It has no byline – it just says “staff” did it - and a tag notes that wire services contributed to it. But the ABC swine flu team did a good job of knitting together a tough, skeptical story over the weekend under the hed, “Doctors Question WHO’s Severe Swine Flu Warning.” It is as good a reflection as any of the anxiety and uncertainty among doctors, policy makers, and potential patients alike over the crunch time that may be upon us all. Also on ABC’s wire, a piece by Patrik Jonsson: In a Flu Pandemic, What Can the Government Do to You? That’s not for you, but to you. The piece has it both ways – raising, sort of, a vision of something like martial law and referring to some outlandish conspiracy theories of vaccination at gun point – while dwelling also on more routine public health measures.  

This Tracker (CP) hasn’t paid much attention to H1N1 for awhile, and new medical Tracker (PR) is off for a short while this week. But the seasons are changing, vaccine supplies are still mostly hypothetical, and speculation will soon get tested by reality when it comes to the pandemic’s forecast, Northern Hemisphere bloom this fall and winter. It cannot be ignored.

To reflect the immense size and scope of press coverage, here is a partial roundup – not terribly well organized, but aimed at showing a variety of outlets, topics, and locations:

Some US stories:

• AP – Lauran Neergaard: Return of Swine Flu: What’s Ahead for Americans? ; Neergaard displays a sure hand and she compresses lots of news here – fresh, old, good, bad, and sideways.
• Boston Globe – Stephen Smith: Back to flu / With schools opening, it’s time to prepare for swinte strain that targets the young ; Slick vignette – it opens on a top flu expert who also has some kids to worry about.
• Washington Post – Carol Morello: Swine Flu Strategy: Preparation, Not Panic ;
• Sun News – Adva Saldinger (S. Carolina) : First swine flu death in S.C. ;
• Daily Record (New Jersey) – Tehani Schneider : Swine flu looms, Morris prepares ; A small outlet on its local officials, their plans, and a “nightmarish possible scenario.”
• Durango Herald – Guy Walton : Learning from (flu) experience ; Another little paper’s effort to wrap arms around this – it is serious, or the “viral equivalent of Y2K”?
• Bloomberg – Meg Tirrell, Tom Randall: Sorority Rush, Football Practices Spur College Swine Flu season ; The story is long, heavily reported, and not at all as trivial as the hed might suggest.

Stories from All Over:

• THANHNIEM News Service: Vietnam records 157 more swine flu cases ;
• AP – Eliane Engeler: WHO says swine flu down in Southern Hemisphere;
• AP – Vivian Sequera: Colombian president comes down with the swine flu; And other nations’ leaders advised to watch whose hands their shaking ;
• Pravda: Two presidents infected with swine flu ; Costa Rica’s leader too;
• Bloomberg – Anastasia Ustinova: Russia Prepares to Vaccinate 100 Million People ;
• Press Trust of India: 23 more test positive for swine flu in Delhi ;
• New Zealand Herald: Another NZer dies from swine flu ; Toll is now 17 ;
• Gulf Times : Iran restricts Haj pilgrims ;
• So. Africa Health24: Severe form of swine flu reported ; This is the WHO report that this posts first link, to ABC, addresses.

-CP 

This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Health & Medicine Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.