Over the past week, I 've been inundated with questions about swine flu, via Facebook, Twitter, CNN blogs and e-mail. So this week I 'm empowering people with information about swine flu: how to protect yourself, what all the numbers mean and why you should n't freak out. The most recnt advice from the CDC is that non-essential travel to Mexico should be avoided. 1. Has n't swine flu been around for a while ? Yes. Swine flu was first identified in 1930 when researchers isolated the virus in a pig. In 1976, more than 200 soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey, got swine flu. From 1976 until 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received approximately one report every year or two of humans with swine flu. From December 2005 until January 2009, there were 12 cases of swine flu reported. 2. The folks who have it now, did they get it from pigs or people ? It appears that no one in the United States with swine flu had any contact with pigs. Dr. Richard Besser, the acting director of the CDC, said in a news conference Friday that among the first seven cases, no one had contact with pigs. In another press conference Monday, he added that investigators have looked to see whether any of the infected people had contact with pigs, and we 're not finding that linkage here. 3. Swine flu is transmitted from animals to humans. Does that happen a lot ? Yes. More than 200