For two whole weeks around the world, the only news was swine flu news. In different countries media reacted with different levels of scepticism, reflection and temperance. As the dust settled on these first waves of infection many claimed it as another senseless scare story even though the experts had very real concerns. Scientists still believe that infectious diseases are going to have a huge impact in the future, but how fine is the line between informing and scaring? Has the reporting of the killer pandemic that failed to live up to its billing led to a public backlash against the reporting of infectious diseases? Will it be a case of the Boy who cried Pig?

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