Novel Swine Flu Prevention

The CDC has recently reported that cases of individuals becoming infected with new strains of swine flu are on the rise. Viruses, tiny as they are, have the incredible capacity to infinitely evolve new ways to infect hosts, including jumping from species to species. Most of the time, swine flu only infects swine and is not transmissible to humans. However, under the right conditions, a pig carrying swine flu might infect a human in close contact. Viral strains that make this species jump, can over time learn to be quite successful at infecting humans. This means that they acquire the capacity to spread from human to human. So, now when Babe infects Farmer Hoggett, he can infect his neighbor Bob, who infects his wife Betty, and so on and so forth.

Many of the humans that have contracted swine flu this summer have been in contact with pigs at county fairs, which prompted the CDC to issue these guidelines. If you want to hang with  swine, that's cool. But, just remember these guidelines so that you aren't used as a human vat for swine flu while it brews its next pandemic strain. The good news: you can still eat bacon! There is NO evidence that eating properly handled and cooked pork puts you at risk for catching swine flu. Artherosclerosis? What? That's not what this post is about.