I am not a triskaidekaphobic.

I thought about responding to one of those "I wrote 25 things about myself that you don't know; now I want you to do the same thing." If I had, one of the things that you would be surprised to know about me is that I have a fear of pandemics.

My fear is not of disease or even dying of diseases, but more that there could be some disease that spreads from person to person, indiscriminately debilitating and killing worldwide. The fact that you cannot see diseases and often the warning signs do not appear before it is too late compounds my fears.

In the second grade I was so afraid that HIV/AIDS could be spread from something as innocuous as a band-aid that my mother took me to the Puget Sound Blood Center to learn about blood and the risks of disease transmission. Sometime later, I saw a preview for the movie "Outbreak" and it scare the bejebus out of me [note: I don’t believe in jebus]. I had nightmares about killer viruses for a solid year. It didn't help that Ebola was a real and incredibly deadly disease.

(I finally saw the movie last year and it was quite stupid, but the world map of the pandemic's growth still freaked me out a bit. I think part of me is just afraid of negative things with exponential growth. I also have a fear of overpopulation and destruction of the rainforests that started when I was smaller.)

For the most part, I have been able to temper my fear of pandemics. I even took an epidemiology class in university which was thoroughly fascinating. However, the re-emergence of a flu virus like that of the Spanish Flu is particularly worrisome. The fact that individuals with healthy immune systems are more susceptible is also alarming.

Nonetheless, I am calm. In part, I am calmed by the knowledge that there have been no reported cases of the swine flu in Cambodia. But mostly, I am calmed because most people are acting hysterical. I am speaking specifically about the people in the blogosphere who cannot help but spread misinformation and flaunt their ignorance. There really is nothing quite like hysterical people to prove that you have a rational, perhaps even healthy, fear of something.

Fear is sometimes respect wrapped up in paranoia. Respect is a good thing, for we must respect the gravity of the problem if we hope to defeat it. I just hope they defeat before it reaches me.