Trying to calm Swine Flu Fears

By Ruth Clarke

As of May 19th, Reuters reported that the
Swine Flu or H1N1 Virus is circulating in 48 of the United States, resulting in ten deaths, with a total of 6,764 confirmed cases, which may well be closer to 100,000 cases but milder infections. The most puzzling to authorities is that it is mainly affecting young adults, teens and children. World-wide, the Swine Flu is confirmed in 48 countries where 12,515 people have been infected and 91 have died. We hope that the fourth pandemic doesn’t occur, and recent news suggests that while we aren’t out of the woods yet, Mexico needn’t be the brunt of travel advisories. On May 15th, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed its advisory against travel to Mexico and has replaced it with a ‘travel health precaution’. While Mexico Secretary of Health reports that the number of cases in Mexico is dropping, many of the cases in the United States and other parts of the world that are popping up have nothing to do with people having traveled to Mexico. In addition to these reasons, the CDC has also found that the severity of the virus is less than originally anticipated. Several of the people who have died globally have had compromised health issues on top of the H1N1 Virus. Perhaps any flu could have killed them.
CDC continues to advise against travel to Mexico for pregnant women, children under five years of age, adults over 65, people with chronic pulmonary or heart disease, or suppressed immune systems—common sense advice.
The Mexican government has initiated nation-wide legislation, and a 92 million dollar advertising campaign to promote both domestic and foreign travel to Mexico to try and recover its loss. The hospitality industry is probably Mexico’s largest employer (statistics depend on what figures are used) and the third or fourth most important earner of foreign exchange. The

recent scare has led to the temporary loss of thousands of jobs, closing of hotels, and airlines reporting a 60% drop in ticket sales. When the outbreak occurred in April, after Easter, Mazatlán’s schools shut down, cruise ships no longer came into port, flights were canceled, and all theaters, performance-centers and stadiums closed their doors. People stayed home. Many of those who did go out often wore masks. The age-old customs of shaking hands, kissing or hugging is now considered unsanitary and advised against on radio and television. It’s hard to believe that with the influx of people from all over the country during Semana Santa and Motorcycle Week, during the initial outbreak of this virus, only one case (which resulted in death) has been reported in Mazatlán, and the victim had spent Semana Santa in Guadalajara where his family had some form of gripe—influenza. Perhaps this is another in the never-ending series of wake-up calls that we have been shaken into adopting. Because of this pandemic scare, all over the world, towns and cities are rehearsing their emergency programs. Caution and common sense are still more effective than complacency and hysteria.
Chronology of global pandemics: There are some people alive who are old enough to have survived three global influenza pandemics: • 1918-1919—Spanish influenza was brought to the United States and Canada, as well as other parts of the world, by soldiers coming home from World War I. Numbers of fatalities range from 50 to 100 million— 500 million were infected globally. In the U.S., 500,000 to 675,000 died, in Canada, 50,000.
• 1957-1958—Asian influenza killed 70,000 in U.S. and 1 to 2 million worldwide.
• 1968-1969— Hong Kong influenza killed 1 - 3 million, and was brought to the United States by Marines coming home from Vietnam.

 

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