When pigs fly....

So...swine flu. Yeah, I thought it was kind of a joke too. One of my friends here made a nice "piggy flu" Halloween costume. But now things are getting a little crazy. Maybe it was that virology class that I took at Northwestern that still gives me the heebie-jeebies, but sometimes I have a hard time not believing the hype. I don't necessarily think that H1N1 is the new 1918 Spanish Flu, but there will be one, and when the next epidemic flu strain comes, it will be ugly.

30% of Shannon and I's students were out sick today. Yesterday there were almost 200 students out sick in our school (out of 700), and I'm sure it was worse today. The cafeteria ladies were (sometimes) wearing surgical masks. We're supposed to be getting anti-viral hand sanitizers around school, but I haven't seen anything yet. (I wish they would put paper towels in the bathrooms, maybe more people would wash their hands!). I gave a "wash your hands -- cover your cough -- get some sleep -- stay home if you're sick!" lecture to any students that did come to class today, but who knows if it did any good. The pressure-cooker environment of our school doesn't help the situation. Students (and faculty too) come to school when they shouldn't, because they don't feel like they can afford to get behind in their work.

There have been four deaths in Bulgaria so far attributed to H1N1. 48 schools in Sofia have been temporarily closed so far for "flu vacations," and I would not be surprised if we are shut down soon as well. Even if we don't get shut down, it's pretty hard to figure out coherent lesson plans with a rotating cast of students and empty desks.

Google has had success tracking flu outbreaks based on the number of searches for "flu" and similar phrases. The results are scientifically sound and have been published in the journal Nature. Here is the current chart for Bulgaria.

Luckily the Bulgarian government is all over this one: they will vote soon about whether to approve spending (~ $8 million US) to order swine flu vaccine. That's right, about whether to order it. There is none available in Bulgaria. If they approve the funding, it might be here in January.

Shannon and I are healthy (for now), and I am very thankful for that. We're trying to get some rest, eat well, and wash our hands both regularly and fervently. Even if it's "just" the regular flu going around, and not something more insidious, the idea of being unpleasantly ill in a land where I don't speak the language nor understand the health care system is rather unappealing, to say the least.

On the plus side, we met today with a visiting insurance broker from our health insurance plan. I have never had and doubt I will ever have again a health insurance plan with coverage this good. It's worldwide. $100 annual deductible. Many things are 100% covered, and most everything else is 90%. Emergency medical evacuation is included if we need treatment and we're not somewhere that can provide a suitably "Western" standard of care. Our agent told us that if she tried to buy a similar plan for her employees in the USA, it would cost about $1600/month/employee. So that's nice.

The Bulgarian equivalent of "Cheers" is "наздраве" (pronounced "NAZ-dra-vay"), which translates as "To your health!" (Much like the German "Gesundheit!").
I think it's time for a hearty наздраве all around.