Influenza...

Well, I am sure you have all heard about the pig/bird/people flu that's going around. I guess WHO has said it is now at a level 5... which roughly translates to "not good". And it may take up to 6 months to come out with a vaccine. I have been keeping an eye on the news about it (I know, amazing. I never read the news.) for a couple of reasons. Okay, mostly because I wanted to know how much it was going to affect Iliana and her return trip that may or may not be scheduled for next week.

Anyway, the reason I am blogging about it is because I though Japan was doing pretty well. Nobody has it here yet! Well that's what I though until home room at school today. Apparently there is a high school boy here in Yokohama who is suspected to have it. He was on a school trip to Canada a little while ago and is now at a hospital here with flu-like symptoms. If it is confirmed to be the pig flu, all the schools in the city are going to be temporarily closed. Not that that will keep it from spreading if anyone else gets sick. I believe Yokohama is the most densly populated city in Japan. Everyone that works in Tokyo lives in Yokohama. I am so glad I am not riding the trains or buses to school now. The normal flu season was bad enough here. What takes 3 weeks to go through Ironwood cycles through the Yokohama/Tokyo area for 3 or 4 months.

Hopefully it is just a false alarm. Everyone is so worried about this virus that people are over reacting to mild symptoms that could be from any number of minor illnesses. But if it isn't, I hope all his classmates from the trip don't have it too. I should probably start drinking more orange juice...

Luckily it's already cool to wear those masks here!