The Swine Flu Pandemic

[Nimi]

In Poland, where I live, there have been only one case of infection. A woman got it in the US and brought it by plane to the country.

Now the odd thing is - she came back from Philadelphia, left from New York airport with LOT Polish Airlines to Cracow. On May 2th. Now the national health service is looking for all the passengers from this flight to test them for swine flu as well. When I think about it...I took the very previous flight. April 29th. Coming back from Philadelphia, leaving from New York airport with LOT Polish Airlines to Cracow.

Seems I was lucky.

[Uther Di Asturien]

Bah, you people need to stop worrying so much, remember the Bird Flu?
This is all panic mongering at its best.

And now, for your entertainment!

Stop the Swine Flu!

[Gondarion]

So how’s it effected your country so far? In the U.K everything seems to be "normal" bar a large number of suspected infections, no one panicking or wearing face masks on the street yet.
So what’s your thoughts on the matter:

I envy you. In the U.S, the media responded as if it were the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Its terrible for those who have died, but it's got nothing on the common flu for fatalities. In the grand scheme of things, its a minor problem at this point. I saw a virus expert on TV who said the avian flu is the real deadly one, thank heavens it hasn't spread everywhere.

[Venkh]

The media provided us with similar fare here until the first few UK patients recovered and reported symptoms no worse than a normal bout of flu.

In a way I am glad this has happened. It has allowed epidemiologists to track the spread of a new strain, to isolate the infection and get working on a vaccine. It has also given our governments the opportunity to put their contingency plans into action and to see what works and whats doesnt. I am sure a lot of kinks will have been ironed out in the process.

This could still mutate into something nastier in the Autumn and winter months to come. If we consider a 5% mortality rate from a nasty strain and a 40% infection rate in a real pandemic we still have reason to be concerned.

[Raukov]

Cracow

You spell it with a C? I thought it was Kraków. Have I been spelling it wrong or can it be spelled different ways?

[Loki17]

You spell it with a C? I thought it was Kraków. Have I been spelling it wrong or can it be spelled different ways?

Kiyo is dead. Raukov doesn't care about spelling.

[EricJ]

[RE.Lee]

There's the Polish and English way of spelling it - same with Warszawa and Warsaw. Both are correct in the respective languages.