Is the Swine Flu actually serious or just another disease blown way out of proportion by the media?

Everyone is saying that its serious, but my dad (who is very down to earth) says it was just a slow news day and they made a big deal out of nothing because the flu kills millions of pple every year and this is nothing new.
What should I believe?

i definetely agree wit ur dad....the people at my skool r makn a big deal bout it cause we're goin to new york for our eigth grade trip n theyre like "we dont kno wat we're gona do bout the trip"- u kno cause of all of the cases of the swine flu in new york. there always has to be somethin in the news. it sickens me. dont worry too much bout it =]

It's blow out of proportion. Thousands of people die of the common flu each year, yet the media never says anything terrible about it.
However, this new strain of swine flu is rare in that it is affecting teenagers and young adults. Deaths caused by a flu strain usually affect very young children or the elderly. That's the only thing that makes this strain of flu unusual.
But just be careful. Don't freak out about the situation, because as long as you continue to be healthy and engage in healthy habits (washing hands, showering, covering mouth when coughing/sneezing, etc.), you should be just fine.

It's already blown over in Mexico. Americans are just being very paranoid.

The U.S. population is 304,059,724. The CDC says there are 109 confirmed cases, but keep in mind most people have gotten over it with no complications.

That means only that there are really only 50-60 active cases of Swine Flu in the country and the recovery rate is like 99%.

Why freak out if 50 people out of 304,059,724 are sick with an illness that almost everyone who's caught it got over it.

Oh and the best way to prevent getting sick with anything is by washing your hands after you come from outside and avoid sick people.

I live in Sacramento, Ca where there are 4 confirmed cases of Swine Flu and 3 out of the 4 cases have already gotten over. The 4th one was just diagnosed, but is expected to make a full recovery.

No one in my city is going crazy or wearing masks. Everything is normal here.

I doubt Matt has a degree. As he has missed basic facts about this and pandemic flus in general.
On reason they are dangerous is that they don't kill the usual people, they kill healthy, middle aged people.

It's not a slow news day. Governments are spending MILLIONS on anti virals and official sources have said to cancel travel to Mexico and so on. Do you usually ignore the sources that tell you not to go on holiday because there has been an outbreak of Malaria or an increase in terrorist attacks etc? They do not do it for fun or to scare people. It's their job. So far the news are telling people NOT to panic. So where is everyone getting this idea that the news are scaring people? The fear is in their own heads. They are telling the population over and over that eating pork is safe, and now they have even had to change the name because some panicing idiots still didn't get the message and are scared of pork.

My Media Studies teacher has been showing us information about this, and he said that it IS serious, but that the media HAS over exaggerated it...,
He basically said what you said that your dad said, "the flu kills millions of people a year, but they stick "swine" in front of it, and it instantly becomes scarier."
He also told us that it was "unnatural" and "laboratory made"....
and he often compares it to "Spanish Influenza" and how they were both randomly occurring and caused many deaths.



I, personally, would take it as being serious, but also believe what your father said.

It became popular because it was the first flu to be transferred from pigs. And people were dying in Mexico. However nobody is dying in the United States, most likely because of our great health, food, water, and health care compared to mexico. The media is blowing this whole thing out of proportion. They are scaring everyone and yet making headlines that for some reason everyone is being sooo cautious.. well wonder why... lol. Just wash your hands, don't touch your face, and stay away from coughing people and youll be fine. Treat it as any other flu that goes around every year. Even if you got it, you would be just fine.

have a biology degree from Temple University and was wondering why everyone was making such a big deal about it. It is similar to any other flu, being an H1N1 strain. It induces the same symptoms and less lethality. In a bad year on average, 100,000 people in the U.S. alone die from some sort of flu. It only has one difference that it spreads more quickly. This spreading usually only has any effects on babies, toddlers, and the elderly. Which brings me to why people think wearing masks help. The virus is smaller than the pores in any medical mask. These masks are ineffective in every way, other than letting everyone else know that you're paranoid. Why do so many people cower when the words "swine flu" are spoken?

Blown out of proportion.
And the only seriousness to this subject is that it spreads rapidly that's the only reason the WHO and CDC are making such a big fuss about it.

well, it's spreading faster than the regular flu, so you should stay inform and practice precaution, like washing your hands.

what hasnt the media blown out of proportion haha
last week it was pirates and now its swine flu! They dont even care about the pirates anymore

it is serious but the media blows everything out of proportion

serious but overblown at the same time. its not as bad as they say but its still something to be cautious about

just another disease the media has blown out of proportion

it was blown out by media because they anted people to know about even though its not at all serious