Mass Hysteria

After a day of washing my hands at work much more frequently and with everyone cracking swine flu jokes, I come home to find this headline on Yahoo...

Is swine flu 'the big one'?

Public health experts have long feared a new flu could appear and kill millions worldwide.

Wow.

Is that really necessary?

I understand the need for sensationalism to achieve maximum clickthrough rates but... come on... really?

Even if it's true, is there a need for it? Can it accomplish anything more than generating a mass panic? Not to mention it'll jam emergency rooms with people convinced they're suffering from it.