Swine flu panic?

Seven students at the University have contracted the swine flu.

Seven.

And this is front page news?

Of course it is. Sixty percent of you are worried about coming down with the dreaded H1N1 virus, according a national poll. Another 20 percent believe the virus is a “serious problem.”

Perhaps it was the World Health Organization’s highly publicized move to raise the pandemic alert level from a Phase 5 to a Phase 6 in June, a relatively meaningless indication that the flu pandemic was “under way.”

Maybe it’s the Media’s fault.

Atlanta’s 11AliveNews reported in April that “top state health officials say the swine flu outbreak will almost certainly strike in Georgia and could likely lead to deaths here.” Three months later, 74 Georgians have been hospitalized for H1N1 – 74, out of nearly 10 million residents.

Or maybe we’ve all spent a little too much time on WebMd, twittering the Center for Disease Control and downloading the numerous swine applications available on our iPhones.

Wherever we place the blame, the point is we care. Because of the stigma attached to swine, any sign of illness is making us increasingly wary. We’ve all begun inching away from sneezers and we’re thinking twice before clearing our throats in public.

One in about 7,000 people in the U.S. have had the swine flu, according to the Center for Disease Control. Sure, the U.S. has the largest number of confirmed cases worldwide, but most people who catch the virus have recovered without requiring any medical treatment, according to the CDC.

The symptoms are the same as the regular seasonal flu and you take a pill to get better.

In fact, 36,000 people die each year from the seasonal flu. It’s just not as sexy as swine.

So wash your hands, get lots of sleep and drink plenty of fluids, but please leave your face mask at home.

- Hayley Peterson for the editorial board.