West Nile Virus In Michigan

Not to be too cold-blooded about it, but looking at the coverage of the West Nile Virus in the papers one would think we're facing the next coming of the bubonic plague.  Some papers even consider it news that some people are going on about their lives normally even in the face of this "deadly virus". 

I especially like this quote from the article linked above...

While news spread fast over the weekend of Michigan's first likely fatality from West Nile virus - - a 65-year-old Ferndale man who died last Tuesday -- the outdoorsy set seems unfazed by the sudden jump in the mosquito-borne ailment.

The sudden jump?  More people are killed by influenza each year than have been killed by WNV since it was even discovered in this country.  Again, I don't want to make light of someone's death; it just seems that our news media lurches from one hype job to another. 

 

7:31:10 PM  #  
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