The picture to the right is a very cool non-invasive method of detecting fever in large numbers of people as in an airport or other crowded places. This one was in Greece and operates by thermal imaging. I am willing to bet it is not cost-effective.I've heard this term, "viral marketing" for several years now, always not quite sure what the user had in mind. But after hearing and seeing various media talk about influenza, both the usual or "seasonal" form if there is such a thing, and the "swine" form, for what seems like months now, and then an article in today's Gazette about hospital ERs, walk-in clinics and doctor's offices seeing much larger numbers of possible flu-like illnesses, it finally dawned on me that "viral" refers to the way organisms like influenza viruses spread throughout a population, or in this case, worry about and perhaps mis-information about influenza viruses spreads throughout a population.
This is similar to the press and TV bombarding us with half-truths about our politicians running for office for months, then going out and conducting flawed polls on our understanding of the politicians stances on various problems. This is baloney in both instances.
Here is a useful table from a Wikipedia article on the 2009 swine flu pandemic
| 20th century flu pandemics | ||||||
| Pandemic | Year | Influenza virus type | People infected (approx) | Deaths worldwide (est.) | Case fatality rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish flu | 1918–19 | A/H1N1[11][12] | 33% (500 million)[13] | 20 to 100 million[14][15][16] | >2.5%[17] | |
| Asian flu | 1956–58 | A/H2N2[11] | 2 million[16] | <0.1%[17] | ||
| Hong Kong flu | 1968–69 | A/H3N2[11] | 1 million[16] | <0.1%[17] | ||
| Seasonal flu | Every year | mainly A/H3N2, A/H1N1, and B | 5–15% (340 million – 1 billion)[18] | 250,000–500,000 per year[6] | <0.1%[19] | |
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