Why did the H1N1 virus have so much hype even tho it had a low mortality rate?

I agree with Chris, I believe they exaggerated the threat to sell more vaccines.

The hype has completely died down now. It’s because once it had a mortality rate people thought of it as the new killer. But since they blitzed it so hard with safety campaigns and Tamiflu the effects were quickly dampened and then people began to think of it as not as bad as it sounds, when it really was. The mortality rate was low because countries began hard campaigns to get people to get tested if they felt symptoms, to wash their hands, to use hand sanitiser, to use tissues etc. so they succeeded in managing the impact it had. I actually had Swineflu, and I’ve got to say that it was worse than they made it out to be. Every morning my throat was so sore I cried. Swallowing water felt like trying to swallow shards of glass and all I could eat was ice cream. I got hot sweats, insomnia, and it was probably the worst 2 weeks of my life. The virus deserved the hype it received because without it more people would have died. But nobody cares about Swineflu any more ‘cause it was so successfully contained that the full danger was never realised. Hope this answers your questions :)

Most strains of flu are only dangerous to the very young, old, and frail. H1N1 is scary because it can kill healthy adults; in fact it seems to be more deadly to people with strong immune systems.

Few people know this today but during World War I far more people died of “Spanish” flu than from combat. Like H1N1 the Spanish flu killed young healthy soldiers. The movement of troops spread this flu far and wide. Today with increased air travel similar pandemics are possible even without war.

The threat wasn’t exaggerated at all. It was terrible. And in Britain the hype was just as high as other places, if not higher, but the treatment - Tamiflu - was available for free. I don’t think there was a vaccine ‘cause it came on too fast and there wasn’t one made. There was only Tamiflu to treat you once you had it. Unless I’m mistaken in which case I apologise

I dont think it was to scare people into buying more vaccines, I dont know anyone who bought tamiflu - here atleast it was only available from the doctor if it was genuinely required. Also, if it was a scheme from the drug companies, they probably wold have made sure they had enough to sell anyway, which they did not. A lot of people got sick, but no one I know was prescribed tamiflu. I think the hype was due to the fact it killed a lot of people in the country it was first found in, and it is highly contagious. The world health organisation was preparing for the worst, because it was impossible to control the spread of the virus and when it first emerged, it appeared to have a high mortality rate.