The latest madness consuming the public attention is "swine flu." Scanning the press releases from the latest few days, I have tried to get an accurate picture of what is at stake.
Swine Flu appears to have originated in Mexico and, as of the late evening of Tuesday, April 28th, is responsible for almost 150 deaths and several hundreds more who are afflicted. Furthermore, U.S citizens, most notably a collection of students in New York (I am trying to ascertain whether these are "spring breakers")and some religious organizations that have done recent work in Mexico, are now afflicted. The World Health Organization now suspects that the disease has spread to six countries outside of Mexico and has responded by raising the alert level. The Center for Disease Control and the State Department have advised against non-essential travel to Mexico. A "ground-zero" has not been identified by any government or international authority, although I read today that residents of the Mexican town of La Gloria suspect its nearby pig farms.
My prayers go out to the victims of this mysterious virus. I wish a speedy recovery to those who are still suffering.
Furthermore, I apologize if this column in away offends readers or "smacks" of insensitivity to the victims of this disease. I am trying to make a sociological observation about the irrationality of fear, not a medical or community health observation. I know that my penchant for being a contrarian might sometimes get me in trouble. I'm sorry again.
Reading the press releases on Yahoo and the Associated Press, something jumped out at me. Why is everybody so afraid? Am I really being callous because I sit 2,000 miles away from Mexico and have a better chance of being killed by a poisonous insect than I do swine flu? I wonder if the readers can tell me why I am wrong. Take, for instance, this article:
US flu deaths seen as likely as outbreak spreads
"The number of confirmed cases in the United States was raised to 64, but states and cities were reporting more suspected cases. In New York, the city's health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.
Swine flu is believed to have killed more than 150 people in Mexico, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the U.S. has 68 confirmed cases in five states, with 45 in New York, one in Ohio, one in Indiana, two in Kansas, six in Texas and 13 in California."
Swine flu is already being described as an "outbreak" despite the seemingly low death toll. And sure enough, further down the article we finally get a much needed injection of perspective:
"Still, U.S. officials stressed there was no need for panic and noted that flu outbreaks are quite common every year. The CDC estimates that about 36,000 people in the United States died of flu-related causes each year, on average, in the 1990s."
So let me get this straight. 36,000 people die per annum from influenza, a disease which has worked its away into the everyday vernacular of every one I know since they were 6 years old, and the current panic du jour is a disease that has claimed less than 200 deaths on one continent?
I decided to check WebMD.com for some information on Swine Flu. In the words of John Mayer--albeit in a slightly different context--"Something's....missing...and I don't know what it is. No, I don't know what it is...at all!" I found some valuable information below:
"How is swine flu treated?
The new swine flu virus is sensitive to the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. The CDC recommends those drugs to prevent or treat swine flu; the drugs are most effective when taken within 48 hours of the start of flu symptoms. But not everyone needs those drugs; many of the first people in the U.S. with lab-confirmed swine flu recovered without treatment. The Department of Homeland Security has released 25% of its stockpile of Tamiflu and Relenza to states. Health officials have asked people not to hoard Tamiflu or Relenza.
How can I prevent swine flu infection?
The CDC recommends taking these steps:
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Or use an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
- Avoid close contact with sick people.
- Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
Can I still eat pork?
Yes. You can't get swine flu by eating pork, bacon, or other foods that come from pigs.
So Swine Flu is a disease that can be treated with two drugs that are already in existence and for which the government has ample stockpiles. We evidently can't contract Swine Flu from pork--so don't go converting to Islam just yet---and ways to protect ourselves from contracting Swine Flu are things we should be doing in the absence of any outbreak.
-Many critics of the Bush Administration, for instance, were appalled at the way those in power manipulated our collective dismay, sorrow, and confusion after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 into a march to war. Note to readers: I supported both wars, but I empathize with my many intelligent left-leaning friends who felt they got hoodwinked by our leadership.
-Many, myself included, were appalled at the environmentalists who have used every natural disaster, including Hurricane Katrina, as evidence that urgent and draconian action is needed.
-Many of us were told that, in the middle of 2008, our economy was on the brink of collapse and that every last morsel of our prosperity was threatened. As a response, it was completely and utterly necessary that the government borrow trillions of dollars to bail out AIG and extend massive guarantees to prop up the world's riskiest, bulkiest, and most politically-connected financial firms.
It appears as though people are more easily consumed by fear they don't fully understand. We expect deaths from the common cold or influenza. As tragic as deaths are from car accidents, we understand that they do happen..and it is the price we pay for being able to drive. Ditto for airplane accidents and small-scale natural disasters.
But once something we don't fully understand threatens us, we start to panic. A shadowy group of Islamic fundamentalists that spends its waking hours plotting our deaths? We panic.
A virus makes the leap from animals to humans and has no cure or vaccine? Our fear boils over. S.A.R.S? Avian Flu? West Nile Virus? All of those occupied the public's attention for weeks on end.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we tend to panic more when the threat is closer to home. Does anyone remember the Tsunami that killed 300,000 people in late 2004? Okay you remember that one. How about the cyclone that hit Myanmar last year that claimed 140,000 fatalities? Or the earthquake in China last year that killed 69,000? Or the earthquake in Iran in the city of Bam that killed over 25,000 and injured countless others? Shouldn't we spend our precious braincells worrying about the next disastrous tectonic shifting of the earth's plates?
Radly Balko, a columnist for Reason Magazine, reminds us here of a similar swine flu scare in the 1970s, in which the vaccine appear to be more deadly than the disease.
Yay!!! Salon Magazine agrees with me! Wait! Who the hell is Salon Magazine?
Dr. Henry Miller adds more here. He even references the "tipping point."
Thoughts please!
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