Quote Originally Posted by MarkS View Post
I was 18 when the last swine flu panic went around in the US. This was back in 1976/1977 or somewhere around there I think... The weird part was that I don't think there was even a confirmed case of swine flu in the US. I think after all was said and done, more people were killed or injured during the vaccination process then there were people who came down with the swine flu.
Not wholly accurate. There were cases here in the States and the numbers were pretty high vs. "typical" seasonal flu but nothing near the 1918/19 one.

Quote Originally Posted by Ben Biscy View Post
if we end up facing a pandemic i believe it'll be a bit more dramatic than a mere flu variant....
This one actually has a lot of potential to go full on pandemic and it is just a "mere flu variant", just an interesting chimeric one, not that that is too unusual either.

Long and short is that right now we are too early in the game to say just what is going to happen with it. I agree the media is hyping the heck out of this one like they always do. That said, the micro community is paying a lot more attention to this one than the avian bird flu that was all the news a few years ago and there are good reasons for that closer attention. Right now, I think it bears watching but the time for stockpiling the survival shelter is not even close to here.