Pigs will kill you and your family!
Or, at least, that’s what the mainstream media seems to be portraying. After a slew of infections and deaths in Mexico, it seemed as if this novel virus was prepared to take the world by storm, raising fears of a pandemic throughout the world.
Of course, this isn’t the first time it’s happened.
Most of us reading weren’t alive to remember the failed predictions of U.S. health experts back in the 70s. That was when officials predicted a pandemic of, you guessed it, swine flu, which, according to my elders, freaked out many.
It was this exact scare that has prompted some in my family back home in Texas to question health authorities. To them, it’s the boy crying flu, crying about the massive plague which is about to consume them all.
Of course, in 1976, the flu failed to manifest itself, and many are eager to point out that hundreds of people died and suffered neurological disorders as a result of the federal inoculation program that resulted from the premature panic (indeed, the vaccine had not been thoroughly tested).
To be fair, government officials were merely responding to an unknown virus that led many people to fear a reprisal of 1919-like conditions (during which a deadly ‘Spanish’ flu killed 500,000 Americans and 20 million worldwide).
Surely, the Obama administration would not like a repeat of 1976, nor would they like to remain complacent. There’s a healthy, balanced position that the American government, in conjunction with the WHO and CDC, have striven for.
However, I feel that the media is to blame for much of the fear mongering that has transpired. It seems as if each day an official from the WHO or CDC has urged measured caution and vigilance, and each day another story from the AP comes trumpeting boldly the numbers of swine flu cases in the US.
Indeed, there seems to be a general lack of education and much misinformation that dominates conversation. In conversations I’ve had, hearsay and speculation triumph over fact and official reports. Not to mention the ghastly name ‘swine flu,’ which rolls off the tongue so devilishly, the term could have been birthed by Satan him/herself. Add to that such popular pandemic movies as “28 Days Later” (which is certainly still fresh in my imagination), and it all builds to a terrifying crescendo of fear and helplessness.
Indeed, there is cause for concern. A rich healthy concern that’s blessed with logic and rational thinking, rather than an anemic fear that perpetually blights one’s mind. Wash your hands, try to cough/sneeze into a tissue, or into your elbow if no tissue is available. In other words, act as hygienic as possible, and treat your body right.
Also, remember –– in the 1919 ‘Spanish’ flu that killed millions, the mortality rate was 2.5 percent. Usually, during flu season, on average the morality rate is 0.1 percent.
Furthermore, remember, life is not something to be taken in baby steps. Any day could be our last, flu or no flu.
Be cautious, but enjoy yourself.
