The above model is closely related to those in [27, 28] to analyze the transmission dynamics of human influenza, but there are some differences. In [27] , the authors consider the inflow of infective immigrants, while in [28] the model includes treatment. Neither of these are considered here. Our model is clearly a crude reflection of the complicated nonlinear phenomena of the transmission dynamics, and it does not incorporate the self-control property due to the change of avoidance patterns of individuals at different stages of the infectious process [2] . News coverage may have a significant impact on avoidance behaviours at both individual and society levels, which may reduce the effective contact between susceptible and infectious individuals; we include this via a saturation incidence functional response.