Population control?
The only thing that I find scary about the H1N1 outbreak is how quickly it has moved around the world. Looks like it most likely originated in Mexico, despite that country’s claims that it is from the United States. Less than a month later, the virus is global. The obvious culprit is Air Travel. Check out a mashup map here. Per Lifehacker, Pink markers are suspected cases, Purple are confirmed and yellow are negative, while no dot indicates a death. That purple looks more blue to me, but my eyes are a little red-deficient.
Update: The map has been relocated and redone. Catch it here
*Image came to me by way of an FW:FW:FW email. I picked the first source I found on Google. Correct me if I’m wrong.
If you’re interested in the subject, I suggest picking up Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Great non-fictional accounting about an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Washington D.C and Virginia. I haven’t read it in a few years, but I believe the book dedicates a good amount of time dealing with tracking the source of the Ebola virus in Africa.
If you really like the subject, pickup Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. It is not directly related to the the subject, but it shouldn’t be too hard to see what I’m getting at. We have become less geographically isolated and our bodies built-in defenses have not yet caught up. I’m no immunologist, but I’d love to see some educated guesses about how long it will take for our species to share some more common resistances. With pretty pictures, please.