Swine Flu and the Media

Okay, quit with the drama.  It’s the flu.  Not much different from regular flu, from everything I’ve heard.  This is not Avian Flu or Spanish Flu (the strain that caused the horrific 1918 pandemic), but Swine Flu, which, by the way, has almost nothing to do with actual pigs.  Therefore, going out and slaughtering all the pigs isn’t going to make any difference.

Out of a global population of 6 or 7 billion, only about a thousand have, or are suspected to have, Swine Flu.  Around 35,000 thousand people die of ordinary strains of influenza every year in the United States alone.  Swine Flu hasn’t killed that many people globally. 

Sure, it could mutate into something that actually merits the media frenzy and melodrama, but so can any of the strains of influenza that pop up every year.  This is why the elderly, the ill, and children are encouraged to get flu shots every year.

Instead of indulging in hysterics and succumbing to media sensationalism, we should focus on the all too deadly pandemic of HIV/AIDS, and the true tragedy and horror occurring in Darfur and the rest of Sudan.