The problem with H1N1 is that the general population has little immunity to it, so containing and controlling it is difficult. Had it been more virulent, this w

The problem with H1N1 is that the general population has little immunity to it, so containing and controlling it is difficult. Had it been more virulent, this would be very serious. Why this thing is tracked and scientists take it very seriously is that influenza can rapidly mutate and H1N1 _could_ become much more virulent than it is today. The extremely deadly 1918 flu had a first wave that behaves like most flu outbreaks before coming back and killing tens of millions of people. That doesn't mean that will happen this time or that people should get panicky. Catching H1N1 in its current state is probably beneficial because it would confer stronger immunity to what might be a family of influenza that could be around for a while, but its spread is newsworthy. If the news leads to more people staying home when they are sick, even if the symptoms are more minor for them, and we get more herd immunity through increased vaccinations, that's a good thing. EDIT: I just wanted to emphasis that vaccination is definitely preferable to catching the actual disease, even if the latter would give strong immunity to future, similar strains.