Summary
REMOVE three letters from the word "pandemic" and you have "panic". Events in the last few days suggest it is just as easy to turn the first into the second. The challenge for governments in both London and Edinburgh is to keep a balance between giving accurate advice and information and unintentionally stirring up a level of public hysteria that could seriously distract health professionals from the task of treating the disease. There is a similar onus on the media and other bodies to which people turn for advice.
Scotland had the first UK cases of swine flu and the first death - a 38-year old woman who had recently given birth - but south of the border it is only in recent days that it has turned from a subject for porcine humour to one of serious concern. The sight of masked British schoolchildren being quarantined in Beijing and the prediction by the government's chief medical officer of a worstcase scenario of 65,000 deaths have raised the level of anxiety. Now the National Childbirth Trust, a respected body which thousands of pregnant women turn to each year for advice and support, has raised the stakes further by suggesting that women should consider delaying pregnancy until after the pandemic.See the full content of this document
Extract
Swine Flu Essential to Give Advice, Not Cause Panic
The charity gives the Department of Health as the source for its advi...
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