H1N1 spreading in colleges and universities

I'm glad that I'm not a college student this year. According to this CNN report, H1N1 (swine flu) appears to have infected over 2,600 students at Washington State University. Sounds like people should stay at home and take their courses online. Distance learning is now very effective thanks to major advances in communications technologies.

The school is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the local health department by "treating all patients with influenza-like symptoms as if they have H1N1."

As H1N1 spreads to more colleges this fall and winter, I wonder how this will impact academic performance. Wouldn't you love to have an excuse for those lousy grades? I was sick during finals. I missed too many classes. I was quarantined.

Random quarantine if you travel to China?

CNN reports that travelers to China who exhibit signs of flu-like illness may encounter random quarantine. Why? Because of swine flu (H1N1)! So, if you have allergies when you land in China, you should be prepared for an interesting little adventure. According to this story, some children have been separated from their parents. I'm curious to see how summer travel plans get affected as swine flu continues to spread throughout the world. We're waiting for vaccines to appear on the market (many are being developed) and we're all hoping that these vaccines are effective and that they get distributed before the upcoming flu season.

Read the CNN story here. Image source: CNN

Second Swine Flu Death in the U.S.

CNN has reported that a second person has died in the U.S. from swine flu. According to the news, "The woman... was from Cameron County in South Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services said the woman had "chronic underlying health conditions," but did not provide more details."

Meanwhile, New York has 90 confirmed cases. According to CNN report, the H1N1 virus is no more dangerous than seasonal flu. Has the virus mutated to the point that it's no longer very dangerous?

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was quoted as saying: "What the epidemiologists are seeing now with this particular strain of H1N1 is that the severity of the disease, the severity of the flu -- how sick you get -- is not stronger than regular seasonal flu."

So where does this put us? Are we to treat this as a simple outbreak of seasonal flu and take off our masks? Should we be fine traveling on airplanes and visiting crowded public places? No need to quarantine any longer? Did I buy all those masks for nothing?

Missing Guests at Hong Kong Swine Flu Hotel

I love the city of Hong Kong. There are not that many cities in the world that has the digital infrastructre that's seen in Hong Kong. Kowloon Bay at nigth is amazing. Well, enough about Hong Kong.

If this story (Missing Guests at Hong Kong Swine Flu Hotel) is true, then this is truly embarrassing. A hotel in Hong Kong is being quarantined because a guest was positive for H1N1. However, people have somehow escaped this quarantine and now officials are looking for these 50 people who never returned to their hotel. Meanwhile, 10 passengers who sat near the young Mexican passenger on China Eastern Airlines flight MU 505 from Shanghai and the two cab drivers who drove him around town have been located and their cases are being investigated, according to Thomas Tsang, controller of the Centre for Health Protection.

Why is a swine flu pandemic eminent? Because it's so difficult to enforce quarantine.

Swine Flu on the Rise

Everyone's talking about swine flu. However, it's a very serious topic, especially since it's on the rise. According to CNN, there have been 236 confirmed cases worldwide. This means that there are probably many more (since you can't confirm all the cases that are out there), but if you think about how easy it is to spread the cold or the flu, then you can imagine how quickly this things is spreading. This is very alarming. How do you communicate a public health message without causing global panic? Image source: CNN