# 5245
Today, January 20th, marks five years and some 5000 odd (along with perhaps a couple hundred not-so-odd) blog posts here at Avian Flu Diary.
When this all began, in the winter of 2006, I had no idea that anyone, other than perhaps a few masochistic friends and relatives, would ever read this blog.
Certainly not thousands of visitors each month.
The map above shows nearly 70,000 visitors from more than 120 countries over the past 9 months.
Since this blog is offered under a creative commons license, and many articles are reprinted on other sites (including Medpedia), I’ve honestly no idea how many people actually read my essays.
More than I ever dared imagine, that’s for sure.
All of which is very humbling for this middle-aged (assuming I manage live to be 114), slightly Lyme-addled, former paramedic.
While it is my name on the masthead, this blog is by no means a solitary effort.
Each day I rely upon the newshounds on the flu forums (I frequent FluTrackers and the Flu Wiki) to help dig up, and translate, news items from all around the world. They not only find these tidbits of information, they often provide analysis as well.
While I mention them often, you can read my tribute to these terrific volunteers in Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.
If I had to do all of this research personally, I wouldn’t have time left to blog. So my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of these newshounds.
I’m blessed to be part of a greater blogging community we call Flublogia, including (but not limited to) Crof at Crofsblog, Arkanoid Legent, BFIC, Scott McPherson, Ironorehopper at A Time’s Memory, and Chen Qi along with related, but non-flu-centric blogs like Maryn McKenna’s Superbug blog, Ian York’s Mystery Rays, and Vincent Racaniello’s Virology blog.
Class acts every one.
And beyond Flublogia, there are other terrific bloggers who specialize in public health and/or science related issues, such as The Pump Handle, and Jim Garrow’s The Face of the Matter blog, and David Dobb’s Neuron Culture.
You’ll find more examples on my sidebar.
Sadly, in 2010, we said goodbye to some stalwarts of Flublogia. The Revere’s of Effect Measure who pulled down the curtains after 5 years of spectacular blogging, and John Solomon, who lost his battle with Leukemia last fall.
Of course, I’ve also been fortunate to be able to rely upon the great reportage from ace medical and science writers like Helen Branswell of the Canadian Press, Maggie Fox of Reuters, Jason Gale of Bloomberg News, Lisa Schnirring & Robert Roos at CIDRAP, and everyone’s favorite `scary disease girl’; Maryn McKenna.
But I owe a special thanks to my `inner circle’, the people with whom I’ve spoken often, and who have provided me with wise counsel, good ideas, and when needed – a reality check - along the way.
In no particular order, they include:
Sharon Sanders and Sally Furniss of FluTrackers, Lisa at CIDRAP, my good buddy and fellow blogger Scott McPherson, Debi Brandon, Chacal, Cheryl, my high school buddy Cliff, and the always insightful Camille.
You guys are terrific.
And not listed – but deeply appreciated - are the scores of others who have graciously emailed, twittered, phoned, left comments telling me what they’d like to see me do with my blog, or found other ways to connect with me over the years.
Many of them you’ll find mentioned in my yearly Thanksgiving roll call blog, so I won’t repeat that list here today.
And lastly, there are the readers of this blog.
I can see, using my site meter software, many of the identities of those who visit each day (not people’s names, but IP addresses and domains).
I’m constantly amazed and delighted at the number of hospitals, universities, government agencies, and big corporations who elect to come here. This blog may not draw huge numbers of visitors, but their quality is undeniable.
Thank you.
In short, this blog has been a wonderful journey. One that has brought many new friends, and an avalanche of new knowledge into my life.
While five years is a long time in `internet years’, I look forward to continuing into the future; hopefully for as long as I can find something new and interesting (even if only to me) to write about.
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