The swine flu story has now changed completely since my last blog - with my own city, Birmingham, now the worst affected outside the US and Mexico. And the rate of transmission is rapid.
The worst affected are those areas with large Muslim populations. I spoke to a scientist last week who was fascinated by the cultural aspects of transmission - the closer communities are, the quicker the virus is likely to spread. Cohesion is a positive in general, but isolation is necessary to prevent infectious illness spreading.
Swine flu is a relatively mild condition, but as yet no one knows how it will evolve. If it does evolve into something more sinister, the Birmingham experience of the logistics of rapidly distributing anti-virals to deal with large outbreaks does not inspire much confidence. People are angry as they do not know who to turn to for help.
