If Kim Jong doesn't wipe us out, the pigs will

I was treating this whole Swine Flu cluster-fuck with the same bored indifference I offered SARS and Bird Flu when they struck a few years back. This just seemed like another disease scare with annoyingly vague symptoms (a cough, runny nose, body aches – that’s pretty much how I feel every morning when I wake up), and an excuse for the media to post photos of Asian people wearing surgical masks out in public, and I swear it’s the same stock photos used for the last couple of “Worldwide Panic” stories.

Photo used for SARS 2002, Bird Flu 2006, Swine Flu 2009 and will return for Squirrel AIDS in 2011.

Of course, The Advertiser has jumped onto the media scare wagon with urgent information, including prevention tips such as “Washing your hands before and after eating food” – something my Grandma used to tell me often as a child, and I had no idea she was preparing me for a Swine Flu pandemic. The Newspaper even posted pictures of what the Swine Flu virus looks like, I guess so you can avoid it if you see it walking down the street.

One thing for sure, this disease has legs and Australia has been one of the hardest hit countries. Current Swine Flu Leader Board as of June 17th (number of confirmed cases):

1. USA 17,837
2. MEXICO 6403
3. CANADA 4049
4. CHILE 3125
5. AUSTRALIA 1965
6. UK 1461
7. ARGENTINA 871
8. JAPAN 638
9. SPAIN 488
10. THAILAND 310

On the local front, South Australia is currently fourth (we had 89 confirmed cases on Monday), Queensland third, New South Wales second, and Victoria is number one with a bullet, counting for over 80% of the Australian figures. Scientific Scare-mongers have estimated that one in three Victorians could contract the disease. I was surprised to see Queensland lagging, what with that state looking like a pig’s head and all:

Stay tuned for further updates.