Read my latest story, "The All-Nighter", at 52|250.

Even as CNN cuts every five minutes to show the latest maps of suspected and confirmed cases of swine flu in the US (with occasional mentions of the rest of the world) there’s a lot that that’s being left out of the story. Here are five things you probably haven’t heard much about in connection with the flu:

1. Industrial Agriculture: Animals living in cramped, unhygienic quarters provide a breeding ground for new viruses, allowing them to hop from host to host, swapping DNA as they go. The drugs that they animals are pumped full of to keep them “healthy” actually make this worse because it means that the viruses that survive and thrive are drug-resistant strains. This current virus does respond to Tamiflu and Relenza, older anti-virals have no effect.
2. Poverty: Many of the first people to come in contact with the zoonotic viruses bred on factory farms live in cramped quarters with little access to hygienic facilities. This means that the disease passes on to more people more quickly. Also, the less money you have, the less likely you are to be able to afford missing work when you’re ill. The disease spreads to co-workers (and customers).
3. Air Pollution: The swine flu can lead to pneumonia. People whose respiratory systems are already under stress—from living in a highly polluted area, for example—are more likely to develop this complication. Given how polluted Mexico City is, it seems odd that this hasn’t been considered as a possible explanation for why the strain is less deadly (so far) in the US.
4. Potential Food Supply Disruption: If the swine flu does reach pandemic status, it’s likely that the food supply would be disrupted (and that you won’t want to go to the grocery store even if it isn’t). I’m sure you’ve already been told not to panic, so I won’t tell you again. I will, however, advise you to stock up on canned goods. If, like me, you live in an earthquake zone, you know you should have done this already.
5. Zombies: OK, so zombies actually have nothing to do with swine flu, but every major story should be connected to zombies by people on the Internet. This law is even more universal than Godwin’s.

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