Quote Originally Posted by T.G. Oskar View Post
There's one thing I have to point out here. I'm not from Mexico, but I get the news pretty much straight (read: force fed by the damned Hispanic television companies that seek to undermine local television) from the source. And as far as I recall, Mexico actually has a quite impressive health infrastructure. They responded to the outbreak pretty quickly, and they're trying to work with other companies to quell the expansion.

However, look at this the worst possible way. Imagine that someone that might have contracted avian flu and probably has a chance of retaining part of the viral pathogen suddenly enters contact with this new variant, which is known for its apparently high speed of contagion. Now, mix and match the spreading power of swine flu with the danger of avian flu. That alone can cause a downright scary situation. Worse if it gets Tamiflu resistance; that's a science-fiction worthy pandemic. Treating this outbreak as mere news exaggeration is equally as stupid and dangerous as NOT treating it.

Firstly, the only news about Mexico that we've gotten over here is doctors writing anonymously on the BBC site and saying that they are underprepared and worried, and interviews with sick people standing outside hospitals and saying how TV told them to come to the hospital and then the hospital told them to go home. They were saying that they felt very sick and weren't getting help. Are Mexicans' immune systems so compromised that they can't be cured of swine flu, and then pneumonia or another complication?

Also, swine flu already contains avian flu components, which is where some scientists think it got its ability to jump from human to human from. It is 78% human flu, with pig flu and avian flu composing the rest of the virus. H5N1 remains a separate, and extremely concerning, virus.

Though I do agree with you on being aware. My post was mostly about how the media have hyped it up to death. I mean, read the reaction of Halie's class to a disease which is less dangerous than SARS.

I just want BBC News back, really, and I want people to stop panicking.