My Take on Swine Flu

In no particular order:

• It is H1N1, a variant of the Spanish Influenza.
• We don't know the numbers from Mexico, only the numbers of those seriously ill, so we don't really have mortality and serious illness percentages from them.
• The US numbers appear to show that it's not so bad.
• It may become a pandemic, but if so, think Hong Kong Flu (Influenza A virus subtype H3N2) where the 1968-9 pandemic killed about 33,800 in the us, primarily among the old, very young, and immune compromised, not Spanish Influenza, where ½-¾ million died, and it hit the young and healthy hard through cytokine storms.

Summer flu is not unknown, so don't panic, but do wash your hands.