Natalie’s Blog

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SARS didn’t bother me, certainly the Bird Flu didn’t bother me, but I can’t put my finger on why Swine Flu bothers me.

I’ve never followed another story so intensely as this one since 9/11 when I recorded MSNBC 24 hours a day on my VCR for 5 days straight (hehe, VCRs).  So I wonder to myself, “Why do I suddenly care?”

Now, I realize that I cannot get Swine Flu from eating bacon or porkchops and it hasn’t even been confirmed in the city of Omaha, let alone the state of Nebraska (yet). Something keeps me glued to the topics and following them almost obsessively. Just now I think I found the reason why.

SARS made international headlines in 2003 where only 800 people died (I use the word only because 36,000 people a year die from the regular flu) and 8,000 were infected. Roughly 10% of infected people died.

In 2007 Avian Flu (H5N1) became the new sensation. People were afraid of becoming one of the few hundred that died from that pandemic. The Avian Flu has a mortality rate of 61%, far more disturbing (wow, guess I should’ve been a little more aware of Avian Flu when it happened, huh?), yet only 421 people were infected.

So why does the H1N1 Virus grab my attention?

Well, according to Wikipedia (so far) approximately 2,500 people have become infected and 152 have died. That’s only 6%. But it’s still early, right?

Here’s the real answer.

Twitter.

Yes, Twitter is the reason I am more worried about the H1N1 virus. I’m on Twitter I don’t even know how long per day, but to give you an idea I tweeted 46 times in the past 24 hours.  All this talk about the Swine Flu on Twitter and all of these updates have brought it to an unfortunately unavoidable channel in my life. I rely on Twitter for news updates from both local and national news stations, I help my company’s customers on Twitter, and I argue and play fight with my colleagues to release stress. For me, turning away from Twitter isn’t an option.

Sure, I could shut off my CNN, MSNBC and BNO updates, but they still report on things that I want to read about. Not to mention almost every person I follow has posted something about the Swine Flu on Twitter, especially @spooons who really got me more interested on the topic.

Now, for some reason, I’m following CDC Emergency! What the hell?! But I can’t turn away. I think that following the top news sources on Twitter makes me feel like I will learn something before someone else does (not the case, but you know that feeling, right?).

I’m not one to panic (and am certainly not panicking over this) but I find the topic interesting and (unfortunately) will continue to follow the topic until it dies off, just as the SARS and Avian Flu topics did years ago.