Amid Swine Flu, Life Goes on

All the swine flu buzz has me a little worried. I am an amateur epidemiologist at heart, tracking illnesses around our little community. For me this is motivated by my somewhat irrational obsession with trying to not get sick, and my anxiety around certain kinds of illnesses. But this virus floating around appears to be serious, and I wonder how much Mexico is keeping hidden from the public eye. With a global transportation network, I have no doubt that this illness is worldwide already, just as other flus travel around on airplanes, boats, trains, and then pass around in public locations like schools, restaurants, and offices. You don't have to be a genius to look at the numbers. Each infected person probably lives with other people. A global immune response, perhaps, all these flus? Why are people in Mexico the only ones dying? Have there been many more cases than reported? Many interesting questions remain to be answered in the coming weeks.