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A slow summer week continues. CBS could find no hard news event worthy to lead its newscast so it continued its monthlong practice of overcovering the aftermath of Michael Jackson's death. It made a police search of the home of the late singer's physician its headline. The Story of the Day was the choice of lead at both ABC and NBC even though CBS did not even mention in passing. The Centers for Disease Control are preparing for a fall outbreak of the H1N1 strain of the influenza virus. New research has found that pregnant women may be at disproportionate risk.

Even though the number of pregnant women killed by the swine 'flu virus is small--just 15 so far nationwide, ABC's Lisa Stark told us--their risk is greater. Some 1% of the population is pregnant at any one time yet they represent 6% of those killed by this 'flu. In Brazil, Stark added, the proportion is higher still, eight out of 45. NBC's Robert Bazell explained that all kinds of influenza are risky in the late stages of pregnancy because the uterus expands and reduces lung capacity, making it more likely for an infection to become pneumonia. "Doctors do not even know if swine 'flu is more dangerous to pregnant women than seasonal influenza but because the virus strikes mostly young people that is the big cause for concern."

NBC followed up with a human interest 'flu story from China. Adrienne Mong told us about a tour party of 64 high school students from Medford Ore that arrived in Beijing two weeks ago. When one student tested positive for H1N1, the entire party was placed in quarantine for seven days. Thought to be no longer infectious, they visited Beijing sights and the Great Wall before heading to Dengfeng, the martial arts center. Then three more students tested positive for the swine strain and quarantine again complicated their summer adventure: "China is taking a tough approach."

Andrew Tyndall 7/29/09 9:21:35 pm

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