Sometimes our April Fools issues are a little too prescient. Rich Mogull, our security editor, wrote "Mac Users Affected by New Virus [1]" (2008-04-01) in such a way that it took a few paragraphs before it became clear he was talking about a biological virus, not a computer virus. But by the end of the article, the fact that it was a spoof should have become obvious.
Unfortunately, at the recent JavaOne Conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco, 70 people fell victim to a norovirus [2], suffering nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea just as had supposedly happened in Rich's spoof. 67 of the victims were staff working at the conference, although 3 attendees also fell sick. None were hospitalized.
So next time you're at a conference, we really do recommend washing your hands a lot. And as I'm constantly reminding the 9-year-old Tristan... with soap!
[1]: http://db.tidbits.com/article/9534
[2]: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90IDMBG5