It was pretty bad there a while ago.

not in Malaysia

as i recall, there were only 8 cases

My question is, how did 600 people get a strain of the flu that was created in a lab?

This short of shit nearly always really worries me for about 5 mins, then I forget about it and just think about something else. The facts as always, just show that a few hundred people have died and most of those are from developing countries where levels of sanitation are pretty bad anyway eg. some of those that died were almost living with their livestock.

In essence though, it is worrying when you think how many thousands the black plague and the spanish flu wiped out, but immune systems, general health and most importantly sanitation was almost non-existent then, taking that aside though, modern society is perfect for the spread of a virulent virus due to planes, trains and boats now travelling to all corners of the world. A deadly disease can be carried by one airbourne passenger from one side of the world to another in a matter of hours!

Normal flu kills around half a million people a year.

When the statistics top that and bits of me are dropping off, THEN i'll get worried.