As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.

This news story about the new flu is so sensible and full of good information, I can’t believe it was actually published. I certainly haven’t been hearing anything about the scientists findings after looking over the gene sequencing for the new flu from other news sources. I guess “Stop Panicking Now!” doesn’t make for an exciting headline or eye-catching TV graphic.

Also the latest from the WHO:

The World Health Organization said on Friday that as of 0600 GMT the number of officially confirmed cases of a new flu sweeping around the world was 331 in 11 countries, including 10 deaths.