Am I missing something?

Everything in the news these days is about the swine flu.  Everyone is in quite the uproar over the possibility of this pandemic and running around thinking the world is going to come to an end and all of North America is going to be wiped off the map.  Am I missing something?  I don't understand the concern.  Every flu season 36,000 people die from the every day, typical, "traditional" flu.  So far less than 200 people have died from the swine flu.  On top of that, it's curable.  It's not like mad cow disease where once you have it you're fucked.  Scientists have identified the strain and it can be treated if people go to the doctor in time.  Is it just because we didn't anticipate this and therefore people are all freaked out?  Is it just because people don't realize that thousands of people die from the flu each year?  Is it because there is nothing else exciting to report on these days on all those 24 hour news channels?  I realize that it's typically older people that die from the traditional flu whereas this is hitting people more in the young to middle age range but couldn't that be because people in those age groups think "oh, I just have the flu, I'll stay home and rest and I'll get better" and therefore they aren't going to the doctor like they should?  Most of these deaths have been in Mexico and as far as I know there has only been that one 23-month old toddler that died in the U.S. so far.  Couldn't that be because Mexico is still considered a developing country.  I've only been to Tijuana and that was about 20 years ago so I don't have a lot to base it on but I'm guessing they probably don't have the same accessibility, availability, and attitude toward health care as we do in the United States.

This reminds me a lot of when SARS was a big story.  That was another "Oh my God the world is going to end and Asia will be wiped off the map" story and then it just disappeared from the news cycle when the next big thing came along.

Like I said, am I missing something?