How to learn more about swine flu

The San Antonio Express-News put together a good collection of resources to track cases of the swine flu and to learn more about it:

Medical Writer Don Finley has a story about the closure of Steele High School in Cibolo outside San Antonio. Three students who attend the school are sick;

“You’ve got swine flu questions. We’ve got answers,” is an informative blog post by Eric Berger, the “SciGuy” science blogger at the Houston Chronicle;

There’s a nice list of links on Mashable, including a map of where the flu has spread. Under the “diseases” tab, click the box that deselects all diseases. Then click on the “influenza” box to view only cases of swine flu;

And there’s a fact sheet about swine flu published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Berger at the Houston Chronicle sums up the issue this way:

No, we’re not all going to die from swine flu.
Yet while we’re still at the surveillance stage and it’s not a pandemic, there’s reason for concern. And the spread of swine flu provides an important reminder it’s always a good idea to practice good hygiene. The best practices you can take to protect yourself from any form of the flu are simple: cover your nose when you sneeze, wash your hands, etc. Now, onto the questions…

Update: More handy links:

The New York Times put together a good interactive map;

The Government Accountability Office published a report in 2007 about the challenges in dealing with a flu pandemic;

The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has a case study of two early cases of swine flu in California;

The CDC published a page listing social media tools to learn more about swine flu. Here’s a YouTube video about swine flu put out by the CDC: