Swine flu has hit Rurutu, and at least half the island is sick, the other half will be, in a couple of days! Poor Matotea has been diagnosed and is now labeled 'contagious' so she's been banished to grandma's house for 5 days. Heimana, as yet does not have a fever or a hacking cough, symptoms required for diagnosis. BUT given that she was 'summoned' to the Medical Center by the doctor (where all the sick people are!) I suspect that if Matotea didn't do it then the trip to the doctor will....
Epidemiology on islands is pretty scary, and I understand a bit more now about how hopeless it was for the Polynesians stuck here during the disease epidemics, which occurred during early European contact. The population was decimated, quite literally i.e. 9 out of 10 people died, or that's what we believe from historical estimates of population sizes here in Rurutu (and elsewhere across the Pacific).
Anyway on that cheery note, the grippe doesn't seem to be nearly as deadly as was initially feared, and though poorly, Matotea seems to be happily playing with her sick cousins at grandma's house!
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