Aporkalypse (Thanks Travis)

Aporkalypse is a term I read on Travis' blog today, and he claims he read it on Twitter. A comment on his blog says that it was also heard on The Colbert Report. Regardless of where it originated, I think it is a fitting term to replace "swine flu." Apparently, the pork industry irritated because the use of "swine" to describe this flu makes people leery of eating pork, which is bad for the pork industry.

The *really* big question everywhere is: "Are we overreacting? Is this just a bunch of media hype?" I guess technically, that's 2 questions, but essentially, they are the same. I have conflicting feelings about it. I think back to the Bird flu a few years ago, and can't help but think about how that never really got as horribly bad as they said it would. I remember in my graduate nursing classes being warned that we should stock up on gloves and special masks (not just the average face mask, but the special ones that we use to prevent being exposed to TB when caring for a patient with known or suspected TB). We were told we should go out and buy them right then, because the prices would soon sky rocket as the demand increased and the supply dwindled. Well, I never made those purchases, and you never really hear about the bird flu anymore.

But then this morning, on the radio (KGNC-AM), the reported made the comment that if they had jumped on the Black Plague the way we're tackling this flu, that perhaps it would not have been so devastating. Interesting notion. Did the bird flu never really live up to all the doom and gloom advertised because we took precautions. Who knows for sure.

For now, I guess I'll just be more aware of when I'm around sick people, and be more vigilant to make sure me and the family wash or gel our hands more frequently...

Now if only Washington would attack all the pork they put out on a regular basis in the same fashion the CDC is wanting the public to attack this aporkalypse, then we'd have yet another thing less to worry about.