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Swine flu’s birthday: Should we have reacted differently?

24 Apr 05:50am

Filed under: Epidemics, Health, Pandemics, Science, Swine Flu, Vaccination

One year ago this weekend, the World Health Organisation issued its first Disease Outbreak Notice on swine flu, confirming the infection of a number of people in Mexico and the US. A few weeks later the previously unknown virus had Australia holding its breath when the first cases hit our shores.

The Australian's Peter Nicholson, a year ago

The World Health Organisation went on to declare their first pandemic in more than 40 years and the media went into overdrive. A year on you could argue the hype was all a bit excessive and that experts keen to get their names up in lights were crying wolf and playing into the hands of news editors who think the biggest numbers make the best headlines.

But ultimately if a new virus was to emerge again this flu season, should we react differently? Probably not. The reality is most viruses don’t mutate into deadly killers; but it has happened before and it will happen again.

Continue reading "Swine flu’s birthday: Should we have reacted differently?" »

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Glad to be a Grandma says:

02:25pm | 19/01/11

There has to be some public registry of un vaccinated children, so we know which kids are at risk for diseases. The information would be useful for expectant mothers who have to keep their newborns safe. Personally I wouldnt want to be a pregnant teacher looking after a roomful of… Read more »
CS says:

04:00pm | 27/04/10

Well - I’m not an MD, but I am a qualified immunologist in the field of newborn immunity. From my point of view, this is an excellent article that sums up the sensible approach of the authorities to last year’s outbreak. It isn’t controversial, hence the lack of comments. The… Read more »

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