The title of a recently released ABC News article is "Swine Flu Cases in Kansas (and) Possibly NYC". This disease is slowly, but surely spreading.

The subtitle is "Measures implemented to control outbreak; many questions remain". People are clearly still jittery and justifiably so because we just don't know how bad this outbreak will ultimately be.

According to Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at a press conference, "It's clear (that) this is widespread. WE DO NOT THINK THAT WE CAN CONTAIN THE SPREAD OF THIS VIRUS. Having found virus where we have found it, we are very likely to find it in other places...WE ARE NOT IN A POSITION WHERE WE CAN KEEP THE VIRUS IN JUST ONE PLACE". This now sounds worse than the avian flu outbreak seen in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia in recent years. In fact, this is sounding increasingly like the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in Hong Kong and in mainland China in 2003, a pandemic of astronomical proportions. So, this is a pretty bleak outlook.

According to Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, "What we still don't know is how widespread it is. The question is: How long have things been going on in Mexico and how attentive have they been in terms of what's going on in their country?

According to Dr. Richard Bradley, chief of the Department of EMS and Disaster Medicine at the University of Texas at Houston's Health Sciences Center, "It is quite conceivable that it could escalate fairly rapidly. If we are seeing a flu epidemic in Mexico we should see an uptick fairly quickly in Texas where I am and in California", especially in Baja.

"Right now, we are in the INCREASED AWARENESS stage - WE DON'T YET KNOW how this is going to develop. Fortunately, RIGHT NOW, the cases in California and Texas SEEM TO BE MILDER THAN THE CASES WE'VE SEEN IN MEXICO. WE HOPE THAT THIS TREND CONTINUES IN THE US". The key phrases in this statement are undoubtedly are undoubtedly "increased awareness", "we don't yet know", "seem to be milder" and "We hope that this trend continues in the US". All of these words and phrases signify one thing: uncertainty/doubt.

According to a statement issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), "Most of the patients reported mild symptoms. No child was seriously ill. The CDC results should be available by Sunday. If the results are positive - the Health Department will recommend that the school close on Monday". The school referred to in this statement is St. Francis Prepatory School where 100 students claimed to be suffering from "flu-like symptoms" (headaches (diarrhea & dizziness).

According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, "The president will continue to get updates on what's going on...as will Brennan (counterterrorism czar John Brennan)...and others in the government as the situation develops". This arrangement is strange indeed. Why is Gibbs' statement thrown in between a CDC statement and another medical expert Dr. Pascal James Imperato?

According to Dr. Pascal James Imperato, dean of the Graduate Program in Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, "I THINK THAT THE LABORATORY TESTING CAPABILITIES FOR THIS TYPE OF VIRUS WERE NOT FULLY IN PLACE and this accounts for some of the delay. THEY WERE NOT ROUTINELY TESTING FOR THIS TYPE OF INFLUENZA VIRUS". No one can really/truly be blamed for this because swine flu is such a new strain of flu that combines several strains of other flus.

According to Ed Hsu, associate professor of Public Health Informatics at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences and School of Public Health, "I concur that the 'one-month lag' between case identification and reporting is too long. (It is a) good thing that the CDC now decides to have a daily briefing on the swine flu, BUT IT WILL STILL NEED TO BRING THE TRANSPARENCY OF REPORTING IN OTHER HIGH-RISK COUNTRIES UP TO SPEED ON THIS". These "other high-risk countries" should include (but not limited to) countries that have suffered pandemic-like outbreaks (e.g. SARS & the deadly H5N1 bird flu) including Canada, Vietnam, Thailand (a country whose politics seem to be stuck forever in a state of anarchy), Indonesia and China (a country where no one knows what's truly going on).

Hsu continued: "The current strain of swine flu only meets one of three pandemic tests: effective person-to-person transmission". Hsu also notes that even the H5N1 avian flu was not classified as a pandemic. As far as swine flu is concerned, Hsu asks "If not (a pandemic) then, why now?" Because swine flu HAS THE POTENTIAL to be devastating.

Schaffner chimed back in: "It owuld be an Olympic sprint for vaccine manufacturers, starting today" and even with immediate commencement, these vaccines are unlikely to be ready to be dispensed/given out to people who may contract swine flu, until early October. This is still half a year away.

Schaffner continued: "If this is a virus that is sufficiently new - AND THAT HAS NOT BEEN ENTIRELY DETERMINED YET - WE MAY NEED TWO DOSES OF THE VACCINE TO GET PROTECTION. THAT, OF COURSE, WOULD PUT ADDITIONAL STRAIN ON THE VACCINE AND DELIVERY SERVICES". So many scarce resources are being stretched to the limit because of these horrendous economic conditions. However it probably isn't too much of a stretch to argue that swine flu protection/treatment/prevention should clearly be more important than some senators' pet projects.