As Usual, I'm Missing Something.

Yeah, so this Swine Flu thing is getting out of control. How many people have died so far? 100? That's pretty serious. But you know what's just as serious, if not more so?

THE REGULAR FLU.

According to a Public Service Announcement I just played on the radio, 36,000 people will die this year from the REGULAR FLU. Not the that crazy swine variety, but the regular, run-of-the-mill, good old-fashioned 1918 Flu that was the largest pandemic in history and killed tens of millions of people.

Why are we all concerned with this new disease? It's all over the news right now, kind of like SARS or Avian Bird Flu. Or Anthrax in the mail. Remember them? Why aren't we hearing about those any more? I just get this eerie feeling that they're only reporting on this because they're trying to avoid covering something that actually matters.

Here in Central New York, the Swine Flu Scare has even prompted Dean of Students, Ken Kelly, to send a campus-wide e-mail on the issue. In the e-mail, which I hastily deleted and now want to quote it directly and cannot, he basically says not to worry. Oneida County only has had one possible case that has not been confirmed. Kelly goes on to say that the symptoms of the Swine Flu are

-Fever (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit)
-Vomiting
-Loss of Appetite
-Diarrhea

This all sounds oddly familiar. Oh, yeah, those are the symptoms for the REGULAR FLU. Kelly's advice: If you get flu symptoms, go home and rest. Take some antibiotics or something. Don't go near people. It appears the treatment is the same as the REGULAR FLU as well. I wonder if the ratio of people that have lived to people that have died from the Swine Flue is the same as the Regular one. I wouldn't be surprised, as EVERY OTHER ASPECT is the same.

But maybe I'm missing something.

MAN.