# 5166
The past 96 hours have seen a large number of articles appearing in the Arabic press regarding both `swine’ and `bird’ flu in Egypt. The machine translations of these stories are – at best – confusing, and in some cases, I believe are badly misleading.
Despite references to `bird flu’, most of these stories, I believe, are about the H1N1 virus.
But again, it is hard to tell for sure.
Given the ambiguities involved, and my wish not to echo `suspect’ information across the internet, I’ve decided to wait until the situation in Egypt become clearer before blogging on these news reports.
So . . . for now, while I’m watching these news reports with interest (you can too, on by visiting the FluTrackers Egypt H1N1 and H5N1 Forums), I don’t consider them reliable enough to include in my blog.
If and when media reports I perceive as credible become available, I will certainly write about them. That is obviously a personal, arbitrary, and very subjective evaluation on my part.
But it is the only one I can go with. Others will no doubt see this issue differently.
A couple of days ago, Sharon Sanders of FluTrackers expressed similar concerns over the reliability and interpretation of these media reports (see Referral: A FluTrackers Commentary).
So I’m not alone in my concerns.
If there really is something unusual going on in Egypt, I’ve no doubt we will no doubt find that out in time.
