clipped from: www.nzherald.co.nz A contributor to our Sideswipe column yesterday probably reflected the views of many readers when he predicted the new strain of swine flu worrying the world would kill as many New Zealanders as have died from terrorism, Sars, bird flu and the millennium bug. In a word, none. "What is it with the media and scaremongering?" he asked.
New viruses are scary until antidotes are developed, and can seem more lethal than they turn out to be. This one seems to have caused 22 deaths in Mexico and is the suspected cause of 103 other deaths there. But nobody has died in other countries where the virus has arrived. There is plenty of grounds for hope that this new strain will be contained as successfully as others recently. If Tamiflu is effective against it, there are ample stocks in the right places.
