"The government has announced this morning here that they have confirmed only 49 cases of swine flu, of which 7 patients have died. There are listing another 159 as 'probable,' but I'm unclear what that means." (emphasis added)

"[E]ight swine flu deaths had been reported to the WHO: seven in Mexico and one in the US. To date, 114 confirmed cases of infection have been reported to the WHO. They are: Canada 13, US 64, Mexico 26, Israel two, Spain four, UK two and New Zealand three. 

The New Scientist magazine does not believe this is a genetically engineered strain unleashed on humanity by misanthropes.  Instead, it posits that factory farms, legally known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), are likely the culprit:

"The conditions in which animals are kept can favour the evolution of new and deadlier strains. 

"For instance, in the wild nasty flu strains that make animals too ill to walk or fly are unlikely to spread far. On crowded factory farms, they can spread like wildfire, helped by the global trade in animals and animal products."

"The interaction of farm workers with animals, especially on small-holdings where pigs, ducks, chickens and children all happily intermingle, also provides plenty of opportunities for viruses to jump species."

"The fact is that we still know so little about flu, and what makes it capable of spreading from human to human, means that deliberately engineering a virus of this kind would be a huge challenge. Yes, it's possible that this virus was created by a mistake at a research laboratory or a vaccine factory. 

"But by far the most plausible explanation is that this monster is the long-predicted product of our farming system."