NEWS > HEALTH > SWINE FLU PANDEMIC FINALLY BEGINS AMID FLURRY OF INDIFFERENCE

SWINE FLU PANDEMIC FINALLY BEGINS AMID FLURRY OF INDIFFERENCE

June 12 2009

Geneva, Switzerland – Throughout the history of humanity there have only been a handful of pandemics. Diseases such as the Bubonic Plague, Cholera, Typhus, Smallpox, Measles, Tuberculosis, and of course Influenza have been at the heart of many of the most devastating pandemics that have killed millions and shaped the
future not only of medical science but of countries themselves. With the exception of HIV and AIDS, there have been relatively few pandemics through the 20th and 21st centuries as medical science has minimized or eliminated outbreaks before they spread, but no longer.

The World Health Organization has officially declared Influenza H1N1, better known as Swine Flu, a global pandemic. With nearly 30,000 infected with the moderately fatal version of the flu the organization took steps to officially change the name of the outbreak. Though many experts had been expecting and hoping for such a declaration, some fear that it may come too little too late as the furor and excitement over the disease has more or less died away since its emergence in April. Though it is expected that many more will become infected and die, for many the opportunity for the disease has long since passed.

“The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century.The virus is now unstoppable,” said Dr Margaret Chan, head of WHO. “However, we do not expect to see a sudden and dramatic jump in the number of severe and fatal infections.”

The agency has now declared the disease a ‘phase 6’ agent, the highest level of alert yet available to them. It’s not clear if they have begun formulating plans to add new phases to their alert system in order to keep public attention on the disease as it begins to wind its way deeper into the population.

“A disease is like anything else when it comes to popularity. You have to strike when the iron is hot and you have to be prepared to exploit an opportunity when it presents itself. The people who are successful in life are able to do that and those who don’t take full advantage of those opportunities become the also-rans of
society. That isn’t their fault exactly, it’s just the way things work,” said Scrape TV Health analyst Rebecca Phelps. “Whether it’s in sport or entertainment or disease you need to exploit your opportunities when they present themselves. Louis Pasteur wrote ‘Chance favours the prepared mind’ something which couldn’t be more apt in this situation. Sure H1N1 still has the potential to become memorable but it is going to have to kill a whole lot more people and cause a whole lot more damage than it would have if it had simply reached pandemic proportions back in April when people were paying attention.”

Some countries around the world have been particularly wary of the disease particularly in Asia which has been plagued with a number of disease outbreaks including Avian flu and SARS in recent years. The last official pandemic also originated in Asia, the so-called Hong Kong flu. It is believed that WHO is currently concentrating the bulk of their scientific and marketing resources in that area of the world.

“It’s fine to do well in Asia or Europe but everyone knows that you really haven’t made it until you make it in America. The United States has long been the centre of world
culture, a place where when something takes off it can be exported to the rest of the world. That just isn’t the case for very many other countries and unfortunately H1N1’s opportunity in the U.S. may have already passed, barring a massive amount of death that is,” continued Phelps. “The market that sprang up around the virus when it first launched was ripe for exploitation but America is a fickle place and now that the practical threat of the disease has more or less passed there are going to be very few people who will want to dedicate significant resources to the cause, again unless the disease proves itself which it has thus far been unable to do effectively.”    

Reportedly a number of Hollywood movie studios have already put their Swine flu productions into turnaround. WHO’s Hollywood contingent has also been in negotiation with at least two of the studios in hopes of salvaging something from the failed films.

Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent

NEWS > HEALTH > SWINE FLU PANDEMIC FINALLY BEGINS AMID FLURRY OF INDIFFERENCE