The pandemic is raging, as if there are no full stops. Or, so say statistical data. The death toll in India is nearing the 30s, while worldwide the scare is even fierce. But are things as scary as it is made out to be? Even as the world debates how severe the virus attack is, reports from around the globe paint a mixed picture.
Image Courtesy: HuffingtonPost
Though it has been proved that the Swine flu virus is still spreading, it also means that a lot of people have developed protection against the virus. What exactly the current scene is, nobody knows. The general public is at the mercy of what is being told to them. Many rely on the media discussions, where debating all aspects of the flu is a show of strength by medical experts keen to be on television Most of the time opinion weighs more than research on TV and other media platforms.
WHO knows what!
Most parts of Europe is battling the spread of the disease, while in the west US healthcare is fast readying most effective drugs to quell the virus. Even as the World Health Organization (WHO) officials have said that the H1N1 virus is ‘unstoppable’, Indian health authorities claim it is very much under control in the country and there is no reason to worry.
It may be noted that April through July this year, the World Health Organization had been sounding alarm bells on the likely spread of the virus in India too. However, India just waited, throwing the age-old ‘prevention is better than cure’ adage to the wind. No body listened to the WHO. As per the WHO statement, ‘a strategy that concentrates on the detection, laboratory confirmation and investigation of all cases, including those with mild illness, is extremely resource-intensive. ’ Yet no one seemed to care.
What exactly is H1N1 or Swine Flu? Swine flu is an infection caused by a virus. It’s named after a virus that pigs can get. Health care journals say that humans do not normally get swine flu, but the latest outbreak proves that human infections can and do happen. The virus is contagious and can spread from human to human. Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. There are antiviral medicines you can take to prevent or treat swine flu. There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu.
When the US sneezes
Reports have said that about half the US population is at risk and vaccination against H1N1 influenza has been advised. The US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has directed the health officials to vaccinate as many as 160 million people.
It is believed that close to 160 million doses of flu vaccine will be available for the start of a vaccination campaign planned for mid-October. Each person will likely need two flu vaccine doses and officials. The committee has recommended that pregnant women, kids between the ages of 6 months and four years and those who care for babies as well as healthcare workers should be the first protected against the virus. They themselves make up for a total of around 41 million people. Such is the gravity of the situation. The committee however has said the vaccine is not recommended for infants under six months.
India agonizingly cold
The scene in India is almost similar. It also shows signs of further escalation. The H1N1 outbreak in India is one occasion for every one to panic, it seems. The government is also toeing the same line – the fear path.
Even as the media goes all out covering every sneeze in every nook and corner of the country, the authorities try and battle a situation hitherto unheard of. One major feature absent in the capital, New Delhi, is an office for strategy to fight the spread of the pandemic. It is more of permutations and combinations, as to why how and when to launch the fight against what has been by now made out to be a deadly virus. Most often, and this seems to happen on a daily basis, health care authorities bank on speculation-based media reports and suggestions from all around to analyze the spread of the disease. To cut a long story short, India’s health system behaves like an amateur system, often ducking when serious events are reported from various hospitals and elsewhere.
Health scare scene
Along with a confident-looking but fear gripped minister, the media went to town magnifying the scare manifold. Television channels still do so. Most of them continue to ignore facts and cook stories based on some medical experts who tend to be media crazy. A systematic process is still missing from the part of the government.
WHO experts have been quoted by many a media report as saying that different countries have different epidemiological and other situations, therefore, the countries themselves will have to take decisions that are best adapted to their situation.
All said, the fast growing number of swine flu cases makes it
important that everyone is prepared about the disease. This could also translate into the fact that the need for a vaccine is a priority. Unless an effective swine flu vaccine is developed and successfully produced, experts predict that several hundreds of thousands of individuals could die worldwide.
Efforts galore
Worldwide, the effort is on. Companies such as Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis AG, Baxter International, Schering-Plough’s Nobilon, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Solvay, Australia’s CSL Ltd, and AstraZeneca’s MedImmune are among the companies working on this vaccine.
Meanwhile, the European and American governments are mulling over speeding up the approval of swine flu vaccines so that mass production of the drugs will be ensured even before the winter sets in, in those parts of the world. All what the general public now knows is a bit of info passed on by the seemingly wise. As per suggestions and warnings, the people now have started covering their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. People have begun washing hands often with soap and water. They have also decided to avoid close contact with sick people and also to stay at home from work or school if they feel they are sick. Banking on third party opinion, be it from the government or the media are useless, feel many. Prevention begins from the inner self rather than listening to half baked suggestions and contracting the virus, people feel.
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