Media Pandemic

Above: The Center for Disease Control's Youtbe Page. Reliable information about the Swine or H1N1 Influenza A Flu.

"HEAR YE, HEAR YE, HEAR YE...."

I'VE HEARD ENOUGH.

At least now they're required to call it the science-jargon-filled name, "H1N1 Influenza A." The media has been set ablaze tracking this "newfound virus" in every way that it possibly can. They're everywhere: mayor's offices, on farms in Mexico, closed schools, and even local neighborhood supermarkets. No matter what channel I turn to, the media covers the virus like a crazy culprit. I can almost say that I can imagine their news copters are chasing this virus down a Los Angeles freeway in a 1994 Ford Bronco... To cover this sickness with this type of coverage, to me, is rather annoying.

To a medical student like me, there's nothing special about this virus in terms of its own characteristics. In our lectures, we've learned that the Influenza Virus has always been a killer - especially in the immunocompromised, the young, and the elderly - but with controls due to vaccinations and sanitation improvements, Influenza has been reduced to being known as the "common flu." The H1N1 influenza name comes from the variations of two different genes that encode for proteins that are important for the virus lifecycle (hemagglutinin and neuraminidase). However, other identified virus strains that have gone around also are named by the same system; searching up the wikipedia page on Influenza demonstrates the numerous strains that we have dealt with.

I'll admit though, that getting a pandemic like this one takes a concept that's pretty mind bizzaring. There's two pieces of medical jargon I'm going to run past you: genetic drift & genetic shift. Genetic drift is what keeps researchers on the ball with creating new vaccines for current influenza strains. When the virus is replicating, the machinery that creates protein necessary for its life cycle coughs up and makes and error. However, like many things in life, shit happens, but it works out; the new proteins produced don't disrupt the life cycle of the virus. As a result, current vaccines need to be tweaked to fit this cough up. The virus is still the same strain, but a different twist (Hypothetically, H3N7 would become an H3N7 - Version 2.0)

On the other hand, genetic shift is the backbone behind the current pandemic (an epidemic in terms of worldly proportions). In livestock, which can get infected by both avian and human strains of the Influenza virus, chromosomes from both strains may get "packed" into the box that makes up a virus, creating a new strain (like our good old friend H1N1). This mode of genetic shift is what leads to pandemics of the Influenza Virus. Unlike how the media portrays the new virus like its something we've never seen before, there have been many pandemics over the last century of Influenza (some even in the last decade).

And again, at least to the eyes of a medical student, such as myself, the symptoms of the "Swine" flu are none other than your typical chills, muscle aches/pains, fevers, cold-like symptoms, that are experienced like the common flu. Avoiding catching the "Swine" flu is exactly like the common flu: staying away from crowds, washing hands before meals, and of course, avoiding people who look infected by the flu. Yet, the media seems to treat the pandemic with such attention that it gives me the idea that we all we should be wearing masks outside here in the United States in order to slow school closings. Don't get me wrong, people should be aware of the new strain, but the knowledge of it should be painted in a way that says, "If you know the precautions, you're already battling the virus." instead of "Watch out, virus coming, no matter what you do, you're sunk!"

Yes, the results from Influenza can be deadly if the body is not prepared for an invasion of the virus. However, the media should not try to portray the virus and its spread around the world as a deadly chase. In my minds, while they're going on a joyride chasing this thing, I'm the bystander, starting to freak out, hoping the outcome of this pandemic isn't going to be the worst.

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Before you go, make sure you get the down low on the correct & unbiased information about the swine flu (Don't go solely on my information yet, I'm a medical student!). For you media-freaks, I'll give you a start page: the CDC's You Tube page. It's a great place to start.