Posts tagged swine flu

Swine Flu on You?

Silly me, thinking the swine flu mythography had reached a dead end back in May.  It had proved a fruitful topic then, what with blaming the Mexicans, isolating Afghan pigs, etc. But then I got a detailed warning email from the writing residency I will be attending in October on how to prepare to not… More →

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Brook –  1 Comment

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This little piggie went to pasture…

So, we seem to be done with swine flu.   The epidem-mythology has slowed down.  Mexico City has let out its collective breath. The media has moved on to covering their own coverage of the almost-pandemic. But before we close the book on H1N1, the Mythographer wants to call your attention to this one tiny postscript.… More →

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Brook –  Leave a comment

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Puerco de Mayo Strikes Again!

Though the swine flu itself is not spreading as fast as anyone feared, the epidem-mythology hasn’t slowed.  The misinformation has spread from pork manufacturers to subway riders to the entire nation of Mexico. It’s not just the Israeli government who would prefer to associate the H1N1 flu strain with the Mexicans than with swine.  China… More →

Posted on May 05, 2009 by Brook –  3 Comments

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Subway swine flu? Tell me another.

Repeat after me: you cannot get swine flu from eating pork. Pork manufacturers, for whom the myth has a certain reality, have joined the Israelis in campaigning to rename the latest flu strain.  They want to stick with its actual name: H1N1. But how catchy is that? You can also NOT get swine flu from… More →

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Brook –  2 Comments

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Swine flu: Epidem-mythology

The only thing that spreads faster than new viruses are tall tales about those viruses: lack of knowledge and abundance of fear make for perfect myth-breeding conditions.  (Exhibit A: AIDS.)  This is especially true with animal-origin diseases, which echo ancient prohibitions against intimate animal-human contact. (The cause of 1976 cases of human swine flu at… More →

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Brook –  Leave a comment

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