Swine Flu Pandemic

To keep up with the Swine Flu situation, we thought it would be a good idea to have another stab at the media.

As many of you may have seen, there is a ridiculous amount of emphasis on the Pandemic Threat Level and on possible deaths. Just to clarify, Phase 5 means that there is proof that there has been a case of Human-Human viral transfer. What that means is that the Swine Flu is acting like any normal flu virus, except it just comes from pigs. When it comes to actual deaths due to Swine Flu, the number you will see floating around is in the hundreds, especially for Mexico. These are the real numbers released by the World Health Organisation :

Mexico : 26 Confirmed Cases, 7 Deaths
US : 91 Cases, 1 Death
Canada : 13 Cases, No Deaths
United Kingdom : 5 Cases, No Deaths
Spain : 4 Cases, No Deaths
Germany and New Zealand : 3 Cases, No Deaths
Israel : 2 Cases, No Deaths
Austria : 1 Case, No Deaths

(Source : WHO Website)

That comes to a total of 148 Cases and 8 Deaths. Instead of emphasising the amount of cases, the Media has jumped on the gun a little quickly and started publishing numbers of suspected deaths. Their numbers are completely wrong and convey the wrong impression. If you actually read the WHO website, it says that most people recover well from Swine Flu. There are some cases where it can cause pneumonia, but normal flu can do this too. There are lots of elderly people that catch the flu and then develop pneumonia. According to the BBC, between 250,000 and 500,000 people die from normal flu every year. But, they don't put that into the headlines.

Final Thought Byte : I really think that the Media is jumping on the bandwagon a little too quickly. Their suspected death numbers are completely wrong and their advice to people contradicts the WHO. Either they are trying to make a quick buck, or they have got the wrong end of the stick. Yes, Swine Flu is a new virus, but the death toll isn't very big in comparison. Normal flu kills at least 680 people a day anyway. To put every one's mind at rest, please visit the WHO Website.

Tags : Swine Flu, Pandemic, Media, News, Deaths, World Health Organisation