Swine flu: being concerned is not foolish
by Laura Scott

This is off my beat here at BlogHer, but it's bothering me, so here goes....

There's been much a-Twitter about the alarm surrounding the Swine Flu. People griping that SARS, Ebola, bird flu, [fill in the blank] didn't wind up being much, so why get worked up now? Everybody's over-reacting, they say.

I think the cynical response is overly-cynical and perhaps a bit to happy to declare "boy who cried wolf" and laugh or sneer.

Reality check:

Highly contagious? Check!

Fatal to healthy adults? Check!

No vaccine in sight before fall? Check!

Spreading quickly? Check!

This is a little thing that is very bad and could get very big very quickly. I don't see the alarm as overblown (though Egypt's destruction of all the pigs seems a bit ridiculous). We're an interconnected world now.

Shutting down the schools seems to be an obvious step. This is how you try to stop pandemic: By eliminating the mass-infection opportunities that we have.

If nothing comes of the swine flu, I think it could in part point to why such aggressive measures were indicated. It's if it gets really bad when we can say shutting the schools was perhaps too little too late.

So count me as skeptical of the proud, cynical skepticism out there. Just because you've run stop signs without consequences doesn't mean you want to continue doing it blithely.

/soapbox

Tech & Web Contributing Editor Laura Scott blogs at rare pattern and pingVision, and Twitters under the handle @lauras. This post is cross-posted at rare pattern.

Submitted by Laura Scott (view blog) on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 8:27am

Comments

 

Cynical about Swine Flu? Yeah, a bit. I admit
it.

I'm not skeptical that this is a legitimate health concern. I am cycnical about the disproportion of news coverage to risk of fatality, and W.H.O. statements twisted to make for more sensational headlines, as I wrote about today. The AP report is that this may have already peaked in Mexico with 126 deaths, and while that's utterly tragic, it doesn't come close to the 36,000 people in the US who die of the regular old flu every year.

So I suppose there's the idea of taking common sense precautionary measures (washing hands, not licking subway railings) which can straddle the line between blithe skepticism and total wackadoodle panic.

In other words, no reason to be terrified of giant red octaganal signs looming ahead of you if you know what to do when you get to one. 

Mom-101

Cool Mom Picks.com

Submitted by Mom101 on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 09:11
 

Flu is flu is flu

That's the equation I have trouble with. Sometimes the flu is milder than the common cold, and sometimes it knocks you out for 3 weeks.

I respect the "regular old flu" but let's face it, when it kills, it's killing the very young, the very old and the otherwise unhealthy, for the most part. This swine flu is killing healthy teens and adults. And being contagious as it is means that we could trump that 36,000 figure very quickly.

So far I'm not doing anything differently, except watching this closely and putting all travel and large-crowd plans in pencil. The flu has wiped out millions in the past, and this is a strain that appears capable of doing the same. I respect that and pay attention because of it. We all tend to be a bit complacent about pandemics, but in history pandemics have wiped out entire populations. If anything, for all our medicine, we may be more vulnerable to that now, with all of our travel.

If we wait until swine flu (or any potential pandemic) passes 36,000 deaths before taking it seriously, that could be too late.

Laura Scott, BlogHer Contributing Editor, Tech/Web
design, snap, blog, tweet

Submitted by Laura Scott on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 09:37
 

If I'm told to wash my hands one more time
I'm gonna scream

I work in public health and I don't care what anyone says we are not ready for a serious pandemic  in this country.  The Republican party fought to keep pandemic flu research out of the stimulus plan monies. Guess what's happening in NC?  State and county employees are being furloughed. Our county health department has has 40 hours of furlough already with another 80 pending. 

If you really want to protect yourself from something like swine flu make sure that medical decisions are based on real science, make sure politicians fund things that are important but don't generate votes.  Also, if you REALLY want to protect yourself, you'd all be well served by advocating for full medical insurance and sick leave for US citizens. You see, it doesn't matter if the case is mild to begin with, if you don't have insurance you're going to use over the counter medications until it's too damn late.  Then, you'll go use the emergency room and potentially contaminate everyone there. Also, if you don't have paid sick leave, it means if you don't work you don't eat so more people than you ever want to think about work sick every day!

Kate

I blog at http://www.aftercancernowwhat.com 

Submitted by aftercancer on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 10:58