Word: cibolo
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...Hayden Henshaw, 18, got sick on a Tuesday in late April. He was at his high school in Cibolo, Texas, just outside San Antonio, when he came down with a fever of 103°F (39°C) and felt nauseated. Three days later, his doctor confirmed he had a mysterious new strain of swine flu that had just hit the U.S. - a virus that would eventually be labeled H1N1 of 2009. (See pictures of thermal scanners hunting for swine...
...asked him dozens of questions. Had he been to Mexico lately? (No.) Had he had contact with any pigs? (No.) That weekend, Texas health officials closed all 14 schools in Hayden's district, sending 11,000 children home. Workers wiped down the school district's 100-plus buses. At Cibolo city hall, employees posted signs asking residents to pay their utility bills at a drop box instead of coming inside. Garbage collectors donned face masks. At the time, no one knew how deadly the virus was - or how many people...
...through Mexico. As things turned out, Hayden's school reopened about a week later. To make up for the lost time, school officials canceled final exams. With that, Hayden's classmates found it in their hearts to forgive him. The summer brought a new consensus about H1N1 flu to Cibolo. "Now people say, 'Ah, it's no big deal. They blew everything out of proportion,' " says Patrick, who's still a bit mystified by the whiplash of reactions - from paranoia to complacency in a fortnight...
...would all be a surreal memory for Cibolo and the rest of America, if only it were over. Instead, Hayden's case is a flare in the darkness, a warning that as the nation begins its second big battle with a strange flu virus, we are up against a threat that we are not particularly skilled at overcoming, one that provokes an extreme range of emotions - from fear to indifference - none of which are all that helpful. The battle ahead is psychological as much as it is medical. And although we have heard a great deal about the importance...