H1N1

Image from: NY Times, "American Epidemics, a Brief History"

Traveling in the subway yesterday, I was paranoid about every sniffle and cough I made. Will other people flee from me? Or will my fellow passengers kick me out of the car? Luckily the cough drop worked and I was inconspicuous. Can you blame me for the paranoia? There's a panic-demic going on. A friend told me how his company purchased masks in bulk so the employees in the office can wear them. How about staying home from work? (I know, it's a luxury not everyone can do.)

The NY Times ran the above chart and left out the current Influenza A/H1N1 outbreak. The scapegoats this time are Mexicans. No kerosene baths for them this time (See Typhus Outbreak.) But the dowsing they get from TV viewers calling in or e-mailing to news shows are as scabrous. Mexicans did not bring the swine flu to the U.S. by sneaking across the border! The first cases stateside were from U.S. tourists.

From New York Magazine: Swine Flu Is Turning Us Against Each Other