Swine Flu Alert: Reaching Spanish Speakers

May 11, 2009

As news spread about the outbreak of the swine flu, Fenton Senior Account Executive Felipe Benitez realized that information was slow getting through to Spanish-speaking audiences.

Felipe swiftly created "Influenza 09: A Spanish-Language Resource for the Latino Community," a bilingual blog that compiles information about the influenza A (H1N1) virus  from sources like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO).

Within days, the rapid response blog became a resource for the League of Latin American United Citizens, the Pan-American Health Organization Library, the Health Ministry of the Government of Ecuador and the Argentinean and Honduran embassies in the U.S., to name a few, drawing audiences from both the U.S. and  many Spanish-speaking countries.

The blog's reach prompted the Library of Congress to select Felipe's blog to be one of 250 Web sites featured in the Presidential Transition during a Time of Crisis Web Archive.