Lousy Swine

Swine flu is here, and like it or not, there's a hive (sty?) of activity going on in Queensland in relation to this porky plague. This morning, I suited up to visit the pathology labs at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. By "suited up", I mean I got to wear a cool visitors' badge:

I was hoping to pick up superpowers, but no,
they made me wash my hands for safety.

We watched while Health Minister Paul Lucas toured the labs, looking through microscopes at blood samples, and various impressive pieces of machinery:

"But why does it look like a large photocopy centre?"

You might be pleased to know they don't yet have an easy, quick diagnosis for swine flu - rather, they're testing for Influenza A, then the H5N1 strain of avian flu. Only after ruling out all that - and, I assume, the sniffles and the "Man Flu" - do they send off the samples to a WHO testing centre in Melbourne to cross-check with their profile of swine flu. So far, Australia remains swine flu-free.

I for one am waiting for ovine, bovine, caprine, lapine, murine and piscine influenzas, to complete the full Barnyard Variety Gift Box of Potentially Pandemic Viruses. My favourite though? Assinine flu.