Bird Flu and gossip in Egypt - Which is more deadly?

A few days ago I was sitting at the office and all of a sudden everyone on my msn list kept forwarding this message to me that said: "people are throwing dead chickens in the Nile so dont drink water from the tap for the next 5 hours to avoid catching the bird flu. This is an order from the Egyptian Government." I started laughing! People from all over the place were sending this forward to me and others at work were getting the same from their msn friends as well! It was ridiculous! All these educated people were taking this ridiculous piece of information and forwarding it to everyone! Our water source isn't the cleaniest thing ever! People have thrown garbage, dead animals, and many other toxins in our water which are just as dangerous. Bottomline is, we have a filtration system, its not like we drink straight out of the Nile! I couldnt believe how fast gossip gets around in Egypt! A couple of hours after receiving this forward we went downstairs and there were NO mineral water bottles anywhere! When we finally found a bottle it was for 4 LE when its usually sold for 1.5 LE!! That night, Government officials announced that this was just a rumour and that the water was fine! And when I asked my friends why did they keep forwarding this stuff they just simply said better safe than sorry...just think before you send out this stuff because as you can see it causes panic! So I really dont know which is deadlier...the bird flu or the way ridiculous gossip gets around and affects the economy of Egypt and the lives of people!