Now That We've Got Taxes Squared Away, Let's Focus On Death

“The deadly new strain of bird flu has spread further on [China’s] mainland, with two people in Henan province confirmed yesterday as infected with H7N9, the first cases in the region. Shanghai reported two new deaths, those of a 67-year-old woman who died on Saturday and a 77-year-old man who died yesterday morning, bringing the national death toll to 13. Three new cases were confirmed in Shanghai yesterday, four in Zhejiang province and two in neighbouring Jiangsu , giving a national total of 60.” Meanwhile, closer to home, “Health experts worked hard Sunday to defuse fears of a national epidemic among gay men after a Sacramento native died Saturday from a lethal strain of bacterial meningitis that has claimed seven lives in New York City this year…. ‘This is not a disease transmittable mainly by sexual contact,’ said Dr. Parveen Kaur of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. ‘It’s spread by respiratory droplets, which means you can be sitting and having a prolonged conversation with somebody and spread the disease without having sex. It can also be transmitted through saliva and intimate activities.’”