Swine Flu
The Swine Flu, in France known as la grippe A, has landed in France and the media frenzy is on!
School started last week and, as in other countries, measures are being taken on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Children are being asked to sneeze into a tissue, wash their hands and cough into their elbow. If there are more than three cases of the flu at any school, the authorities will decide if they should close down the school. In October, if the media is to be believed, all children will be offered the vaccination at school.
Without wanting to trivialize the subject, the hysteria around swine flu seems a bit overblown! From talking to friends who have been diagnosed with it, it isn’t any worse than the common-all-garden variety. There have been very sad cases of people passing away after having been infected by this flu, but the toll does not seem to be higher than during the normal flu season.
So why all of this excitement?
Is it because the pharmaceutical companies are seeing this as a golden opportunity to sell a huge amount of product? Are governments enjoying looking like the health of the public is their main priority? I might be sounding a tad cynic but it really seems to me that the attention on swine flu is a bit of a storm in a teacup. I completely agree with preventative measures such as washing hands, coughing whilst covering the mouth and so on. What I don’t agree with is the hysteria created by the media and the governments. In times of crisis, especially health crisis, it makes so much more sense for me to stay calm and inform the public in an non emotive way. I would love to know what you guys think!
- Emilie
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I agree the press has overblown this, so far H1N1 appears to be no worse than the regular seasonal flu. Of course, the fear is that it will mutate and become as deadly as the 1918 variety. But as it stands it does not appear to be mutating. Nevertheless, we have gotten our annual flu shot already (like we always do) and if/when the H1N1 vax is out we will likely get it as well or at least our son will. The reason, I don’t want to have to deal with a 3 yr old with the flu of any flavor, if it can be prevented.
I’m totally with you, Emilie.
I feel like everyone in London has already had the Swine Flu! A couple months ago I took my newborn baby (she was 2 months old) into the doctor and told him I thought she, and my 4-year-old had Swine Flu. He looked at me with absolutely no changed expression and said, “Well, they probably do. It’s everywhere. Everyone has it.”
I wasn’t too terribly worried about my boys, but I was worried about the baby because I kept hearing that it’s only a risk if ‘you’re really young or really old’. So I asked again, “Should I be worried?” He told me again that I shouldn’t worry unless she stopped eating, weeing, pooing or wouldn’t stop crying.
I’m pretty sure we all eventually got Swine Flu (my husband and I even took a Tamiflu course), and it wasn’t any worse than the average flu/cold. Not scary at all. And yes, I think people are blowing it way out of proportion!
Just ask my GP…
I totally agree, nevertheless every other week the italian papers come up with new reasons to be scared.
Then you talk to doctors and first of all they say they do not know much about it, they cannot really forecast how it will mutate and if it will. Plus they say that so far it seems like a regular flu that needs to be cured with paracetamol, ibruprofen and bed rest.
It’s very contagious, also becaus eit’s new(er).
Let’s see what happens!!!
Governments and health organizations don’t seem worried so much about the severity of the virus, but rather the very real threat that very large volumes of people could contract the disease at the same time and overload our medical systems and compromise our overall healthcare capabilities.
This is a brand new flu strain and there is no vaccine yet, so no one has any immunity to it until after they catch it. The virus has also proven to be extremely contagious. So it is very likely that it will peak in very large numbers. I haven’t read or heard any health officials indicating this is a more severe illness than regular seasonal flu. I don’t think there’s enough known about the disease yet, though, to conclude anything. . . there are still some effects they don’t understand on young adults, pregnant women, etc.
I agree the media has created a lot of confusing panic, making people feel very threatened that something horrific will happen if they catch this flu strain, and that doesn’t seem exactly accurate for most people. There is a very valid need, however, for the broad population to do all possible to avoid spreading the virus, including practicing good hygiene and getting vaccinated when possible. And if it helps to personalize it, just think how you might feel if you or a loved one had to head to a hospital for an emergency at a time when the hospital is overloaded and it’s staff is overworked because of all this flu. . . I think that may be the bigger threatening scenario.
I finally started reading Naomi Klein’s (of No Logo fame) The Shock Doctrine the other day which is about how governments and corporations use a disaster as an opportunity to capitalise on the shock of the people to implement laws, regulations, and take advantage financially in a way that would not have been possible pre disaster. Certain pharmaceutical companies will be making a fortune out of this but they can only flog as much product as there is a perceived demand so the hype helps stimulate the demand. I wouldn’t be surprised if after this swine flu ‘epidemic’, the British government doesn’t use it as an opportunity to radically change the NHS and even start having the great majority pay for their healthcare in some way…
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t dismiss the fact that there is a new strain of flu and obviously if exceptionally large numbers of people catch it at the same time then there could be serious issues. I have been scared although I was even more scared when my 2 year old was offered Tamiflu by a robotic guy at a call centre because she had a high temperature and a bit of a cough. Her temperature settled by the following morning….
An interesting article, it’s definitely a good idea to stay calm and offer information in a sensible manner so not to cause panic.
However one thing I would emphasise is the importance of washing and drying your hands regularly.
You might be interested in this online tutorial which clearly illustrates the importance of not only washing but also drying your hands so to reduce the spread of bacteria – http://bit.ly/MMVMr