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<p>In covering the current swine flu outbreak, the ethnic media in the United States has been ahead of the curve on some stories the mainstream media is just picking up, such as a growing <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-f…; against Mexicans. </p>
<p>It didn't take long, did it? Already, unscrupulous vendors are hawking products to "cure" or "prevent" swine flu. Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission issued an <a href="http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2009/NEW02007.html">alert</a> warning about such scams. And that's not all - some swine flu emails actually <a href="http://blogs.usatoday.com/technologylive/2009/04/scam-swine-flu-emails-… viruses</a> that can infect your computer or steal your personal data. The Washington Post blogs on the problem <a href="/">here</a>. </p>
<p>There's plenty of <a href="http://www.twitter.com/">Twitter</a> traffic on swine flu right now, and much of it is hysterical fearmongering, a <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103562240">story</…; in itself. However, if you check out <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23swineflu">#swineflu</a> on Twitter, amid the twaddle you'll see some interesting real-time posts about surgical masks on janitors at the Atlanta airport, a cruise line's decision to avoid Mexican ports in favor of Nicaraguan ones, and rumors about the U.S.
<p>The World Health Organization has just <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-G1kSAM9yaH00eBrXD2S…; its for swine flu pandemic alert level to Level 5, its second highest, signaling that a global pandemic is imminent. </p>
<p>If you're covering the swine flu outbreak, you should make time for a free online class offered by the Centers for Disease Control on Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EST. </p>
<p>How did Santa Clara County in California spend its Homeland Security and bioterrorism preparedness grants after 9/11?On public health? Or "toys for boys?"</p>
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<p>Although scientists and public health officials have long worried that an avian flu virus would spark the world's next influenza pandemic — and developed emergency plans for it — it is a mutated swine flu virus that has emerged as the bigger threat. The current swine flu outbreak, which appears t
<p>Public health officials are increasingly concerned about a possible pandemic amid <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-flu25-2009apr25,0,1963704.st…; of hundreds of new cases of swine flu in Mexico that have killed up to 60 people. Eight swine flu cases have been reported in the United States, in California and Texas. Mexican authorities are taking drastic measures to contain the swine flu outbreak, closing schools and universities in Mexico City.
<p>In a provocative April 9 <a href="http://diseasemanagementcareblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/will-health-insur…;, Dr. Jaan Sidorov, who writes the <a href="http://diseasemanagementcareblog.blogspot.com/">Disease Management Care Blog</a>, envisions how federal health reforms could prompt health insurers to consolidate to the point where, like AIG, they are "too big to fail." </p>
<p>Journalists - particularly those in rural areas - will definitely want to follow the epidemiological investigation of <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/recommendations.htm">swine flu</a> that struck a nine-year-old Imperial County girl and a 10-year-old boy in adjacent San Diego County.The kids are fine now, but public health officials have never before seen this strain of swine flu in the United States. Here is the AP <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gzz357patY4-QaJFvo9O9…;