Good morning, Netizens...

Today's picture is grim. Nuns wear face masks during a closed door mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City on Sunday. Churches stood empty Sunday in predominantly Roman Catholic Mexico City after services were canceled, and health workers screened airports and bus stations for people sickened by a new strain of swine flu that experts fear could become a global epidemic.(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) (April 26, 2009)

People are dying out there as swine flu overwhelms the health care systems in various foreign countries. On Sunday, Canada became the third country to confirm cases of swine flu, while global health officials considered whether to escalate the current pandemic alert level.

The strain of A/H1N1 swine flu virus has been detected in several locations in Mexico and the United States, and now appears to be spreading human-to-human in New York, California, Texas, Kansas and Ohio.

Symptoms of the flu-like illness include a fever of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea. Although the virus is acquired directly from pigs, hence its name, there are some signs that it is already being spread from human-to-human exposure.

Like some news, by the time you read this, since this is an evolving story, more people will probably be infected; perhaps before the end of the week the World Health Organization will pronounce this as a World Pandemic as the virus continues to grow and evolve.

Authorities say the swine flu has not reached Washington State yet, and in the same breath state that samples are being tested for its presence by federal health authorities.

So how are you feeling?

Dave

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