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The insane worldwide panic preceding a potential (though unlikely?) worldwide pandemic of swine flu reached new heights today, with Australian flights from California being screened before deplaning and a woman in Hong Kong hospitalized after visiting (gasp!) San Francisco.
Australian news org ABC has reports of passengers on a Qantas flight from SFO to Sydney being greeted upon landing by health officials who boarded the plane and asked anyone with the sniffles to please raise their hand (and presumably prepare for execution on the tarmac).
Meanwhile, China Daily reports of a 27-year-old woman hospitalized in Hong Kong for testing after returning from a visit to (gasp!) San Francisco!
Perhaps we will feel like asses for chuckling at all this should we be engulfed in an actual pandemic, but we don't think we will. Also, as pretty much everyone has repeatedly reported, this flu does appear to be responsive to Tamiflu and another anti-viral, Relenza.
And doesn't this seem like a practice round for an actual, flu-season pandemic, no? Anyhow, below, a handy little graphic of the morphing of the virus, via Australia's ABC.
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No kidding. They are really overreacting here in Hong Kong. Its on the news all the time. They are forcing exchange students in Mexico to come home. (they complained about Mexicos air quality... which i find hilarious as i haven't seen the sun in a month here).
Hotels are being "issued guidelines ... on measures even stricter than those adopted during SARS".(from the standard) China is boycotting American pork. Hong Kong based tours to the US are being canceled, and pharmacies are reporting 500% increase in sales of surgical masks.
For serious: It feels like everyone has just been waiting for something flu-like to FREAK the fuck out about. And poor Mexico. Where's their Tamiflu?