Surprising
"Never before in history has there been such a combination of so many people and animals. In 1968 China had 5 million pigs and 12 million poultry, now it has 500 million pigs and 13 BILLION poultry.Most pandemics began in Asia. The reason: larger numbers of people live in close contact with pigs and birds in Asia than elsewhere, so more opportunities exist for a virus to cross over from animals to humans."
Luckily, the current swine flu strain is relatively mild, and there is no need to adapt protective coloring and turn into a hedge at the present time.
But, Topiary will keep you posted.
From: The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John M. Barry. Penguin Books, 2005.
posted by The Topiary Cow at
6:39 AM
5 Comments:
I was talking about this very thing with a friend the other day.
My copy of Napoleon and Josephine has just arrived in time to take with me, thanks for the recommendation!
Dog: pretty sure dogs don't get swine flu. They do, however, have to watch for 'beggin-strip rash'
Letters: Do hope you'll enjoy the book! The author definitely did a lot of research!
Moo!
Isn't it the mutations we have to worry about, Ms Cow? It must be serious if John Barry gave up writing music scores to do historical research.
Be vegan. Makes so much sense to me. Or even pescatarian. I have never heard of Fish Flu.
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