The Wake

As of Oct. 21, 118 human cases of Avian (bird) flu and 61 related deaths have been reported worldwide. The cases have been concentrated in Asia where the bird flu has been developing since 1997, when the first known cases were contracted by humans in Hong Kong. The media, however, has just begun reporting the bird flu, portraying it as a recent occurrence.

The fear cycling through world media outlets is that the flu will mutate and become transferable from human to human. For the past eight years, the virus has only been transmitted from bird to bird or from bird to human.

According to recent reports, scientists and public health experts fear that the bird flu will be similar to the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 25 to 50 million people worldwide. Recently, the 1918 flu strain was reconstructed by scientists in order to test for common characteristics between the H5N1 bird flu strain currently spreading through Asia and the 1918 flu. It was announced that the H5N1 bird flu strain had some similarities to the 1918 flu, but is still not transferable from human to human.

In spite of the media’s hype, the current bird flu that provokes fear is not most similar to the 1918 flu. Rather, it is more reminiscent of the 1976 pandemic that never happened. In 1976, a few soldiers at Fort Dix in N. J. became ill and one of died. It was quickly determined by scientists that the illness was a flu strain that infected pigs. Acting on this information, President Gerald R. Ford announced a swine flu vaccination program to “inoculate every man, woman and child in the United States.” He did this about a month after the discovery of the strain.

Ford’s pandemic never panned out. Instead, the vaccination process was halted two months after the President’s order. The inoculations were discontinued because 500 people developed a paralyzing nerve disorder from the injection. Of the 500 people, 30 died.

Nobody knows for certain what impact bird flu will have on the world. What is certain is the media consumer needs to reflect more on the news he or she reads.

The idea that fear sells is a cliché, yet the masses continue to buy it in bulk. As media consumers we need to drain the flood waters of information in which we submerge ourselves. The editors (gate keepers) of news reporting on the bird flu are the government agencies and pharmaceutical companies. Each can gain or profit from the bird flu scare. The news agencies, by reporting in favor of the government and pharmaceutical companies, may also profit.

The administration can remove the spotlight from the failing presidency if the U.S. news agencies increase the threat level of a likely pandemic. President Bush implemented the same political tactic after the Sept.11th attacks in New York City; the White House would supply news outlets with daily terror alert levels to report to Americans. It seems the higher the threat level, the higher approval rating of Mr. Bush’s job as president (or presidential performance).

President Bush heavily relied on propagating terrorist fear to the American voting public throughout his 2004 campaign. An aide of the president even said to a Washington Post reporter during the campaign that Mr. Bush’s political plan was “aimed at stoking public fears about terrorism, raising new concerns about Kerry’s ability to protect Americans and reinforcing Bush’s image as the steady anti-terrorism candidate.” The chance of 50 million people dying worldwide from the bird flu looks much worse than 2,000 American soldiers killed in the War on Iraq

President Ford prematurely declared the swine flu as the world’s next pandemic in 1976 and ruined 500 innocent American lives in the process. President Bush and the U.S. Congress may be repeating Ford’s mistake by approving a multi-billion dollar bill to prevent the bird flu. Ford ruined lives and we will be “repeating Ford’s mistake…”

The multi-billiondollar bill will undoubtedly find its way into the pockets of pharmaceutical company executives. Just recently, the Chiron Corporation was awarded $62.5 million by the U.S. government to find a vaccine for the bird flu. Sanofi-Aventis was also granted a $100 million contract earlier this fall and is expected to deliver its vaccine by the end of this year. The more publicity on the likelihood of a pandemic will mean more money for big pharmaceutical companies. Drug companies are out for profit.

The bird flu may be the next great pandemic of the world, but it also might not be. Too much time and money may be exhausted on the possibility of the bird flu. The certainty of bird flu is only being reported as the next 1918 pandemic. The possibility that the bird flu could be a repeat of the 1976 scare is completely ignored by the media. Therefore, the media consumer needs to realize the other side and why it is not being reported.

Tom McNamara is the Voices staff writer and welcomes comments at .