View From the Bushes

A possible new flu pandemic has been in the news a lot recently. If you're going to worry about something, this might be it. I know I've mentioned the 1918 flu pandemic quite a bit, mostly as something which killed a staggering amount of people and as an event completely unknown by my generation and younger. Of course there were also smaller cases in '68 and '57, which even fewer people are aware of (I only heard about them recently).

The author of the book The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History was on NPR recently (at least I think it was him, my wife told me about it) and one of his central points was that the disease was so deadly (in the US) for as much political reasons as biological. That seems to be a common thread throughout most of disasters I've read about; certainly it was a central point in the book on the Rwandan genocide I just read. He, of course, blamed the US as well.

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross