Bring Out Your Dead

It's probably bad form to commence a serious post with a reference to Monty Python. But, if you have been following the increasingly scary warnings from the World Health Organization, you will know that the question is not if a influenza pandemic will happen, but when. So far, the disease has been characterized by a lack of symptoms and a very high mortality rate. The Spanish influenza pandemic in 1918 killed somewhere between 40 and 50 million people, with a corresponding mortality rate of only 2.5%. So far, the mortality rate of the H5N1 avian flu in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia is 76% (42 of the 55 known to be infected have died). To make things worse, there is now one confirmed human to human transmission.

That's scary. I just can't imagine that kind of toll. The flu travels faster these days because of airline travel (as opposed to being carried on ships), so this will be fast and deadly. When this or a future pandemic hits, it will be devastating.

On the bright side, I was recently telling a friend how much I enjoyed last week's Simpsons Couch gag. It turns out that I am not the only one. The Accordion Guy had loaded a Quicktime movie, but he had to take it down 'cause blogware's server was being overwhelmed. He has posted a new URL, but you need BitTorrent to watch it. See his post.

Technorati tags: avian flu, influenza, Simpsons