It was only a matter of time before the tabloids found a way into the swine flu story. In July, People reported that actor Rupert Grint, from the Harry Potter movies, had come down with the H1N1 (swine) flu. Then there was the Colombian and Costa Rican heads of state in August. Now it’s being reported that the goth-rocker, Marilyn Manson, had a case of the flu, and Harry Smith, the host of the Early Show on CBS, took a sick day because he thought he might have the swine flu.

But of all the infected celebs, two stand out. CNN medical reporter, Sanjay Gupta, and infectious disease expert and author of The Coming Plague, Laurie Garrett. Both really know their stuff and both have now written first-hand accounts of their bouts with the swine flu.

From Gupta, who wrote about his illness on his CNN blog, we learn that his flu symptoms started with a cough. “It wasn’t the kind of cough where something is temporarily stuck in your throat,” writes Gupta. “It wasn’t the kind of cough where simply clearing your throat would’ve been adequate. This was the kind of cough that hurts when you do it. A stinging pain that makes you wince and guard and hope that you don’t have to cough again any time soon. I thought I might have a fever, but of course, I was in the middle of covering a war in Afghanistan, and the conditions were…well, hot. So, maybe it was that. Problem was, the next day I wasn’t feeling any better—in fact, I was worse.”