Media, People, and H1N1

While reading an article called,"1 in 4 hospitalized swine flu patients put in ICU" I began to think... Does the media influence the way the world reacts about the H1N1 virus? This strand of flu has clearly cause an epidemic, but is it really as bad as it sounds?

The experts said,"One quarter of Americans sick enough to be hospitalized with swine flu last spring wound up needing intensive care and 7 percent of them died, the first such study of the early months of the global epidemic suggests. That’s a little higher than with ordinary seasonal flu, several experts said." People all over the world are being affected by the H1N1 strand. We never hear about the number of cases from Indonesia, or even Europe. If we never hear about the cases from around the world, then why does it become the top story on the news?

If the numbers show that the it is a little worse than the seasonal flu, then why does this strand receive so much attention? I understand this is such a rare strand, but I think it receives a little too much attention. I am yet to catch the flu, seasonal or H1N1, but it is my understanding that our school, Arapahoe, has come within a few cases of being shut down. It has been so severe than the district installed "state of the art" foaming hand sanitizer dispensers in every classroom. The hand sanitizer works, but only for those who use it. Anyway, I understand this is sparking a hug debate with the vaccine coming out so I pose this question, Do you think the media influences the way we react to the Swine Flu?