For the first time since last October, we have been focused on something other than the economy, although that is still there. Now there is the Swine Flu outbreak and talk of a global pandemic.
I am blogging this as our community waits to hear back on the results of lab tests. Fourteen samples were collected from people displaying flu-like symptoms and we may know later today whether any of those are Swine Flu. My point is this, however: maybe we are over reacting a little bit at this point. Stores are running out of surgical facemasks and hand sanitizers. The hand sanitizer rush – okay, I can see that, but the facemask thing – that just seems like a little much at this point. We’re walking around looking like there’s a Sars outbreak. Too bad E-R isn’t on anymore; I can see a whole show built around the trauma center not having any surgical masks. You know, exposure to some germs is a good thing because it allows out bodies to build immunity to them. If we keep spreading lotion on our hands that kills 99 percent of all germs, I fear some much bigger health issues may be headed our way in the future.
Influenza is an interesting thing when you sit down and think about it. Remember two years ago when there was a shortage of flu vaccine and everyone was terrified? (It’s like earlier this year when people found out their DTV coupons weren’t good anymore.) Long lines encircled the civic center and people were turned away. I even heard rumors of flu shots being sold on the black market. It’s funny what a little fear will do to folks, isn’t it? This year, there was no flu vaccine shortage and you couldn’t give flu shots away. As I understand it, the flu is a respiratory illness and those at the greatest risk for catching it are the ones who need the shots most: healthcare workers, the elderly, the very young, and the chronically ill. If you are healthy and practice good hygiene, you should be able to handle this flu like you do the viruses that come around every flu season. If you want a shot, get a shot. Otherwise, wash your hands often, avoid contact with infected persons, don’t spread germs, and if you are sick, stay home. As sorry as I am to say it, it just boils down to this: We live in a world that is interconnected and if there is a flu pandemic, you’re probably going to get sick. It’s as simple as that. If we as a society want to keep that from happening, we will probably need to move Thanksgiving and Christmas to the summer months, when the threat of influenza is much smaller. The holidays must be a nightmare for public health officials and the evidence is certainly there that there is a connection. The peak period for flu is late January and early February, about the right time frame when you figure the gestation period, the holidays, and how long it takes the flu virus to morph into a new strain.
I got an email this week about our reporting of the Swine flu story. Here’s what it says:
“To the so call news fakers, are you that uneducated when it comes to come sense. Proverbs 6:16-19. You are telling people that they can't get the swine flu by eating pork. Do you not know that the virus is in the blood of these animals? Does not know the blood is going thru the entire body of these animals, then into the meat of these animals? You are fools in sheep clothing being lead to the slaughter. This is why the Holy Bible say not to eat swine you idiots. O, the savior did away with that law. I don't think so, he came to prove that you can do them all. Each man, woman and child can walk in his ways, he told us to do this, that the law is not burdensome to each one of us.
You probably won't even address what I have said here on the air, because your cowards.”
I’m no doctor, so, I turned to the Centers for Disease Control website (http://www.cdc.gov/hiniflu/key_facts.htm) for some answers. This is what they said: Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.
Well gee, Mr. Wizard, if you can’t get it from eating pork, how does it spread? Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose. In other words, you can’t get Swine Flu by watching Babe, the pig; Blue Boy, the Hampshire boar in “State Fair”; Porky’s, or Lonesome Dove (at least Gus didn’t from his two pigs). However, attendance at 4H events might be off a little this year.
Back in 1976, I was a young budding reporter, just out of college and working as a disc jockey at an Abilene radio station. They didn’t have a regular news department, but they gave me a tape recorder and sent me out to interview Congressman Omar Burleson. For those who have never been to one of news conferences, the Congressman arrives and takes questions about things going on in Washington. There had been an outbreak of Swine Flu at Fort Dix, New Jersey and there were fears the whole country might be exposed, so a massive inoculation program was started. A lot of people remembered the catastrophic toll taken by the flu outbreak of 1918 (my grandfather drove an ambulance in Ranger where the flu struck oilfield workers in large numbers. About the only memory we have of that now is the annual holiday airing of “It’s A Wonderful Life” in which Mr. Gower gets the telegram that his son Robert has died of the flu). Millions of people worldwide died in the 1918 pandemic, so long lines formed at the local National Guard Armory where the Swine Flu shots were being given. There had been some adverse reactions to the vaccine, however, and that prompted some to question the program. I asked Congressman Burleson if he was planning to get his Swine Flu shot and he replied that he wasn’t: he didn’t see any reason to. “Congressman Vows Not to Take Shot” became the lead story on every newscast in Abilene that day and opened the door for me to get into news broadcasting.
As we wait to see just how bad this flu pandemic will be, let us be hopeful that the threat of a pandemic isn’t in reality a “panic”-demic. Let’s make sure that any response begins with a health dose of common sense.
Downing Bolls
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