The Speed and Vectors of Transmission


The rapidity with which the Swine Flu is traveling is pretty breathtaking. I'm not a doomsayer, by any means, but still, it's astonishing that in less than two months the virus has spread from Mexico to Canada and the United States to places as far away as New Zealand and Spain. I think the EU is wise to put out the warning it has. Prudence in cases like these is a virtue.

One of the things I loathe most about air travel is being confined in the dry, stale air of an aluminum tube for hours on end. Talk about bacteria cafeteria? Or a virus colony? And then to be in a city like Istanbul where I am constantly bumping into people, holding on the hand straps in the subway that have had who knows whose hands on them? It's not something we normally think about, but big cities and mass transit are easy vectors of transmission too. Sometimes the world can be a very sobering place.


Sean Paul Kelley April 27, 2009 - 11:05am
( categories: Health Issues )

..kinda brings to mind the first chapters of Stephen King's "The Stand"... Flu virus, very infectious, spreads quickly. Only diff if that this one's not 99.996 fatal, like the fictional virus.

Sorta makes one wonder of these illnesses are part of the planet's immune-response system, and guess who's the disease?

-5.75,-4.05
"God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time." -- Robin Williams

justadood April 27, 2009 - 11:34am

are probably the most compelling and realistic portrayal of a pandemically induced global collapse that I have ever read. (The rest of the book is good too, if a bit of an over-worked metaphor on good versus evil.) The first few chapters just suck you right into their all too realistic and terrifying enormity.

Fuck it man, I'd wade through a river of shit ten times to see this place. ~ On Istanbul, April 2009

Sean Paul Kelley April 27, 2009 - 11:38am

New York kids got the flu from CancĂșn two weeks ago, most of those 100 cases are 2nd generation infections.

Most of the other infections outside Mexico are younger than two weeks.


--Sell Texas to China!

Singular April 27, 2009 - 11:41am

I was wondering if there are no new cases in the USA:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 20 new U.S. cases on Monday. A healthy increase of 100% in a day? Can this be bought in the stock markets?


--Sell Texas to China!

Singular April 27, 2009 - 12:09pm

and keep track of how you feel. You're young enough to be prime target, and strong enough to ignore symptoms for a few days.

pihwht April 27, 2009 - 12:21pm

Statistically, it has to. Probably, this is not the one. And sure, the big cities are the ones that will be wiped out first and the main contributors to the spreading.

creativelcro April 27, 2009 - 4:37pm

There is down the road a historic rural cemetery for the original homesteaders and their families. The one year with the most gravestones is 1918 and most of those say something like Flu Victim.

Joaquin April 27, 2009 - 11:43pm

Yes, TexMex really takes breath away when immune system attacks the lungs.


--Sell Texas to China!

Singular April 28, 2009 - 8:21am

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