Current Event #1: Swine Flu

The article I chose this week, “WHO reports 2,500 cases of swine flu,” obviously covers the latest news on the swine flu. The World Health Organization has declared about 2,500 confirmed cases throughout the world with about 44 deaths. Twenty-five countries have either confirmed cases or reported deaths, including the United States. In the United States alone, there have been two reported deaths and around 1,600 cases in 43 states. Forty-two of the deaths have occurred in Mexico, where the virus originated from. The illness is still at phase 5 (widespread human infection)—phase 6 is the actual global pandemic phase. President Obama spoke about the virus, stating that the virus may not be as severe as we may fear it to be, but precautions still should be taken. Britain has announced that they have gotten the complete H1N1 genetic code, which is the first step in finding a vaccine for the virus.

Frankly speaking, I think the swine flu has really been bloated into a huge deal (mostly likely because of all the media hype). I understand the reason why most people may fear the illness, considering it’s a phase 5 out of 6 in Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response (EPR) meter and there is not proven vaccine for it yet. Tamiflu, medication for the treatment of influenza, is being used as a possible cure for the swine flu virus However, I heard that the normal flu virus alone claims about 36,000 lives alone each year on CNN. Also, there really isn’t that much of a threat to most ordinary people because those people that have the illness have been hospitalized (and you could most definitely point out some one with a fever over 100 degrees and severe body and stomach pains if they were to be walking around at all). So all in all, I think the swine flu is much milder than the media is making it seem, and fear may be the more of the culprit than the virus itself.