Reuters out on front on global swine flu story

Expertise and solid contacts paid off as Reuters leapt onto the developing swine flu story well ahead of other news organisations. As early as April 21, Reuters health team was reporting on a puzzling new type of flu and assessing the chances of it spreading. On April 23, Reuters was hours ahead of major rivals in reporting more cases and in raising the question of a possible pandemic. That night, we were hours ahead in reporting from Mexico that the country faced a major outbreak and that all schools in the capital city would be closed. On April 29, Reuters was first with a major new development: the news of the first death from the illness outside Mexico, in the southern United States. Throughout the story, Reuters has tracked the interlinked political, health and economic aspects of the crisis in a way that made sense of the threat but did not give in to panic.