Media hysteria is not the way to deal with swine flu issue
Apr 30 2009 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post
The BBC produces a re-make of Survivors – a drama in which the world’s population is almost wiped out by a flu-like plague – and the world is hit by swine flu.
What’s going to happen when it screens its new adaptation of Day of the Triffids, later this year? I suggest keeping a close eye on your pot-plants.
I know that swine flu is a serious issue. There have been 150 deaths in Mexico, and one in the United States. Cases have been diagnosed in the UK including one in the West Midlands, and we all pray that there are no more fatalities.
But there still seems to be an air of hysteria which is not yet justified by the facts.
Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency after 36 cases (now 65) were confirmed in the US.
But “normal” flu kills 36,000 people in the US each year. Each of these deaths is tragic but no one declares a state of emergency over them.
On the lunchtime news yesterday, we were told that the death of a two-year-old girl in the US had dashed hopes that deaths would be confined to Mexico.
It emerged, however, that she was a Mexican child who had been bought to the US specifically for treatment.
Again, this makes her death no less tragic, but it does suggest that it tells us little about the spread of the virus.
Influenza can be a world-wide threat. So-called Spanish Flu – the name would not be allowed today – may have killed one in 20 of the world’s population immediately after First World War. No one knows for certain.
But it’s also fair to say that flu is always with us. New strains emerge and kill people, and the rest of us manage to get on with our lives.
There’s no reason yet to think that we are facing the next Spanish Flu or anything like it.
If we are, I may end up looking very stupid (although that would be the least of my worries). However, my scepticism is prompted by the fact that this is only the latest in a long line of health scares.
There was avian flu, or course. Apparently, it hasn’t gone away – it’s still a threat. But the world hasn’t fallen on our heads as we were told it might.
Then there was SARS, which killed 700 people, mainly in China and Hong Kong. I hope I don’t sound too callous about this. Those 700 people do matter. But compare that to the 3,000 people who die in traffic accidents – in merely one country, the UK – each year.
And let’s not forget flesh-eating viruses, ebola and killer bees from Africa. They are serious problems, no doubt, but the way we respond to them demonstrates what BBC producers already know – that sometimes we enjoy being scared.
