Hi there, PB fans.

Thanks for all the positive comments over the last few weeks. Keep them coming. I love to read the messages from all my fans and if any of you have any questions or subjects you'd like me to talk about, by all means let me know.

For example, someone who calls themselves Pizza left a comment on last week's blog asking whether I would ever consider playing football for an international side other than England.

If I'm being honest, Pizza, it is something that did cross my mind a couple of years back. It all came about after my mum told me out of the blue that my the man I had grown up calling "Dad" wasn't actually my real father.

Apparently, my real Dad was actually a roadie for some American rock band. He had convinced my mum he was the lead singer of Aerosmith and sweet-talked her into a cheeky night of fun in a run-down hotel sometime after a concert in Leeds in 1982.

So, it turns out that if I could be bothered to get the proof of my real old man's nationality, I could probably qualify to play for the USA.

The idea appealed to me for a while. Obviously, I would walk into their side and because of the woeful standard of the CONCACAF opposition, they always qualify World Cups so it was quite an attractive proposition.

But I slowly went off the idea. I really didn't fancy all the travelling, flying over the Pacific every other week to play in some qualifier against Nicaragua or Haiti or the like. Also, I reckoned being the star player and carrying the hopes of an entire nation would get really tiring after a while.

So I put the idea to the back of my mind. International football for me was going to be England or no-one. Possibly Ireland or Wales. Maybe Scotland. But certainly not the USA. Hope that answers your question, Pizza.

As I said, any more questions, fire them over to me. I'm totally delighted that you guys are still obsessed by what I've got to say about my life as a Premier League player.

It really makes me happy to know that I am doing my bit to help the Common Man understand a little bit more about our amazing game.

And it's been an interesting week in the Premier League, with that outbreak of Swine Flu at Blackburn and Bolton.

It was a bit of a shock when the news broke, and really it just goes to show the dangers that we go through week after week in the name of sport and entertainment. It really puts things into perspective and the dedication and professionalism we display in times like this just goes to show why we justify our wages.

Am I scared that I might catch the disease myself? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. The very nature of our sport means that we are a group of young men in close contact with each other.

We train together, we shower together, we change together, we eat together, we travel together, we room together on away trips.

When you look at it like that, you can see how intimate footballers get with each other – and that's not even taking into consideration how up-close-and-personal some of us get with the club physios and masseurs.

The dangers are everywhere.

A bead of sweat from the brow of an opposing player; phlegm from an innocent, misdirected spit; a drop of urine or faeces from a mischievous schoolboy prank between team-mates.

All harmless a couple of weeks ago, but now potentially fatal.

It has really got the wind up me. The day after the news broke, I turned up for training with one of those masks over my mouth and some latex gloves on my hands. The lads really laid into me, but you can't be too careful in a situation like this.

I've heard that people have actually DIED from this thing. It's unbelievable in this day and age that a virus like this can spread so easily and cause so much damage. You know, we can send a man to the moon but we're still dying from flu.

And to think it's all the fault of pigs! They look such nice, innocent little things. I mean, I've seen Babe: Pig In The City a couple of times and there is no clue in that suggesting they could be so dangerous.

I don't reckon I'll ever eat pig again. No chance. Better to be safe than sorry. Roast beef instead of pork for me on a Sunday, and no more ham sandwiches in the club canteen. I'll stick to chicken and bacon, thank you very much.

Until this whole horrible episode has passed by, I will be taking extra care. You've got to remember that this is my livelihood we are talking about. A threat to my body is a threat to my earning-potential.

When you look at it like that, you'll realise why I am treating this as life-or-death.

Until next week (I hope),

PB