I could be wrong but are people making too big a deal out of this "swine flu" pandemic?

But but but but but its swine flu if they get flu they wont make me bacon !!!

Seriously tho its just another way to scare folk . Even tho over 100 people have apparently died from it .

I don’t know enough about mexico’s medical system to make any judgments so far on the deaths, but I’m skeptical of the typical media frenzy associated with these kinds of things. However, I have loved ones near one of the outbreak locations, so I’m a little worried but trying not to overthink it at this point.

The difficulty with these things is that what we see is filtered by the media, as opposed to people who actually know what they’re talking about. If you see an expert from the CDC or WHO worried, then you know it’s legitimate. I’d say, at the current time, that it’s a good idea to be cautious (the CDC is officially taking action), but not terribly worried (there are still only 40 known cases in the US, with no deaths, and 73 confirmed cases world-wide, with 7 deaths)

this link will lead you to other data from the CDC, and includes a link to the WHO site on swine flu. I’m trusting these sources, and it’s where I got my data.

Ok people here’s how this goes, there are billions of people on this earth: and a few people die and it’s a pandemic. Sometimes I wonder if Africa would exist as poorly as it did unless there were people around to pity it and feel better about how they live based upon it: But then I see, anything that will keep you focused off things of logical political value will come into the media’s focus. There are no real Journalists or news-concerned mediators anymore (atleast not since the mirage(or true heroism) of people like Dorothy Kilgallen). Total media control is in place! You see on TV what you’re supposed to see on TV, especially the news. 50 different states, 50 different education system standards, 50 different versions of law…etc….

I’m just very glad that Mexican authorities are taking extreme precautions. A chance of a pandemic is no joke, especially in such highly dense population areas like Mexico D.F.

Here is some interesting history taken from wikipedia search of “swine flu”
”Outbreaks in humans

Swine flu has been reported numerous times as a zoonosis in humans, usually with limited distribution, rarely with a widespread distribution. The 1918 flu pandemic in humans was associated with H1N1,[35] thus may reflect a zoonosis either from swine to humans or from humans to swine. Evidence available from that time is not sufficient to resolve this question. The “Spanish” influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 infected one third of the world’s population (or ≈500 million persons at that time) and caused ≈50 million deaths.[35]”

The important point is to reduce the chance of polymorphism of the virus.
”..the swine flu can also infect swine and acquire more polymorphisms that could lead to increased virulence.”

However, the media does take advantage and scare the shit out of people. The virus does not transmit through food.

Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.”

I know you cannot catch it from eating pork . If that was the case we would all die from eating meat as all meat is infected that’s why you cook it. I said it in jest !.

@sandystrachan: that wasn’t really directed to you, I just get tired of hearing it from my parents/grandparents

It is a bit crazy that people wont eat pig and even in the case of the dreaded bird flu they stopped eating birds . Then again the media has done there job if that happens .
Sorry to you Tigran . x

Even “regular” flu is deadly. On average, 36,000 people die every year of flu related causes in the US alone (almost 10 times the death toll of 9/11, to put it in perspective). And that’s in spite of a fair chunk of the population having been vaccinated against the common strains.

So now consider that we’ve already been through our regular flu season. Even if this turns out not to be an especially virulent strain, we’d be looking at another wave of flu deaths on top of those we’ve already had, and nobody has been vaccinated against this strain.

At this point, the outbreak is still localized in a relatively few areas. An aggressive response has some small chance of containing the spread, so it’s worth doing. Some people will freak out, sure, but apathy would be an even worse reaction.

Don’t you find this fascinating? Online social networking is helping turn this into a huge panic.

A Twitter search will show hundreds of tweets a minute on swine flu. It’s even bigger than Ashton and Oprah, if you can believe that ~

I dont no..but I do know that my grandma has been going crazy over it. She is always barking at me to wash my hands like ALL the time. I mean, my God, I do wash my hands. But she always gets a little paranoia over stuff like that. God..I remember back when West Nile was really bad..ugh, she went nuts.

It’s a “big deal” because people keep posting Fluther questions about it.

That’s like screaming, “ISN’T IT WEIRD THAT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE SCREAMING?? WHAT’S THE DEAL??”

@tonedef Thats a very good point in a sense but as this question is personal to me and people have nicely taken the time to answer it your point has no relevence here!

I haven’t seen this “panic” that everyone is speaking of. The media, CDC and WHO are alerting the public to a possible pandemic. That is their job. @Harp made a very good point. We shouldn’t panic but we should not dismiss it either.

I haven’t seen any signs of actual panic yet. On the other hand, even NPR is banging the drum – on the way in to work today, I heard an interview with someone who said we should have two weeks of drinkable water stored up in case utility workers can’t get to work. Er, if the water supply fails, so that I can’t trust my tap water, having water to drink will be the smallest concern….