the "weird" world in which we live & swine flu

I note that the 1918 flu pandemic occurred in a much different world than ours.

Most fatalities were urban (this is probably a tautology).
"Urban" meant "crowded tenement".

Living patterns have improved with standard of living - most of us no longer share a few rooms with a dozen others, with no running water.
(For similar reasons, I do not fear a repeat of the 14th-century Black Death.)