While Mat and I were in the UK last month the top topic on the news was Swine Flu, with outbreaks popping up all over the place. Though no one in the UK had died from it people were in varying states of panic, mostly due to, in my opinion, over reactive media and their love for blowing things out of proportion for the sake of a good story.
However, on our reintry to Australia, apart from having to hand in a medical declaration at passport control and have an infra red scan of our body temperatures as we left the plane exit, everything was relatively quiet.
I did receive a little bit of ribbing from our flat mates and work colleagues as my allergy to tree pollen was in full swing so I was fairly snotty and sneezy.
Since we’ve been back though, media attention has been growing with the first confirmed case announced last week. Yesterday morning, as I was listening to Merrick, Rosso and Kate Richie on Nova 96.9, they declared that within the next year every Australian will know of someone that has contracted or will themselves contract Swine Flu; apparently 1 in 5 will get it!
Today the news advised that there are 33 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in New South Wales and 147 in Australia.
Considering the size of Australia this doesn’t seem a lot to me and as yet, again, no one has died from it. In fact as far as I know the only deaths have occurred in Mexico where the thing originated and in America.
Chris and Irina – I would be very interested to know the state of Swine Flu in Kazakhstan – is it in the news yet and are there any confirmed cases near you?
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