FIFA intends to spread Swine Flu at 2010 World Cup

SHOOT: If FIFA thinks you can hold a global tournament when a pandemic is threatening, they have another thing coming. They, and the soccer fraternity invested in sponsorships and stadium planning must be quivering in their boots. It's simple - if the current outbreak continues as it is now (and there is no reason to think it won't) the 2010 World Cup will evaporate. If the swine flu fizzles, there is every reason to believe there will be subsequent outbreaks, which may well be more virulent and increasingly deadly.

If you follow the timelines for H5N1, authorities battled bird flu for months and months that stretched between 2005 and 2006. And it never really disappeared. In 2009 there were asymtomatic cases of bird flu in Egypt at the same time swine flu broke out in Mexico. Swine flu isn't going anywhere soon.

clipped from www.iol.co.za Meanwhile, a US conference set to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre has been cancelled. The New York Life Global summit was scheduled to take place yesterday morning, but was called off by the organisers, the CTICC's Joey Pather said. About 300 delegates had been expected. "It was the clients' decision, a corporate decision not to host the event," he said. Checks on whether the flu threat had had an impact on flights in or out of Cape Town showed there had been no cancellations to date. Fifa said next month's Confederations Cup, a precursor to the 2010 World Cup, would go ahead as planned, in spite of the pandemic. Fifa's general secretary Jerome Valcke said the tournament would be cancelled "only if we feel that we have to". - Additional reporting by Natasha Prince and Clayton Barnes