One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In recent years, influenza seems to come at the most inopportune time, bringing with it misery and confusion to patients and health-care providers alike. In January 2000, flu arrived amid heightened vigilance for the "flu-like symptoms" of bioterrorism. During the Spring of 2009, an unseasonal pandemic of A/H1N1 ("swine flu") caught many hospitals off-guard and unable to absorb the increased numbers of stricken patients in their ED.