Hello everyone

I've just been to the local shop and couldn't walk 2 steps without seeing a newpaper plastered with "news" about this Aussie Flu thing that has been circulating the past few months.

As the health anxiety board is by far the most read and posted on I thought it would be a good idea to discuss this so called epidemic and offer some reassurance and points of view to counteract all the negativity in the media.

I have a pet peeve with the media when things like this happen as it's already hard trying to get over health anxiety without every newspaper having "KILLER FLU AFFECTS EVERYWHERE BUT TWO TOWNS" or some other variation.

For a start, don't all Flu viruses have the potential to be killers? From what I can gather this new flu targets children, elderly and people with long term conditions. Just like any other flu. The symptoms are the same but "more severe". It's contagious just like other flu. So how the hell is it any different to all the other flu viruses?

It's like when the whole swine flu thing was going around. 3 of my friends in school caught it and we all thought they were going to die the way the media was scaremongoring it all.

I'm all for freedom of the press but it really annoys me when they start circulating stuff like this when there are people out there suffering from health anxiety.

I'd be interested to hear other people's thought on this or media portrayal of health issues in general!