Longer Than Britney's 1st Marriage

Welcome, to the 8th May 2009 update of Swine Flu Daily. The blog that is updated daily with the latest information and news on swine flu. This is my week anniversary so there are some special features to look forward to. Enjoy! Doom and gloom seems like the best way to start this special edition. Deaths 1st? Here are those all important numbers.

Currently there are 48 confirmed deaths world-wide:
- 46 in Mexico
- 2 in the US

There are also 101 suspected deaths around the world:
- 100 suspected deaths in Mexico
- 1 suspected death in Canada: More on this later.

A huge rise to 3487 confirmed cases around the world:
- 1714 in the United States
- 1364 in Mexico
- 214 in Canada
- 93 in Spain
- 39 in the UK
- 12 in France
- 10 in Germany
- 7 in Israel
- 5 in Italy and New Zealand
- 4 in Brazil
- 3 in the Netherlands and South Korea
- 2 in El Salvador
- 1 in Argentina, Austria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.
- This means that there are confirmed cases in 26 countries, spanning 5 continents.
- Some countries have chosen to stop reporting suspected cases. This means that I will cease to display them from today onwards as they are not reliable. I will tell you on a daily basis how many countries have suspected cases. Today 43 countries have suspected cases.
- All figures are correct from Wikipedia, at 22:00 GMT+1, BST.

I earlier told you that there is a suspicious looking death in Canada. This is extremely worrying as there are only 2 confirmed deaths in the US. These are both in the southern state of Texas, that borders with Mexico. An older lady died in Alberta, she had been suffering from H1N1 flu. The story can be read in full over here.

I criticised the UK government yesterday because I felt that they had funded another pointless survey. Today however they have shocked me again with the announcement that they are buying, wait for it, 227 million face masks. This is almost 4 times the population of Britain. This is despite the BBC reporting, and myself also stating, that these surgical face masks are almost useless when protecting people against swine flu. People might as well carry guns, and shoot the flu when it comes near. It just doesn't work.

The masks that are ordered should look like this. Well, maybe not. But we can always hope. I'd have the centre top one, or the one right middle one. These masks do actually exist and have been seen on the streets of Mexico. The government should be buying masks like this if they want us to survive.

In the latest news, the reason for the outbreak has finally been uncovered and can be viewed here. The pigs are taking over, it appears George Orwell predicted this. Learn what I mean here.

Since I started this blog several people have told me that we had all this hype about bird flu, H5N1, and nothing really happened. Want assurances that this is different? Just look at the numbers, they should speak for themselves. We have human to human transmission and confirmed cases in 5 of the 7 continents of the world. There are almost 50 people dead. We are already facing something much bigger than H5N1, and we are only getting started.

It is also important to remember that you can still eat pork products. Make sure you wash your hands regularly during preparation and cook the pork properly to kill any virus that may be present. It is as safe as before to eat at Chiquitos: a Mexican themed British franchise restaurant. You can eat there and 90% of the time still be healthy, you will just have to put up with poor food.

Longer Than Britney's 1st Marriage: Swine Flu Daily has been around for a week today. That is why I have celebrated by writing an extra long post today. I wish to thank anyone that has read this loyally. To date, I have had 400 independent page views, and 33 votes on my poll. I hope to keep updating the page daily. Remember that you can email me: stuart_wright1@hotmail.co.uk.

The blog is officially hosted at Blogspot. If you scroll to the bottom of that page you can see details on how the blog is licensed. If you plan on using any of my work then you must take a look at the license. It can also be views here. On the page there is a poll, that closes in 6 days. We also have Google Ads that I urge you all to not click. You can comment on the posts, share with your mates and subscribe using numerous subscription services or an RSS feed.

PS. Don't fly. Unless you want to get swine flu. Just don't fly.
PPS. Updating tomorrow.

Stuart Wright
Swine Flu Daily