Swine flu can be both misfortune and opportunity.

By Martha C. White of The Big Money

The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain (otherwise known as the ickier-sounding “swine flu”) has major political and
public-health ramifications, but it’s also causing agita for the business sector.

While there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the global spread of H1N1—can it be contained? will it grow deadlier as it mutates?—there are some market precedents that offer a clue about how commerce and industry might be affected. The SARS outbreak that swept Asia in 2002 and 2003, as well as the more recent cases of avian flu in 2006, offer some insights.

TBM takes a look at which industries stand to win and lose from the would-be pandemic.  read more……