Swine Flu

[AndCity]

Yes, I know, not photography based topic and it was going to posted sooner or later by someone! My question is not about the flu itself but about the media reaction to it. I was on holiday in Italy last week and there was no suggestions or reports on it where as here in the uk the media is creating mass hysteria (in my opinion). Before going away I was paranoid about one of us catching it and having to cancel the holiday etc (let alone the worry of having it) - created by constantly reading and hearing it on the news.

My question: With the worldwide membership of DPS, how is the media reporting it in your country?

[candleman]

its a long gone issue now.. i think people have realised it was mostly a media-hype,
it was made public that there have been around 10 deaths in NZ, and i think only one of those had no pre-existing & contributing health issues.
two weks ago a nurse caught it... other than that its all about the All Blacks abysmal performance.

[dcclark]

The hype died down here in the US for a while, but now it's back again with talk of new vaccines: who should get them, who will have priority, how important it is, how long they're being tested, etc.

As a teacher, I am mildly concerned, but not enough to really worry me.

[milosh]

Everyone's quiet about here in the Eastern Europe. There was some fuzz about it when it first appeared, but now it's gone.

In my opinion, it is just a marketing trick and a disease introduced just for profit, for the big pharmaceutical companies to spend thier supplies of drugs manufactured a while ago, etc. It's so easy to cause panic these days, especially when there are big "trustworthy" organizations involved.

[Austin_HXC]

I don't believe it was neccessarily a conspiracy, I just believe it was a new issue for the media to hop on because the Haleigh Cummings case was getting old.

[RexK_Cozumel]

Nothing going on here in Mexico.

[mad editor]

We have had cases here - and there were several on Long Island last spring - the school my sons went to when they were younger had to be closed. The WHO is concerned. The US Dept of Health is concerned. Vaccines are being prepared. When the media reports it, you call it hype? I call it being prepared.

[spencer28n]

At first Swine Flu was a big deal in NY and a few people died from it. They started shutting down schools but it got to the point that there was no point. I know 3 people that had it, and there was a day that week when my school had 400 kinds absent. Still not shut down.

[Chip]

About 430 or so folks in the U.S. have unfortunately died from it so far this year. I guess the big concern is that when schools open again, the flu could spread much more quickly and widely. We'll see.

But, yeah, the media here in the US is all over it again, after quite a few months where it was not mentioned at all by any TV/cable news channels.