I don't think the media is really blowing anything out of proportion. It's a new strain that they're learning about as the situation progresses. Yeah, people die from the flu, but now it's just another strain that could (and has) added to the death toll.

As for the little boy in TX, I read that he was actually from Mexico, and was visiting relatives in Brownsville. He had already been showing symptoms of the flu. He just happened to die in a hospital in Houston, hence the whole "first death in the US." Sad either way.