are these filthy birds worth the trouble?

The Avian Flu, H5N1 strain, has been around since 1997. I heard about it two or three years ago, SARS was the big concern at the time. However, Today is the day that the Avian Flu has come into our lives at full force thanks to the media. Lets just look at this rationally, there is no need to scare everyone. Currently there are just a few ASIAN countries in which there have been outbreaks of human infractions of the avian flu H5N1 strain, the survival rate is low because there is no immune protection for humans, (as it is a bird flu), but with that said, our current risk remains LOW. To have a true crisis unfold the avian flu would have to jump from human to human, which it has never done. It needs to mutate before that can happen, and luckily, so far this strain , H5N1, has been very slow at mutating.
So why all the news coverage?
Bushco.
The return of the "automatic trigger" (see previouse post under same title) we just heard about after Hurricane Katrina, yet another reason to give them control. He has said earlier this week that he is considering the use of troops to impose a quarantine, and isolation in the event of an outbreak, because according to bush, "The best way to deal with a pandemic is to isolate it". The WHO has been saying a pandemic is "just a matter of time", since the last pandemic in 1968. The CDC estimates that the average number of people that die from the flu every year is 36.000 people, so far the human fatalities for the bird flu is, below a hundred. I am aware of the need to address these health threats, but right now there is no simple solution to this threat, so the media must stop the scare-mongering. There has been a lot of talk about this being worse than the pandemic 87 years ago. The media should be telling us about such a scenario, this should have been paired with common sense, all news lacked any.
As americans, as members of the global community, we need a lesson in hygiene, and consideration. Illnesses such as the flu, go round and round, spreading from children to elderly, and everyone in between because of those selfish people who cannot look beyond them self. First of all if you are sick stay home, if your children are sick keep them home. wash your hands often, wash your children's hands often, cover your mouth, use a tissue, be considerate, if you are an employer stress the importance of keeping production up, by keeping the flu out. In Asia they dont kiss hello, or shake hands, they bow, this is a part of their culture we should embrace. These simple measures, should be the first line of defense, not dragging in the military (who we have not enough of as it is). If our president did not have an agenda, and chose to address this bird flu issue, he would have done so with discretion, and directed us in using common sense for keeping each other well during the upcoming cold and flu season.