PAX succumbs to swine flu outbreak

By Robert Purchese Published 9 September, 2009

"Perfect" conditions, say organisers.

Penny Arcade Expo organisers have confirmed cases of swine flu at last weekend's event.

"We Just heard of our first test-confirmed swine flu case at the show. Please if you feel symptoms (fever, etc) call your doctor," urges Gabe on the Penny Arcade website. A list of flights carrying infected humans can be found there.

Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo told Kotaku the outbreak was started by a Boston-based game developer who had a doctor-confirmed case of the H1N1 virus, which we call swine flu.

"This is the real thing," said Khoo. "If you get this number of people together in this close a proximity it is the perfect storm for these kind of wild fire virus spreads."

"We just want to make sure everyone is informed."

Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell was among the 60,000 who attended PAX and like the majority, he's fine. Just swill.

Please, if you're not feeling fine, head over to the NHS swine flu website for more information.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • YoshiIsland #1 2 years ago

    1st!!

  • Ornithophobe #2 2 years ago

    reminder to self: find gas mask before October.

  • Mkwone #3 2 years ago

    I thought i had it a few weeks ago, phoned the helpline but all i got was crackling.

  • [TR] #4 2 years ago

    I like how just below the title you indicate that this is coming out for every platform :D

  • Retroid #5 2 years ago

    Perhaps people should've been deconhaminated.

    All those people hogging the demo pods would've been happy as pigs in mud, and be too distracted to look out for illnesses.

    The infected should be (honey) roasted to find out who they could've (meat paste) spread it to!

  • Psychotext #6 2 years ago

    "Just swill"

    Arf

  • DDevil #7 2 years ago

    It was like they got hambushed by the virus.

  • Freek #8 2 years ago

    Isn't it "Mexican flu" now, since it's got nothing to do with pigs anymore?

  • sneetch #9 2 years ago

    @[TR]
    I like how just below the title you indicate that this is coming out for every platform :D

    I'll be getting Swine Flu on the 360 for the achievements though. ;)

  • Spekingur #10 2 years ago

    47 Achievements. So there's probably going to be a DLC later on. They haven't released a list of Achievements though.

    Swine Flu isn't inherently dangerous though, mostly like normal flu - that takes 1-2 weeks to go through. It's only if you have other health related problems that it might become dangerous to the person.

  • Retroid #11 2 years ago

    Hopefully next year's event will be bacon unaffected.

  • Shikasama #12 2 years ago

    Ah...totally unlike regular influenza then. Or any other airborne virus.

    Nice to see the Amerry Kans are still fully panicked by anything.

  • Sanxo #13 2 years ago

    Including a bunch of the Turbine community support team it seems.

  • Skurmedel #14 2 years ago

    I would say most of the western world seems bat shit crazy about this. It seems as harmful as regular influenza which is... WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE... or more, the very weak among us might, in some cases... where there are severe complications, and other illnesses ... maybe... die.
    Edited by 1 at 09/09/09 @ 13:45

  • asphaltcowboy #15 2 years ago

    I thought Tom had already had a case of Hamthrax?

  • symmetry #16 2 years ago

    The reason everyone is going bat-shit crazy is because it's a virus that we don't have any immunity to, and it if mutates into a more deadly strain, it will kill a good percentage of the world's population.

  • Skurmedel #17 2 years ago

    We are not gonna get any less immune by hiding under a rock.

  • Bravestinsane #18 2 years ago

    H1N1 the most overated illness i have ever heard.

    Its a fucking flu you aint gonna die. More people die of the normal flu than swine flu and were vaccinated against that shit. This isn't anything to worry about it, hope i catch it can have a week of doing nothing....mind you thats no different to what i do now.

  • Sunyavadin #19 2 years ago

    Most people I know, including myself, had it weeks ago....

    PAX dropped the ball on exclusivity here.
    Edited by 1 at 09/09/09 @ 14:47

  • Vanmunt #20 2 years ago

    Get Tom some 'OINKment' he will be fine.

  • FogHeart #21 2 years ago

    The worry for governments isn't the death toll - it's the disruption to the smooth running of the country brought about by having large swathes of the population unavailable for work at any one time. If even a few percent of the workforce suddenly goes sick the effect is huge. Certain people are bottlenecks - imagine, for example, some bloke who co-ordinates the delivery of petrol via tankers to stations. Then certain stations don't get petrol. Then some people have problems getting in to work even if they don't have swine flu because they can't refuel...and a domino effect comes in.

    However, just to quietly usher in the apocalypse, there are reports that birds in Turkey have been found infected with swine flu. It has jumped species again. If we have a further mutation and that new version has the virulence of swine flu and the potency of avian flu, then.....

    "It started with the piiiiigs.....never thought that it would come to thiiiis...."

  • Cpt_McOneball #22 2 years ago

    Without trying to sound arrogant, this isn't really a big deal. A number of my friends have had swine flu, and they were either ok after a day or so, or actually didn't know they had it until they had fully recovered.

  • Retroid #23 2 years ago

    Good to see a rasher-nal discussion about this.It's a crackling read.

  • Skurmedel #24 2 years ago

    Lol Retroid.

    Yeah my skepticism comes from the fact that there are only so many times you can cry wolf. SARS were supposed to kill us, then the avian flu and now this. I just think it's a giant cash cow for the media. I would like to hear more about what the scientists think but it's all "sneeze in your armpit" et cetera now a days, which makes me believe this is not that serious.

  • yagisencho #25 2 years ago

    There but for the grace of needing to watch my young children over the weekend, goes I. My daughters saved me from the flu for once (instead of infecting me, as they have for the past several years).