China?

I tried to think of reasons why I would want to visit China. The Great Wall is obviously one reason. The Terracotta Army is another. However, none of these sights are worth risking my entire vacation (and all the money I would spend on it) and my rights as an individual, on the whims of the Chinese government.

"In many cases we have gotten reports that they were being quarantined for the sole fact that they had a Mexican passport, whether or not they came from Mexico, whether or not they had been in Mexico, whether or not they had been in contact with someone else from Mexico," Guajardo said.

To everyone who has freaked out about the flu ...

... there is a reason to feel a bit more secure today.

Strep infections and not the flu virus itself may have killed most people during the 1918 influenza pandemic, which suggests some of the most dire predictions about a new pandemic may be exaggerated, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

Yah, but ... something still killed those people.

Well, yes indeedy, but that something was a bacterium, and we now have antibiotics to treat bacterial infections, see?

"Neither antimicrobial drugs nor serum therapy was available for treatment in 1918," Klugman's team wrote.

Now there are also vaccines that protect against many different strains of S. pneumoniae, which cause infections from pneumonia to meningitis.

That's not to say that if you come down with a fever you should just pop whatever antibiotics you have in your bathroom cabinet ... since you should have finished your antibiotics for what they were prescribed for ... but there is no reason to panic about some massive flu epidemic which will wipe out 10% (or more) of the worlds population.

Flu Epidemic? Stay at home ...

... but not for the reasons you might be thinking about.

To prepare, hospitals should designate a triage team with the Godlike task of deciding who will and who won't get lifesaving care, the task force wrote. Those out of luck are the people at high risk of death and a slim chance of long-term survival. But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:

* People older than 85
* Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.
* Severely burned patients older than 60.
* Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.
* Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

You wouldn't want to get into a car accident and get triaged if you get the flu.