Salmonella poisoning is soooo yesterday. Today’s hip illness? Swine flu! Also known as the dreaded H1N1 Virus, the illness loves to rear its ugly head in tight, crowded spaces, especially those with LOTS and LOTS of children. So does this mean that you should cancel your Disneyland trip and stick with the local bowling alley?

Not necessarily. The New York Times has an excellent article about the lengths to which Disney goes to prevent massive outbreaks of illness. “Any place where large masses of people accumulate over a relatively short or defined period of time could serve as a conduit to infection,” Philip M. Tierno Jr., director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Langone Medical Center, told the Times.

But Disney does not take swine flu lying down. “Disney parks maintains rigorous standards of hygiene and cleanliness for our cast members and guests,” said chief physician Michael Hankins at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. “We provide employee training and implement extensive cleaning procedures as necessary. Hand washing and other basic hygiene steps, as recommended by the CDC, remain extremely effective ways to combat seasonal flu whether at school, on the playground or visiting a theme park.”

So rest easy, friends, and remember that next time you visit the Magic Kingdom, you can still french kiss a random Jack Sparrow impersonator or freak out your friends by licking random objects.

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