The False Pandemic

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/science/22flu.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science

The debate remains, whether information be censored by the government or given freely. One of the biggest arguments for the former can be seen in this article. When people hear of a new strain of virus, people panic. Even when thus far, it has only affected birds. It’s not difficult to remember the mad cow fiasco, where every piece of meat in the local supermarket was questionable to the average consumer. Meanwhile, even though the news of bird flu was released, people have continued to import birds, leading to the spread of the virus.

 The virus has yet to affect humans in a pandemic as was prophesized and now people have been lulled to a state of complacency. The real question is, what will happen when the virus actually strikes.  An idea is to vaccinate the population in preparations for the war against the virus, but often that leads to a newer and ultimately tougher strain of virus that cannot be dealt with.