May I be the first to hail the international acclaim lately accorded a microbe of humble origins. What an inspiration to other aspiring viral nasties. You too can rise above your south-of-the-border roots, porcine associations, and bureaucratic nicknames, to capture the headlines of nations, the focus of talkback, the pens of the paranoid, the attentions of governments and the deliberations of world health authorities. Proud Victorians, you of the Quarantine State, raise your medicine glasses to honour the new Pandemic in our midst!