The Geeky Atheist

Over the weekend, I saw numerous reports of swine flu mixed with the word pandemic. Obviously this would make anyone concerned -- a pandemic is not a fun thing. There are a few elements to this story, but let me lead in with this article from Geeks are Sexy:

So what's the take away message from all of this? Can we do anything about this? Well as individuals it's wise to go through the same sanitary practices as we might during flu season. Also, traveling to places which have reported cases probably isn't a great idea. Governments and regulatory bodies like the CDC and the WHO are in an "all hands on deck" kind of status right now. As the outbreaks continue (they are expected to grow for at least the time being), these groups will be tracking any reported cases and trying to treat those infected.

As a young microbiologist, I'd say that for the moment we shouldn't worry too much. There are people who have spent their whole lives preparing for just these kinds of events and they're currently working very hard to provide the public with the best information and advice.

This is the best, most sane article I've seen about this "pandemic." It goes into more about the flu and what's special about swine flu (and avian flu for that matter).

On the other point, the rest of the outrage is over a large portion of the republican party griping about money in the stimulus package for two things: volcano monitoring and pandemic preparedness. While I do think that these were programs that were more worth funding than some of the other things they were griping about, it's not a, "republicans did it" thing. Let's look at a few other facts to consider.

The CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of swine flu viruses.

In 2005 George W. Bush said the federal government would spend $1 billion to buy enough of antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza to treat 50 million people. However, the plan also calls on states -- with some unspecified federal subsidies -- to buy enough to cover an additional 31 million people. That could cost hard-pressed state governments hundreds of millions of dollars.

Tamiflu is the marketed name for oseltamivir, and Relenza is the marketed name for zanamivir.

With this, it would appear that the sole reason we have a stockpile of these drugs that are going to potentially prove very useful in the coming month or two is because of a republican president.

I hope that this doesn't go pandemic. With reported cases literally 45 miles from me, it's certainly a bit too close to home. But after reading up on the subject, I think we're still a little too far away from pandemic levels to be giving into panic. As the other article recommended, wash your hands more frequently and be a little more cautious, and most likely you'll be fine.

I live in Texas, and I've been hearing a lot about Rick Perry's talk of seceding. I find it absolutely absurd.

One of the interesting parts of Texas joining the union is that it negotiated the ability to secede. Some places I've read say that this right has been changed into the ability to split into four states. But I'll cut to the chase:

Texas won't be seceding. No one can be that stupid. Rick Perry is just using it to rile up his base. Sadly a lot of voters in Texas just simply don't realize how bad the idea of seceding is.

Sometimes I wish I didn't live here in Texas. The Austin area is pretty sane, with a good atheist community. But for every sane person in Austin, there seems to be two or three that are just ridiculous.