Fear has taken root around the globe and the culling of the swine has begun.
With more than 850 confirmed worldwide cases of people infected with “swine flu”, also known as H1N1, some governments are reacting in panic to reduce the spread of the disease, or at least look like they are doing something about it.
Officials in Baghdad ordered the destruction of three uninfected wild boars at a zoo “to break a barrier of fear,” according to the zoo director.
Egypt has ordered the mass slaughter of every pig in the country regardless of infection, despite the fact that there have been no confirmed cases of the H1N1 there, yet.
Chinese officials have reportedly quarantined more than 70 Mexican travelers because of one infected individual, straining relations between the two countries.
Mass hysteria has, as it so often does, bred unfounded fears that lead to uninformed and prejudice decisions.
Contrary to the image created by its unfortunate moniker, swine have little to do with the current outbreak.
On Sunday, CNN reported on its Web site what could be the first confirmed case of infected pigs during the recent outbreak.
The twist is that the pigs, located in Canada, were likely infected by a human, not the other way around. According to CNN, a farmer who recently returned from a trip to Mexico likely infected the herd of swine.
“Aha!” you may say. “Mexico is the epicenter of this outbreak, so its swine must be the source.”
You may be wrong.
The mother of 5-year-old Edgar Hernandez, also known as “patient zero,” blamed the large pig farms surrounding the small Mexican village they live in as the source of the virus.
However, all tests of the suspected pig farms were negative.
So, what does all this mean?
I don’t know.
But when people act out of fear, we cannot affectively address our real problems.
–Brett Gifford
Spartan Daily staff writer
2 Comments
August 27, 2009 at 11:21 am
At the moment, you’re far more likely to die in a car accident than from swine flu. In fact, going just by the statistics, you’re more likely to get struck by lightning than you are to die from swine flu. Around 2,000 people a year are struck by lightning, whereas there’ve only been around 420 deaths recorded from swine flu so far. So commit your health to the Lord, pray, and take any necessary precautions to keep from catching it, but don’t worry.
Ted Rudow III,MA
Class of 1996
September 14, 2009 at 6:35 pm
actually, the cost of a flu epidemic is considerable. If doctors and surgeons are off sick, people die. Ill people crash cars. They make bad decisions.
Of course, any virus or similar one should recover from.
I do think that the argument that a flu epidemic isn’t serious because it’s not ending lives is farcical. There are some very serious complications of viruses which can leave people disabled.
Were I to go around breaking peoples’ legs, I don’t think that “well it didn’t kill them” would be any kind of an argument.
Same with iraq, modern healthcare has got so good that few soldiers have died. But plenty are missing legs eyes arms brains etc etc etc.
I’ve got the flu in spain, it fits the description of swine flu (ill for 2 weeks like horrible, but no fever, and still going). I’ve had my lung capacity decimated (hopefully only temporary), going up the stairs to get into the flat, I’m out of breath after the first flight. Everybody here has it, and nothing is functioning. Shops are closed, and people are coughing everywhere.
I know full well that were I not a young man with reasonable health, but instead an old lady, a tiny baby, or an AIDS patient, this would be a very, very serious matter. It’s certainly one of the nastier flu viruses I’ve ever met, and everybody (we all have it here) agrees that it sucks bigtime, and some people have had it for over a month.
It is flu after all. But it would seem that it gets EVERYBODY, nobody is immune.
It probably did come from a factory farm. Intensive farming is well unnatural, and a breeding ground for diseases. Pig farming is the worst. Search for Smithfield pork ecological disaster, and you’ll get the picture. Biohazard. A touch of Flu is hardly the worst they’ve got going.