How swine flu could be a bigger threat to humanity than nuclear warfare ~ By Michael Hanlon

By Michael Hanlon When a new animal virus emerges in some crowded corner of the Third World and the experts start talking gravely about pandemics, the inevitable question is: How much should we worry? Well, it probably isn't time, quite yet, to be heading for the hills but the emergence of a new and deadly strain of swine flu in Mexico is a matter of serious concern. If we are lucky, we will see something like a rerun of the SARS or bird flu scares seen earlier this decade - scary but containable outbreaks of disease which have (so far) killed a few dozen to a few hundred people. But if we are really unlucky, and experts stress that so far this is looking unlikely, we could be witnessing the beginning of a global catastrophe that could kill tens or even hundreds of millions. For it remains the fact that in a world awash with new and exotic fears, from computer bugs to terrorist dirty bombs, old-fashioned infectious disease - particularly the numerous influenzas which infect humans, pigs and birds - probably still has the greatest capacity to kill the most people in the shortest time. [Continue reading]

digg story ~ Submitted by mark076h

Swine flu hits U.S. ~ By Ellen Ratner

The bottom line here is that this has been going on for a while (weeks to months), and the government has been silent about this. The main concern among physicians Ellen spoke with is that we are not hearing the whole story. Either the government is concerned and needs to take more rapid action, or this is not something to be overly worried about. read more | digg story