Could H1N1 (the Swine Flu) take down the Internet?  Now, as we all get ready to get out shots, wash our hands and cough into our elbows, once has to wonder if an increase of sick people staying at home and browsing the Internet could possibly threaten the stability of the system?

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, absenteeism during a pandemic could peak at 50% during a six week period.  That would cause an unsteady rise in Internet usage for watching movies, playing games and doing other bandwidth heavy activities that are usually saved for the later hours in the day.

Now the question is, can the Internet handle a upswing in usage that great? One would think that they have designed backbones in the Internet networking structure to handle surges in traffic during big events.  For the web hosting workers out there, here is another disturbing report:

In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security published a report studying the effects that a pandemic could have on the Internet at large, and on telecommuting adults in particular. The report said that 90% of the telecommuting population would experience slowdowns or blackouts when accessing the Internet.

Many of the people who work in the web hosting industry work remotely, so mix an upswing of Internet usage, with the fact that many web hosting workers can’t get online and we have big problems.  Now that same report recommends that the general public should limit their usage of online gaming and video browsing during any sort of pandemic.

So let us go back to the question, could H1N1 take down the Internet and effect many people who work in the web hosting world?  Yes, however – I wouldn’t start panicking just yet.

For more information about this topic, check out the Could Swine Flu Take the Internet Down? article over at the Wall Street Journal.