Does anyone else think that the mass hysteria about swine flu is unwarranted

[MadameCastafiore]

Or do I just have my head in the sand?

I just don't understand all the ranting and raving about the fact that you MIGHT get it!

[gallusbesom]

I agree. Typical British response and meeja hype - if you are going to get it (i.e. someone with SF sneezes in your direction) you are going to get it - stock up on medicine, food and wine water and deal with it.

Someone once told me that if you were lying in bed with flu and someone offered you £50 to get out of bed and you did - you never had the flu in the first place!

I've had flu and I couldn't get out of bed nevermind posting on bloomin internet forums and commenting on newspaper articles.

[2kidzandi]

I am now really really really really fed up of all the media and governmental hysteria of swine flu. Now they are making pregnant women who already have far more reasonable and likely fears of child-birth etc to deal with panic. Making them believe thay should stay indoors and lock all the blooming windows and seal the blooming letterbox. All flu's are dangerous. This flu has killed less than other seasonal flu's. Or am I missing something? Yes it has the potential to become really nasty, but that potential exists with all forms of flu. I can't understand why everyone almost wants this to be a dreadful pandemic.

[Ripeberry]

They keep changing their mind, confusing themselves and us!

[wrinklytum]

I think it is totally irresponsible,the media reporting.

[diedandgonetodevon]

Yes, totally unwarranted. I was sceptical from the start about this 'deadly' flu & having now had it, it is no different from normal seasonal flu.

Both types do have the potential to be severe and some people will die with any variant of flu but to hype it up so that seemingly half the population are so scared of it is totally crazy and highly irresponsible.

[TsarChasm]

Those News at Ten 'bongs' add to the drama and sense of doom don't they?.

The trouble is there's not much new to say about it, so they keep re-hashing the same info but try and make it sound scarier. Ok we need info but this is getting a bit irresponsible.

They always get one topic and shred it to bits. It was Michael Jackson the other day, MP's before that etc. Oh and I clearly remember the MMR/Measles thing on the news day after day years ago.

We get one huge story rammed at us for two weeks then...it's gone. Like it was never there at all. I wonder if anything else is happening in the world?

[whomovedmychocolate]

We need Cliff Richard or the Queen to shuffle off this mortal coil really don't we?

[stramash]

I think this is probably going to take months and months to play out - and the media don't work in those time frames . They can't keep this up.

However, sorry to be gloom merchant , but....

I'm not too worried about myself or the dds getting it as the absolute chances of any complications seem small ( in fact I think the dds may have had it ....). However, if 1/3 of the population gets it, the absolute numbers of people needing ICU and dying potentially might be quite high.

Australia and NZ , currently in their winter, are struggling it seems... there are 32 people in ICU in Sydney ( including 5 on bypass machines) and elective surgery is being cancelled in some places. There are many more young, healthy people than they would expect....

The potential for resources ( ICU beds, ventilators, NHS staff) to be overwhelmed by critically ill patients is there for sure. ...

But it will take til the winter to find out ( by which time the vaccine should be available ....)

[whomovedmychocolate]

Yeah and we could also die from a myriad of other things - not least DVT from sitting on our arses mumsnetting all sodding week about SWINE FLU

[stramash]

Exactly

[wrinklytum]

{Pulls up anti embolism stockings]

[TsarChasm]

Crikey you're quite right WMMC..This mn malarky is a dangerous inactivity.

[NormaSknockers]

It's completely over the top, it's Bird Flu all over again

Don't get me wrong, Flu is awful, I had it once & I thought I was going to die I felt so ill, so I wouldn't wish it on anyone but I think all this hype is just to much. I'm fed up of reading/hearing about it tbh

Far more interesting to read about the gay penguin love triangle then piggie colds IMO!

[newpup]

DD1 has suspected swine flu and yes she is quite poorly but no more poorly than with any other nasty virus.

Not quite sure why everyone is so hysterical about it!

People actually avoided me in the playground yesterday when I dropped off DD2, who is absolutely fine!

[SpawnChorus]

Meh, well I'm worried about it. I'm 33 weeks pg, have a 2 yr old and 4 yr old, and I also have what might be considered as "underlying health conditions". I live in a city and I have decided to avoid very crowded areas, and I'm doing grocery shopping online, and I'm carrying anti-viral hand-gel around with me.

I would also probably avoid you newpup

[newpup]

no offence taken SpawnChorus

I would probably be more alarmed if I was pregnant too.

Hope you remain healthy.

[hercules1]

If you are otherwise healthy then it is mass hysteria.

[Dumbledoresgirl]

If I and my family had had it and it was as they describe - a mild illness which laid us low for a few days - then yes I would feel the hysteria was unwarranted.

But whilst I am reading about healthy 6 year olds dying, and an estimated 65,000 could die of it, then I am afraid I am still going to quietly fret about it. And yes I know healthy people die of ordinary flu too - but because I don't know about them, I don't tend to worry.

Should we not be told anything at all, do you think? (Genuine question, I have no idea how the media should be handling this story).

[saramoon]

Well if they do decide to close schools in September that is my very organised military style plan of getting my dd1 to school alternate mornings and afternoons for 5 weeks while I am working out the blooming window. I do think the media are blowing it all out of proportion.

[sugarpop]

I am in an at risk catagory as are my children. I get vaccinated against normal flu. If I didn't I would be scared of any type of flu pandemic. Flu is very nasty to 5% of all people who catch it!

I will be happier in crowded places once have been jabbed against it.

However the media is making it scarier. Agree with need for an urgent diversionary news topic. Cliff would be an excellent one!

[JRocks]

I think it is all getting a bit crazy. I'm 30 weeks pregnant and have a 3 year old, but beyond doing all the normal hygiene and avoiding people infected it's not really bothering us. That said, living in Cornwall helps, I'd probably be a bit more wary in a city.

Agree it seems to be news hype this week. I suppose they couldn't drag the Michael Jackson saga out forever

[Qally]

I think the problem is that at the moment, it's mild and not that big a deal. But given it's incredibly contagious and it mainly affects the young, and nobody has any resistance as it's a new strain, if it mutates into a really vicious one come the winter we're in trouble. And because the government has to plan for that eventuality, the media is reporting those plans, without really clarifying that they're worst case scenarios.

There's no reason to think it necessarily will mutate into the killer plague from hell. It's just that if it does, and we're faced with a 1918 Spanish Flu scenario, the government needs a plan, so we don't end up with lots of deaths and no functioning infrastructure. But I wish they'd just say so, say that this is a bit like raising the Thames flood barrier - better safe than sorry. The media are acting as if it's Armageddon already, when actually it's just remotely possible that if we don't plan well enough it could be.

[charis]

If only people would do the sensible things like washing their hands and staying in if they are ill. Instead, the worried well will be barricading themselves into their houses and getting the ocado man to go through a footbath before he delivers and everyone else will ignore it.

[MaDuggar]

65000 people out of 60 million people is actually a tiny statistic, less than 0.5%

[VulpusinaWilfsuit]

Yes MaDuggar, but 65000 is a decent sized town, and we're talking about extra deaths, some of which might be preventable, with a vaccine, with better hygiene, with social isolation strategies.

If it were your medium-sized town or suburb that were to be, say, blown up instead, would you be so blase about all those unnecessary deaths? In children, and the parents of young children and otherwise well elderly relatives?

This leaves aside the potential swathes of ill-health and death in non-Western and poor countries where the spread of flu could have much more serious impacts upon populations living in greater overcrowding and with poor immune systems.

Should the govt and the press really do and say nothing just because some of us find the tone a little hysterical? Or are you saying the WHO and the HPA and all the academics from pretty well-regarded universities have all got it wrong?