So far "Swine Flu" has a less than 1% mortality rate and is far LESS deadly than the 1918 outbreak of a quite similar Influenza strain.
The U.S. racks up about 35,000 deaths per year due to "Influenza" which covers all known permutations from year to year.
"The normal seasonal influenza is a huge public health problem that kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S. alone and hundreds of thousands around the world," said Dr. Christopher Olsen, a molecular virologist who studies swine flu at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison. - Interview by Karen Kaplan and Alan Zarembo, April 30, 2009, L.A. Times
"Swine Flu" is just the name given to one strain of the illness. each year several new strains surface. They've simply slapped a name on this one and are giving it tons of media coverage.
That's not to say that ANY illness that takes lives isn't awful and something to be careful of. Let's just not lose our heads over it, that's all.
Just sayin
