Just the media needing a story to latch on to. Let’s look at some mortality rates:

Avian/Bird Flu (H5N1): 56%
SARS: 15%
Swine Flu (H1N1): 4.5%
Typical Flu Season: 1% (couldn’t find good data so I estimated based on what I did gather AND this number is only for the US, where Swine Flu has a 0% death rate)

And that 4.5% will only go down as we’re now able to recognize and treat it properly. I hate media and mass hysteria.