Insights

<p>It didn't take long, did it? Already, unscrupulous vendors are hawking products to "cure" or "prevent" swine flu. Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission issued an <a href="http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2009/NEW02007.html">alert</a&gt; warning about such scams. And that's not all - some swine flu emails actually <a href="http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/2009/04/scam-swine-flu-emails-… viruses</a> that can infect your computer or steal your personal data. The Washington Post blogs on the problem <a href="/">here</a>. </p>

<p>There's plenty of <a href="http://www.twitter.com/">Twitter</a&gt; traffic on swine flu right now, and much of it is hysterical fearmongering, a <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103562240">story</…; in itself. However, if you check out <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23swineflu">#swineflu</a&gt; on Twitter, amid the twaddle you'll see some interesting real-time posts about surgical masks on janitors at the Atlanta airport, a cruise line's decision to avoid Mexican ports in favor of Nicaraguan ones, and rumors about the U.S.

<p>The World Health Organization has just <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-G1kSAM9yaH00eBrXD2S…; its for swine flu pandemic alert level to Level 5, its second highest, signaling that a global pandemic is imminent. </p>

<p>If you're covering the swine flu outbreak, you should make time for a free online class offered by the Centers for Disease Control on Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EST. </p>

<p>State, local and national agencies were supposed to be prepared for this swine flu outbreak. After September 11^th, money started flowing to law enforcement agencies and public health departments to help them gear up specifically for a chemical or biological threat.</p><p>So how was that money spent?</p><p>On the eve of the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, my colleague here at Center for Health Journalism Digital, Barbara Feder Ostrov, wrote a great piece for the San Jose Mercury News that detailed how money in the San Jose area was being spent. </p>

<p>The swine flu scare in the United States may have started with just two Southern California children, but it intensified with the discovery ofmore than two dozeninfected students at a New York City school. St. Francis Preparatory Schoolreported that 100 students had gone on a trip to Mexico recently and that, since the trip, 28 students at the school had come down with symptoms of swine flu. </p>

<p>I <a href="/blogs/octomom-was-just-start-how-evaluate-your-local-fertility-clinic-part-one">wrote</a> a few weeks ago about the coverage of <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedishrag/2009/03/hospital-staff-fired… Suleman</a>, the unemployed woman with six kids who, with the help of a fertility doctor, ended up with eight more.</p><p>I talked about how you can use CDC data as a jumping-off point for stories about fertility practices in your area.</p>

<p>Public health officials are increasingly concerned about a possible pandemic amid <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-flu25-2009apr25,0,1963704.st…; of hundreds of new cases of swine flu in Mexico that have killed up to 60 people. Eight swine flu cases have been reported in the United States, in California and Texas. Mexican authorities are taking drastic measures to contain the swine flu outbreak, closing schools and universities in Mexico City.

<p>John Carey, a 20-year veteran at <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/">BusinessWeek</a&gt;, wrote a story that set the pharmaceutical world on its ear in January 2008. Titled "<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm">… Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?</a>," the article systematically broke down the many myths behind the so-called "miracle cure" for heart disease: statins. Carey's story won an <a href="http://www.healthjournalism.org/awards-winners.php?Year=2008">award</a&…; from the Association of Health Care Journalists at its conference in Seattle.</p>