Love in the Time of Cholera

Catholics pray in Fresno during the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic

A shutdown of public venues in Mexico City is likely to be lifted by Wednesday, despite caution by U.N. health officials that a second wave of the swine flu virus could "strike with a vengeance."

How do they know this?

But the real issue here is not one of sneezing and wheezing:

Mexican officials bitterly criticized China for putting about 70 Mexican citizens in isolation. They said the nationals were being singled out because of their passports -- despite showing no signs of the virus.

In Hong Kong, about 200 hotel guests and 100 staff members at the Metropark Hotel remain under quarantine until Friday after health officials determined that a guest there had contracted the H1N1 virus.

Meanwhile, hundreds of farmers in Egypt threw rocks and bottles Sunday at police who were following government orders to cull all the country's pigs. U.N. officials have said the move will not stop the spread of the virus, and the country has not recorded any case of H1N1.

While it is a predominantly Muslim country, the pigs mostly belong to the Coptic Christian minority, fanning religions tensions.

Ecuador tightened its borders after one person tested positive for the virus in neighboring Colombia.

Just to be on the safe side, I'm firebombing the Farmer John processing plant in Vernon this afternoon. But don't worry, I'll wash my hands afterwards.