The flu H1N1 has actually made me sick without even infecting me. The news has been using the word pandemic to discuss the possible conclusion of this current disease drama, when instead they should be using the term “panicdemic”, the over-reaction of the people stimulated by breathless media coverage. 

The other day on NPR, a person interviewed made the claim that New Yorkers not wearing masks on the subways and buses was the height of American arrogance. Really? I don’t know if the speaker was an extreme hypochondriac or following the erroneous advice of Vice-President Biden, but what was palpable from the audio was he was unbelievably scared. Irrationally scared. His fear was very curious to me. Media sources i have heard have always added at some point that the flu in the United States has been of the weaker variety; it has led to one unconfirmed Infant death; like every infectious disease, you should stay home, and wash your hands.

Nothing really panic worthy. And yet it seems that the constant frequency of the news makes people ignore those salient facts. 30,000 people die each year of the flu in an average season. More children die of diarrhea in a minute. The panic and the disease just don’t match up. 

Even though Mexican investigators have downgraded the number of deaths and infections, we have Egypt slated to slaughter 300,000 pigs, and news that Chinese authorities have detained Mexican Tourists! It’s a worrisome trend that people can be so shaken by the idea of an illness that may be contracted with interaction with the infected, even though infection so rarely could lead to death. Contrast that with how doubtful  of the threat some of the press was when President Obama announced plans to push for a decrease in the world’s nuclear arsenal. Trust me, nukes are way worse and more dangerous than the flu. I see polls of people putting the threat of climate change low on their list of priorities, even though it could lead to the erosion of our safe and civil society. 

I don’t know if this is a problem exacerbated by the scientific community’s inability to communicate the threat well. I have read many articles where the facts were stated easily and clearly that the threat was minor. Read AAAS ScienceNow’s interview with the Mexican scientist leading the effort. The comment section is also a must read. Note the speed at which the international disease institutions coordinated efforts to analyze such a small amount of cases. It’s the kind of article you can’t see in the MainStreamMedia or even general blogs, who tend to do a better job on situations like this.