The media is spreading bird-flu (!!!)

[TransformX]

No, this is not a joke.
According to local news, the ministry of health is accusing journalists and other media people for the spread of bird-flu cases in Israel.
The explanation is rather simple, they (the journalists, photographers etc) go to places where bird-flu was discovered, get their shoes and clothes contaminated and then go to other places with poultry etc to do more inteviews and take more pictures, spreading the virus around

[Nowhere]

Well, they do that everywhere anyway. But in more metaphorical way. All the paranoia, and so on...I mean, c'mon, in Poland alone, every year, 2 to 3 thousand people die because of "normal" flu. Total death rate for bird flu is what, dozen people?

[Wombat]

Not all flu strains are created equal. A lot of people are comparing H5N1 to the 1918 flu. Tens of millions, with a mortality rate hundreds of times higher than your average flu. Also, the thing about the 1918 strain was that it would kill the healthiest people, usually within hours or a day. There was no "staying home sick," You just got it Tuesday and were dead Wednesday because the 1918 strain caused your body to have such a strong immune response that you killed yourself trying to fight off the virus.

[The PIT]

Well, they do that everywhere anyway. But in more metaphorical way. All the paranoia, and so on...I mean, c'mon, in Poland alone, every year, 2 to 3 thousand people die because of "normal" flu. Total death rate for bird flu is what, dozen people?

Yes but it may Mutate and become deadly. Just like all the other virus's floating round the world.
Create panic and sell loads of drugs that maybe useless at the end of the day.

[Nowhere]

It's not that it "may" mutate, it will mutate, most probably to form more dangerous to people. (mutates all the time anyway...) But nobody needs spreading paranoia on one hand and horrors of the effects of killing so many birds on the other. Some are working on dealing with this threat, and when it comes to us...countermeasures basically boil down to basic hygiene/what everyone should do anyway, so if somebody doesn't do it already, I doubt warnings on streets/in buses will help much...

[GNEP]

Yes but it may Mutate and become deadly. Just like all the other virus's floating round the world.
Create panic and sell loads of drugs that maybe useless at the end of the day.

Well it's taken seriously enough at the DoH from what I've seen, so I don't think it's all media hype.

[Wombat]

Yeah, there's already two independent strains. The vaccine they're testing only works on one of them.