At the Epicenter of Swine Flu

Okay, that's overly dramatic. But read on.

I didn't think I would end up blogging about Swine Flu, even though it seemed as though everyone else was, ranging from those who had a good reason (The Mexile, based in Mexico City) to those who just felt like they should, I guess (Life in the Faroes) XD.

But this morning, as soon as Mayumi and I woke up and started reading our emails and other such morning activities, Mayumi seemed alarmed and asked, "Miranda, is it true that a Chinese student from the University of Missouri has swine flu??"

I hadn't heard anything about that, so I googled it. The first reports of it came in only six hours before, so it wasn't strange that I hadn't, but it sent shivers down my spine just the same. Missouri hasn't had many cases, there haven't been any in my University, but here the second case of swine flu in China (and the first case was a Mexican) comes from here!

I don't think many people outside Missouri know that there are actually four Universities of Missouri, in the same system. (UMKC, UMSL, University of Missouri Columbia, and Rolla), so the newspapers just said "University of Missouri" and technically we weren't sure which one it was, although almost always, if they don't specify, it's us - we're the biggest. Later the University Newspaper confirmed this.

For someone who has many international friends and, in particular, several Chinese friends, it hit very close to home. Even though the man in question was a graduate student, it almost felt as though I should know him. My friend Anlan is going back to China at the end of this week and she was nervous about Swine flu, and being quarantined, before this. Now I wonder if China, whose anti-swine flu policy has been very strict, would go so far as to quarantine her just from coming from the infected university?

It's all very strange. I still haven't even heard of the friend of a friend of a friend having swine flu, although that may change as stories of this case spread.