Pandemic Of The Press!

It seems we are all doomed. Well we are if we are to believe the stories in the tabloids and the reports being shown on tonight's early evening news.

Apparently, two people in the UK have now been confirmed as having Swine Flu, the highly contagious version of the flu family for which we do not have an effective vaccination available.

The outbreak was first reported as being an epidemic in Mexico, where it is thought that around 150 lives have been lost to the virus. Now, it is known to have crossed the border into the US and our own press are gearing up to supply us with a frenzy of doom and gloom stories over here.

Their emphasis tonight, is on the possibility it will become a pandemic - a word I had never heard until the last major outbreak of flu a year or so ago. I seem to remember that particular strain of the virus was blamed on migrating birds at the time.

Judging by the overall tone of panic attached to tonight's news reports, we must now brace ourselves for a beating by a positive epidemic of case histories. Stories like how the available supply of face masks has run out, due to the overwhelming demand by an increasingly terrified public, will become the norm.

It seems we are far more likely to find a vaccination against the Swine Flu than we are to find an effective protection against the doom peddlers of the tabloids.

Sadly, they really are a pandemic on their own!