Swine Flu - The next big pandemic or no big deal?

The H1N1 virus is spreading rapidly. The number of people confirmed with swine flu in the UK passed the 100 mark after 14 more cases were diagnosed, the Health Protection Agency has said. In Mexico more than 60 people have died as a result of the H1N1 virus, with most cases reported in Mexico City. The country has confirmed more than 2,400 cases. Around the world, 34 countries have reported more than 8,300 cases of infection.

Each day, these numbers are rapidly increasing and the virus is spreading all over the world. The technological mediums that have brung the world closer together are now being used against us as the H1N1 virus goes on a crusade to infect and kill, costing up to 75+ lives.

Now, lets look at the statistics for the amount who die each year from a normal flu: 36,000.

Are we making a big deal out of nothing? Is the huge panic merely a result of the media making such a big deal out of it? Or is this mans next biggest pandemic?

I don't think it likely that the current outbreak will become a major threat to the general health of the world's nations.

But, I wouldn't call an illness that kills even one person "no big deal."

I'd just say it's withinn the normal range of morbidity for the season.

The outbreak has a long long way to go before it is more of a problem than the regular strains of flu out there in circulation now. If it mutates from the nice fuzzy flu types we already see into the strain that we saw in the early 1900's that will be another story. It's the difference between Persian Cat and a Pit Bull.

I think it is no big deal, the media and everyone else is over exaggerating especially when you consider the number of people that die from a normal flu each year. These exaggerations are either a distraction to distract us from real issues or they are going to use it to expand the size or power of government or it could be both.