Legal Niches

Don't Sweat Swine Flu... David Jaffe's Doctor Says So

By gamepolitics

The last few days have seen a rapid escalation of news surrounding the swine flu outbreak which recently began in Mexico.

But not to worry, says noted game designer's David Jaffe's medicine man. In a blog post Jaffe, best known for his God of War series, cites an e-mail sent today by his family doc, identified only as "Doctor Jay" of Santa Monica:

Swine Flu is a virus for which there is no vaccine, no threat to your family and there are undoubtedly tens of thousands of harmless undiagnosed cases throughout the world. The news stories are probably taking a hundred questionable respiratory deaths in Mexico and guessing.

There actually is a very, very small chance that this virus could cause severe illness and whenever this occurs hospitalization and even fatalities are reported. The likelihood of a pandemic is miniscule, but newspapers, governments agencies and the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals do their best work and make their biggest sales when people are scared...

The usual boring admonitions apply: wash your hands, stay well-rested and well-hydrated...

UPDATE: Then again, Reuters reports that the World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert level from 3 to 4. The change indicates that the virus can spead from human to human and cause "community-level outbreaks."

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on April 27, 2009 (boomark / email).