Swine flu, huh? Isn't there some sort of flu pandemic every year? Panic ensues. Hospital masks are donned en masse. I have my fingers crossed for a big benefit concert here in Nova Scotia, where we now have four (count em!) cases of swine flu confirmed. Remember the SARS concert in Toronto? I'm thinking Halifax could top that.

At first I thought swine flu was a joke. It sounds so stupid. I went to teh interwebz for help, since it's the information highway and all.

Swine flu is common in swine and rare in humans. People who work with swine, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine influenza if the swine carry a strain able to infect humans.--Wikipedia

That sounds pretty positive, right? I don't work with pigs. Or, maybe that's up for debate? Anyway, I kept reading, unfortunately:

However, these strains rarely are able to pass from human to human. Rarely, SIV mutates into a form able to pass easily from human to human. The strain responsible for the 2009 swine flu outbreak is believed to have undergone such a mutation.

Boo-urns.

I know it's no laughing matter, by far, but I can't help but wish they could come up with a better name for this illness than "Swine Flu". The name conjures up images of Porky Pig in bed with an ice pack on his head and a thermometer sticking out of his mouth.

On TV this morning the viewer question was "What do you think should be done to prevent the spread of swine flu?" Tons of viewers wrote in to say all flights to and from Mexico should be grounded. Does this make sense? What about the thousands of people who have already been to and from Mexico in the past month? I was in Toronto's Pearson Airport last week and I guarantee I was in the same space as someone traveling from Mexico.

What is the point of worrying about it? Wash your hands and hope for the best...and for God's sake, now is not the time to start experimenting with bestiality south of the border.