huge reserves of Tamiflu™ and suchlike will indeed conquer all. But maybe not.
What is probably true is that somewhere, the gnomes of this world are attempting to figure out what the impact of this latest blow will be on the world's economies. Or the world economy. It won't be good.
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Note: Some states have already gone to yellow emergency: screening at airports. The WHO has "agreed that the current situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern". Heh.
Little birdie flying high
Dropped a message from the sky
Angry farmer wiping eye
Thanking God that cows don't fly
But cows jump over the moon; they don't fly. Rather, we often talk about 'when pigs fly', and we talk of cabbages and kings while thinking of whether pigs have wings. Unfortunately, as events of the last 48 hours have unfolded in all their diseased authority, it's not about whether pigs fly, but whither swine flu.
The basic facts can be found at the CDC website and the WHO website. Swine flu is an old disease; it has been known for almost a century. But the virus that has manifested in Mexico City, killed nearly a hundred people and migrated for parts unknown, ah, well... that H1N1 virus is a mutant which seems to have combined avian, pig and human flu viruses in one multipotent package that won't do humans, pigs, birds (or pigs with wings) any good.
Think of it this way: it is like the SARS virus of recent memory, with one difference. That difference is a significant one. SARS victims who were infectious could be detected by their high fevers. The new mutant makes you infectious possibly before anything can be detected. It also seems to spread just as quickly.
Even as I type this, I am conscious that confirmed cases have now spread from Mexico into their large and internationally-connected northern neighbour. The United States now has confirmed and suspected cases from California in the West, to Kansas in the Midwest, Texas in the South and New York in the East. Sea to shining sea, indeed.
The genie is out of the bottle while the disease centres of the world (like failing lymph nodes or flailing neurons) attempt to play catch-up. It is obvious that since the virus first emerged in March, nobody knew how bad it would be. And now, suddenly, it is bad, and it is everywhere.
Maybe we're wrong and it will peter out under our careful and widespread measures. But maybe not. Maybe the huge reserves of Tamiflu™ and suchlike will indeed conquer all. But maybe not.
What is probably true is that somewhere, the gnomes of this world are attempting to figure out what the impact of this latest blow will be on the world's economies. Or the world economy. It won't be good.
=====
Note: Some states have already gone to yellow emergency: screening at airports. The WHO has "agreed that the current situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern". Heh.
etched with acid at 9:15:00 pm
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