Da Igual*

CNN: Hysteria over swine flu is the real danger, some say

By Sunday, 787 cases of the virus, known as influenza A (H1N1), had been confirmed in 17 countries, the World Health Organization said. The number of fatalities grew to 20.

“There is too much hysteria in the country and so far, there hasn’t been that great a danger,” said Congressman Ron Paul, a Republican from Texas. “It’s overblown, grossly so.”

Paul, who was a freshman senator during a swine flu outbreak in 1976, said Congress voted to inoculate the whole country at the time.

Twenty-five people died from the inoculation while one person was killed by the flu, Paul said, adding that he voted against inoculation.

Those must be the Texas numbers, because over 500 people died in reaction to the vaccine, and there was more than one death caused by the flu, but many times more people were affected by the inoculation than the flu.

The CBC: Clashes erupt in Cairo over pig slaughter

Egypt has ordered the slaughter of all the country’s 300,000 pigs even though no cases of swine flu, or influenza A (H1N1), have been reported in the country.

The World Health Organization said a cull is unnecessary because the virus is being spread through humans.

CNN: Iraq killed wild boars in Baghdad zoo

The animals were tested prior to being put to sleep and found not to carry the virus, Musa said, adding that they were killed humanely.

Iraq had no reported cases of swine flu — known as influenza A (H1N1) — as of Sunday, the World Health Organization said.

And the CBC reports that: Swine flu epidemic on decline: Mexico

Mexico’s health secretary said Sunday the swine flu epidemic in his country “is in its declining phase,” but he stressed that people should remain vigilant against the disease.

Jose Angel Cordova said his country’s death toll from the swine influenza A/H1N1 virus stands at 19 and that the number of confirmed cases has increased slightly, from 473 to 506, including the dead.

The number of cases worldwide now stands at 787, spread throughout 17 countries — with the vast majority of infections in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada — the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Because of its altitude and pollution levels there are a lot of deaths caused by respiratory problems in Mexico City. With a population of 25 million people and an infrastructure that can’t hope to keep up, the area has a high death rate without anything additional happening. A lot of cases were attributed to the flu that were simply “living in Mexico City”, and it took a while to sort things out.

This was a new virus, and no one could say for certain what the real effect would be, so health officials jumped on it, and the media overreacted. Bad reporting helped to distort opinions by national leaders, which lead to bad decisions on how to react.

OTOH, it has led to a lot of schools and public areas being disinfected, which is good news, because a lot of them have long been in need of this kind of cleaning, and cleaning is one of the first things that gets cut in bad economic times. We are still dealing with the regular flu, and this should help reduce those deaths.

Australia has put thermal imaging equipment at their airports, and that certainly sounds like a good idea as a way to stop a lot of diseases from crossing borders. People were once required to undergo health checks before entering countries, and many countries require pets to be quarantined for extended period. If we are going to hassle people over misspellings or having a common name because of the Do Not Fly list, it would be nice if we stopped people with communicable diseases from wandering around the world. Face it, you are going to be standing in line at customs anyway, and it isn’t intrusive.

* “Da Iqual” is Spanish for “Never Mind” – see Emily Litella