Swine Flu on the Web – Misinformation aplenty
By Dave Parrack
This latest swine flu outbreak is the same as any other health concern – it needs to be treated with respect, by people who know what they’re talking about, and with a distinct lack of paranoia and hyperbole. Unfortunately, the Internet doesn’t work in that way.
Here are some facts about the recent outbreak of swine flu in Mexico. Swine flu is real, and can be serious if contracted, although it usually won’t kill you. It has so far killed 80 people in Mexico itself (at the time of writing) and there are emerging reports of isolated cases in parts of the U.S., France, and Canada. That’s about it, no more no less.
However, if you have looked online for information concerning the outbreak, you would have assumed the sky is falling, the world is about to end, and we are all about to grow trotters and have curly tails emerging from our backsides. OK, I made the last one up, but you get the idea.
Certainly if you have logged into Twitter over the last couple of days you will have noticed the sheer number of tweets about swine flu. As Net Effect reports, the Twitter crowd has, in the main, been scaremongering, inducing panic, and generally going way over the top about the outbreak and the chances of this becoming a pandemic.
There is definitely demand for information about swine flu and its symptoms. Google Trends is showing that “CDC” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), “Swine Flu”, and “Swine Flu Symptoms” are amongst the top searches being conducted at the moment. Knowledge and understanding is clearly needed, scaremongering and misinformation isn’t.
As Mashable points out, there are responsible ways in which to find out information and the latest news on the swine flu outbreak. The WHO Disease Outbreak News Center, Google News, and other sources will only tell the reality of the situation without resorting to unfounded hype and rumors. Which is clearly better than what is happening on Twitter right now.
The Web, rightly or wrongly, is often the first place we turn for health information these days. As sensible or otherwise as that may be, it really depends on the sources chosen. Choose wisely and be armed with the necessary knowledge to stay safe; choose unwisely and become another puppet repeating (or retweeting) the nonsense that seems to be spreading like, well, swine flu.
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Stumble It!
April 27th, 2009
Listen, paranoid or not… I dont see any problems with being proactive. As soon as I heard about this I got myself a Breath of Life Mask at Technon’s website. Check it out at http://www.ProactiveAndPrepared.com
April 28th, 2009
Swine flu nonsense.
Similar to SARS nonsense in which 700 people worldwide died over the course of a year – it’s so inconsequential to the point of absurdity.
Here’s some figures about the current non event
from the BBC news
“The number of flu cases under observation in Mexico has reached 1,614. Swine flu was confirmed in 20 of the 152 deaths”
out of 152 12% of deaths by “swine flu”
In the U.S alone 36,000 people a year die of regular flu – be curious to know what the stats are on deaths in Mexico from flu annually
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/disease.htm
when 20,000 people drop dead in a day – then I’d be concerned – 20 people? Come on