Swine Flu
I had planned a rant about this topic for quite some time now and I guess this provides a good opportunity for it. Seriously, how can a more or less regular flu be declared a national emergency? Even if this particular virus originates from another species, it’s not noticeably more severe than those that cause the seasonal flu every year, so why all this panic? Did the powers that be really require yet another thing to frighten people into submission with? I thought they had plenty of means to do that already…
The latest numbers I saw showed a mortality rate of about 0.4% in Europe and 1% elsewhere, which is very little in itself. But even those small numbers are actually inflated, because some people won’t go to the hospital for something like this and a few countries have realized that it’s nothing major and stopped reporting all but the most severe cases. So we’re talking about a pretty regular flu virus, which means that it can admittedly spread very quickly and cause the people it infects to feel awful for about a week, but in the tremendous majority of cases it won’t do anything more than that.
Barring the odd case that basically reflects the fact that you can’t account for luck, complications tend to arise only when the infected person is part of a risk group, such as those who are very young or very old or those who have heart or lung problems. But those are at risk when it comes to all sorts of infections, so there’s really nothing special about this flu. I wonder how many people develop complications as a result of common bacterial infections from food and water or some other kind of widespread ailment… I’d like to see some statistics, if anyone has any, because I think the percentage could actually be higher than it is for the swine flu.
Some time ago I read an article detailing how did the Hong Kong authorities respond to this flu and I think that’d be a good example to follow for the rest of the world. Remember that Hong Kong was hit hard by SARS, so if what I read in that article is the actual truth then they’re worthy of even more praise for being among the first to realize that this flu is not a threat and get back to more important matters.
The article was saying that the expected panic was noticed at first, people remembering SARS and not wanting to take any chances, which resulted in those who appeared to have flu symptoms even being arrested on sight in order to keep them away from the general public and therefore prevent the virus from spreading. But they soon recovered their wits and started analyzing the facts objectively, which resulted in a drastic change in their response to such cases. A rough quote (from memory) would be something along the lines of “if at first you could be arrested on the street for coughing, presently if you go to a doctor and complain of flu symptoms you’re simply told to go back home, wait it out and try not to cough in anyone’s face on the way”.
The fact is that many of those who are infected by this virus could fully recover even without a specific treatment and the vast majority of those who do end up needing some specific treatment will never be in any serious danger either. Under these circumstances, the “go back home and wait it out” approach certainly seems to be the one authorities and doctors everywhere should choose, or at least that’s how I see it…
I wonder where did this start from… Do so many people truly scare so easily or is it just the authorities and pharmaceutical companies that try to make it appear so? It’d be very easy to blame only the powers that be and go into various conspiracy theories, but I’m trying to be objective and see all the facts. The truth is that many “regular people” do scare easily and react impulsively, so they could certainly share the blame for this situation. On the other hand, the authorities and (perhaps even more so) the pharmaceutical companies have certainly made the most of it, so at least some of those conspiracy theories are justified and could even prove to be quite accurate. We can’t really know exactly what’s going on right now so, while I say that anyone who claims that the swine flu is a serious threat is at the very least misguided, I view those who claim that it’s all just one big conspiracy pretty much the same way. A clear head and a balanced attitude are always crucial, yet they’re so very hard to find in this society of ours…
But a good thing could eventually come out of this, if people would only get that message. Such diseases spread from person to person without requiring direct contact, so traveling is a risk. I remember a National Geographic article that said that a localized outbreak of bird flu, which does currently look like a particularly dangerous kind of flu, would spread all around the world in no more than six months due to how often and how far people currently travel.
Of course, my main concern is the major negative impact that traveling has on the environment, but it doesn’t appear that many people would be willing to stay home just to reduce the harm done to the planet. However, they could think again if they’d know that trips can prove to be a significant health risk for themselves and others, even if the World Health Organization shies away from recommending travel restrictions. Either way, the fact that a disease that appeared all the way on the other side of the world could make its way to you so quickly simply because some people keep going wherever they want without caring about the consequences is quite troubling, even if the disease in question won’t prove to be a serious problem in any way.
