>which, contrary to reports, did not disappear over the past two years I read a very interesting article last fall (which of course I didn't bookmark) from a virologist who explained the missing flu numbers and it was not what I expected at all, the flu literally did just disappear for two years. His explanation was that since chink flu was so new and so contagious it really did shove the old flu into the back corner, it just couldn't compete. For unknown reasons a cell can't be infected by more than one virus at a time so if there is a dominant virus circulating at any given moment then all of the other 200ish respiratory viruses have to wait their turn, this is why there is only one or two strains of the flu going around during flu season and not 100 different strains. It was a long article and had much more Science™ involved but I was convinced. The good news is that now that the flu has returned bat flu is now just one of the many rotating bugs that affect us during any given year and it has to wait it's turn just like all of the other ones. source: trust me dude.