Regarding the swine flu

Colin Smith — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:24:53 +0000

I think that this new outbreak of “swine flu” is less serious than it is being portrayed in the press. It is important to take effective containment measures though, and I commend Mexican Pres Felipe Calderon for taking action so quickly to contain and further spread of this :swine flu.” Let’s hope they are successful.

I remain somewhat skeptical about these large, potentially deadly outbreaks. I’m sure everyone remembers the avian ‘bird flu’ threat of a few years ago? It was supposed to have spread across the globe, killing tens of thousands and crashing stock markets worldwide. Didn’t happen. Turned out to be immaterial. The press sure thought it might though. The media has a way of magnifying possible pandemic threats that elicit fear in the population. Remember SARS back in 2002-03? Same thing. I guess it makes for good ratings and sells some newspapers.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it is important to take outbreaks like the current one very seriously, and take all appropriate measures to prevent further spread of this highly contagious virus. But, we must also remember that the the shrill voices that have announced new pandemics before are often wrong. In the meantime, we’ll have to wait and see.

Let’s hope all the unfortunate people suffering from this make it out okay.

Colin J. Smith » mexico

Regarding the swine flu