Forget Avian Flu.

There's a new disease sweeping the land, with the potential to infect millions of people and wreak havoc on the nation's economy through thousands of hours of lost worker productivity.

It's called "Brokeback Fever".

Brokeback Fever was first identified in 1997 when the short story, "Brokeback Mountain," by author E. Annie Proulx, was published in the New Yorker.

However, due to limited distribution and a small reading audience, the disease was kept in check.

Now, with the release of the movie and its award winning status (Venice Film Festival, Critics Circle, Golden Globes, 8 Academy Award nominations, and numerous other accolades) it is likely that the disease will reach epidemic proportions in America and, potentially, throughout the world.

Etiology

Epidemiologic study has identified the zero case as Diana Ossana, coauthor (with Larry McMurtry) of the screenplay for the film.

A self-described insomniac, Ossana read the story one sleepless night and in her words, "was weeping by the end; deep gut-wrenching sobs."

This, in fact, is a classic symptom of Brokeback Fever.

Ossana, in an effort to assuage her symptoms, optioned the story and wrote the screenplay with McMurtry.

Through many long years, the story was always in her mind. It is not known if release of the film has resolved Ossana's illness; she has chosen not to publicly reveal that information.

Transmission & Symptoms

Brokeback Fever can be contracted in a variety of ways.

Most common is reading the short story or seeing the movie. However, the illness has also been identified in people who have read about the movie, through reviews or interviews with those involved in its production, but have not yet seen the film.

This latter form of infection has come about through the limited release strategy of the film's distributor, Focus Features. It appears that indirect infection is no less virulent than the direct form of the disease.

Symptoms include obsessive thinking about the movie/story, disturbed sleep patterns, weeping/sobbing, and a need to discuss it endlessly with family, friends, and coworkers.

Some have reported physical symptoms, including aching joints, throbbing head, and a mild depression that can last for hours or days.

Additional symptoms that have been identified include obsessive reading about the movie (reviews, interviews, etc), listening to the soundtrack repeatedly, and a desire to write fan letters to authors Proulx, Ossana, and McMurtry, director Ang Lee, and stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway.

Not Gender Biased

It appears that Brokeback Fever afflicts men and women equally. It also appears to cut across all age groups.

While some speculated that the subject matter of the film (a story of forbidden love between two cowboys in Wyoming) would appeal to primarily to the gay demographic, Brokeback Fever victims appear to come from all walks of life. It seems that no one is immune from the disease.

At present, there is no cure.

Sufferers describe a variety of interventions in an effort to ameliorate their symptoms. The most common seems to be repeat viewings of the film. In extreme cases, some sufferers have reported seeing the movie so many times that they have lost count of the number.

Others report beating their own personal best for seeing a movie in a theater. For example, one sufferer declared, "The only other movie I have seen more than once in a theater is Titanic, which I saw twice. But I have seen Brokeback Mountain three times, and plan to go again!"

Sufferers have reported traveling great distances to see the film. An Irish sufferer traveled 3 hours by train (one-way) and paid a 50 Euro train fare to see the movie on one of six screens in Dublin, the only place it was playing in his country.

Suffering Cyberly

Sufferers also report finding solace in discussion groups, especially on the Internet. There, a community of fellow sufferers provides comfort, support, and understanding. In particular, the Internet seems to provide an appropriate forum to assist with the need to discuss the story, movie, and its characters endlessly.

Common online discussions include the motivations and actions of the main characters, the ending (what "really" happened) and preferred scenes.

Sufferers also quote favorite bits of dialogue to each other, play games, (e.g., "Brokeback A to Z") and develop elaborate backstories for all the characters.

Tangentially, sufferers discuss technical aspects of making the movie and share information about the real-life performers who were in the film.