Burke; thanks for that clarification. I have heard so much conflicting information about this is recent weeks I can't remember the details of it all.

I see your point on how it is not wise to equate this with flu. My main reasons for using a comparison to influenza, even though these may not be similar afflictions, is in terms of what I see as the media panic surrounding SARS. My point was, the mortality from flu each year is probably greater, and like SARS affects those with compromised immunity more seriously than others, but for some reason this epidemic is being seen as far more serious. And i think par of that has to do with recent tendencies in the media to paint everything (except the casualties of the war oddly enough) with extreme colors in order to promulgate extreem panic and fear. I have not seen ONE story on SARS on the internet or TV news in which at least one picture of someone wearing a surgical mask was not prominently featured. It seems if we go more than a week without something out there to fear, the media feel they arent dying their jobs.

for example: Before SARS became an international problem, there were ridiculous headline stories trying to link the hijacker of the Achille Lauro to "terrorism in Iraq" simply because he'd been found there 18 years fater this crime was committed. Every headline had "terrorist" and "Iraq" in it. That may seem obvious, but in subtle ways these headlines work on our psyches and the effect is one of increasingly xenophobic paranoia, and the instilling of fear in places it did not exist before. Words like "terror", "epidemic", "nukes", "victims", etc. are all used in ways to play upon our emotions, even when such loaded words are not appropriate or even accurate.

I am watching the coverage of the Laci Peterson case; it does seem likely that her husband did it, but the way the news is covering this, they have already convicted him! I have seen a dozen different headlines mentioning the death penalty. The guy isn't even scheduled for a hearing yet! Much less been found guilty by a jury.