Its heeere....

You've all heard about the swine flu epidemic sweeping through Mexico, the US, and Canada. New cases have been confirmed in Israel, New Zealand and Spain. And today I heard that it is now here in Alberta, one case in northern AB and the other just to the south of us in Calgary! The only thing keeping me calm and sane right now is hearing the news report saying that by the time the cases were confirmed by doctors, the people infected were already fine and recovering; and that the strain is susceptible to two antibiotics. Isn't it weird that in Mexico, people are dying by the hundreds, but here in Canada there's been no deaths (not sure about in the US). I wonder why that is? Better sanitation? A less-deadly strain? Who knows.

I was watching the news today, you can't help it, its on every channel. A man at the airport was being interviewed; he and his family were going to Mexico on vacation. His casual reply to the reporter's question "Are you scared of contracting the virus?" just pissed me off to no end. Basically he said the vacation was booked months in advance and the risk wasn't great enough to cancel. Then it showed him and his wife with their two little girls walking toward the boarding gate. WTF?! What an idiot! So, just because you don't want to be out a few thousand, you're willing to risk your family's health, your little daughter's lives? There's a good chance they will be fine, but IF they did contract the virus and brought it back here to Canada, they've now risked our health, our lives. Just because it hasn't killed anyone in our country yet doesn't mean it won't in the future.

And the more instances of the virus that our country accumulates, obviously there will be more people being infected, and the odds that the virus will mutate and grow stronger, deadlier, becomes greater. Why are some people so damn stupid? I have a Facebook "friend" (someone I knew from high school) who is in Mexico right now and she put on her title-thingy "Having a great time in Mexico!" Yet another GD idiot. First of all, doesn't that seem like an incredibly callous thing to say? Oh, hundreds of people are dying in this country but who cares, because I'm having fun! People leaving comments on that were like "I'm so jealous" -- WHAT?! More fuckin' idiots. One person said "Watch out for the swine flu". Someone has a brain, I see. I wanted to put on there, "Don't come back and bring it with you" but I would have been Facebook-lynched.

I've talked to my kids about it, what the symptoms are (the main indicator is a high fever), how they need to be careful touching things like door handles, surfaces, other people's hands. They know about the importance of hand-washing. And I've reassured them that one news report I saw said that the strain is susceptible to two different antibiotics. So they are being cautious, maybe a bit worried, but not terrified or panicked.

You know what's really freaky though? One news report out of the States had an infectious disease specialist and she said how it was just a matter of time before something like this happened. The world has been through SARS (originated in China, from cats), the bird flu (also from China, I believe) and now we have the swine flu (from Mexico). The specialist said what they are expecting in the future is a kind of super-virus that is an amalgamation of all three of those diseases. How terrifying is that? I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the end of days is upon us.

All I can say about everything is: "Don't go to Mexico! And if you've just come back -- quarantine yourself!"

Sorry to freak y'all out. Take care everyone, remember to wash your hands, and above all - be safe.