Another Fear-Laden Influenza Warning?

The same kind of "ohmygawd" tone that accompanied last fall's reports of a shortage of influenza vaccines for 2005 was echoed in Wednesday's news that a particularly nasty strain of the flu virus was sent to more than 4,000 labs worldwide for testing. The World Health Organziation's Klaus Stohr is today's No. 3 Bursty person, and two other doctors (Nos. 12 and 13) made it on the list as well.

But did anyone notice that 2005 -- a year when perhaps the fewest number of cooped-up, cold-weather Americans were vaccinated against influenza -- didn't produce widespread outbreaks of flu? Hmmmm...

Have you been bitten by spring fever yet? Today's pulse on spring-related discussion in blogs show these trends:



Welcome, Media Insider!
MediaInsider, the web site of PRNewswire, now features daily BlogPulse stats on its home page. The left column of the web site lists each day's top 10 links and a direct link to the key personalities, culled from daily analysis of blog posts.

Visually speaking
Google has launched yet another service, this one a video upload program, and the BBC has launched a Creative Licence Group to "release content that will fuel a truly creative nation."

Today's people in the news
Today's burstiest person is Jeffrey Ake, the Indiana contractor who's the latest hostage in Iraq, followed by Vermont's own Rep. Bernard Sanders, who joins House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on the list of politicians who keep family members well compensated. And then, there's Britney Spears, who has announced she's pregnant.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: The videotape of Mr. Ake, the hostage in Iraq, serves as a reminder that military and civilian casualties continue.