Cure worse than the disease.(THE LAST WORD)(swine flu outbreak)

Every person with an ounce of common sense, and an equal amount of compassion for his fellow human beings, takes public health threats seriously. It is an unfortunate fact of our existence that we are vulnerable to communicable diseases, which, when detected, must be contained.

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Despite our best efforts, all diseases have not been eradicated, and periodically, one gets out of control, or so it appears. The recent outbreak of H1N1 flu, popularly called the "swine flu," at first appeared to have the potential to reach epidemic proportions, though the persistent throwing around of the term "pandemic" was undoubtedly excessive. Nevertheless, as with all dangerous communicable diseases, maximum caution to prevent the spread of this flu was certainly in order.

Sometimes, however, responses to outbreaks of diseases that bear exotic-sounding names are based more on hype than science. This is more apt to occur when a combination of government agencies and the mass media dominate the conversation, since neither sector generally demonstrates the unbiased discipline and dispassionate logic prevalent among other possible sources of disease-related information, such as privately funded healthcare providers.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website (www.cdc. gov/h1n1 flu/) on May 3 showed a tally of H1N1 cases: it listed 226 cases nationwide. The only death resulting from the disease had been of one child who had contracted the disease in Mexico and who died in Texas.

To put these figures into perspective, consider a report published online on May 1 by CNSNews. The report noted that in 2006--the most recent year for which the CDC had compiled statistics--more than 56,000 people died from the flu in the United States. Also cited was a recent CDC study indicating that an average of 36,171 people died each year of flu in the United States from 1993 to 2003.

The report's author notes the marked contrast between our federal response to this year's outbreak as opposed to those in the past: