SWINE PANIC
SWINE PANIC
Swine or pigs have long been part of our leisure and entertainment. Take the prize fat sow in Wodehouse's Blanding Castle novels, Piglet of Winnie the pooh, Wilbur of Charlotte's Web fame, three little pigs of Aesop, Porky pig from the cartoons, the musical Pink Flyod pigs, Piloswine, Spoink of the Pokemons or Babe who endeared millions of celluloid fans, swine have never given us sleepless nights.
All has changed. Swine is a dreaded word!
Today our media is pigging out on swine flu. Swine is in again. Swine is news. Every swine has its day. Dirty swine, greedy swine are passé, killer swine is the new wave.
And it's a wave hitting all parts of the country. Sweeping all the media stakes with shareholdings handed out to pharmacies and drug companies. Bonanza time. Instead of Black Death that took
off 2/3rds of the European populace in the middle ages, we have
Death riding atop the obese swine to lasso hapless humans in droves.
The deadly H1N1 virus as our mediamen are calling it, is fatal we are told, and yet its only a flu and more people die routinely of accidents or malaria each day. Swine flu fatality is less than 1% of those infected. In fact it can be so mild that many cases of what is seen as just a flu could have been swine flu in mild form. These people are then open to infect others for the next three weeks. If those infected are immuno-compromised through old age, and underlying complexity of disease history like diabetes, hypertension, asthma, then it can spread through their systems with virulent intensity and kill them.
The young and the healthy are not spared. Children and teenagers can have their T cells go into overdrive and this unregulated activity can break cell walls and let in the virus which then travels through the blood stream to cause multi organ failure.
The fact that swine flu virus lives for a couple of hours in the atmosphere as opposed to the AIDS virus that perishes in a few seconds is also a cause for concern. The disease is therefore out there. In the air and on doorknobs, tables, clothes and handles waiting to be picked up.
So prevention might be a difficult thing though one must mitigate its advances by ensuring personal hygiene, masks, avoiding unnecessary touching of nose and mouth, all kinds of hugging, kissing and other physical overtures . Not a guarantee of being safe, but a thought to console one on one's death bed, if one is unlucky, that one did one's best!
It is now becoming obvious that this virus is the resurfacing of the deadly Spanish flu which during 1918-19 took off a third of the world population from the map as did the Black Death earlier in Europe in the Middle Ages. H1N1 as a pandemic might easily be the way in which Nature is out to regulate the 6 billion plus that humans have proliferated and a weight the earth is groaning under. Mother Nature throws this spin on her arrogant human offspring from time to time. She does spring cleaning and keeps herself healthy. She allows herself a little chuckle especially as she remembers hearing stuff like 'Let us save mother earth - Stop nuclear weapons'
Earlier, Plague, typhoid, small pox, syphilis, cholera, typhus, TB, leprosy, malaria and yellow fever, have been responsible for such corrections.
Some diseases though deadly like AIDS, Lassa fever, ebola virus have been contained as they cause death very soon, and future victims need very close contact with the infected. Hence they do not become pandemics.
In recent times SARS and bird flu have caused huge scares but have been contained. When H1N1 struck therefore we were caught napping, in the belief that like the other two, this one would fade before reaching our shores. There is also the strong belief amongst several Indians that being a terribly polluted country most germs would be easily rebuffed by our well oiled immunity machinery. In fact the joke goes that the swine flu virus should be put onto our politicians who would corrupt them and render them fake.
Yes there is panic. Sure we have begun to wince when someone in the lift coughs, and surreptitiously move away when a colleague sneezes, but life does not stop. Schools are closed but there are people ready for Ganpati bapa with masks, children building human pyramids for Gokulashtami looking like little bandits at play, weddings where designer zari lined masks will adorn guests, shopping melas and other celebrations will progress without abating. We are a resilient bunch. Love in the time of H1N1.
Meanwhile, our beleaguered and unthinking health system wakes up when people begin to die and go floundering without a plan of action. First 900 rush to test when only 300 can be accommodated; the BMC chairman asks people to send an sms to decide closure of schools; people are not sure if high fever is a requisite for the virus on day 1 or day 4? Tamiflu should not be taken as the virus will mutate is not a directive that TV is telling us. Spurious cures of all kinds are laughing all the way to the bank. Masks are being sold for 500 a piece; slums, from where all our home help arrive daily are not being fumigated; people rushing into hospitals and sharing body odour in pressing queues so they are likely to be infected if they just went there with a healthy sneeze. It is like a Mario cartoon, a mass of arms and legs we call apna Bharat in a state of panic.
Ofcourse, we should have done the throat swabs at the airports when Mexico, US and UK was reeling first. The testing at the airports was such a farce that I am still tearing with laughter at the memory of it when I returned from Down Under in May. That was the mistake. ab bhugat rahe hai . A stitch in time saves nine should be our national motto I say!
At the end of the day, when your time comes, it comes and you go. When you read the history of pandemics harvesting 50 million people its just a number, Now that you are worried about a 100 deaths, the enormity of that ancient tragedy stares at you in the face. Rahen na rahen hum meheka karenge yeh zami yeh aasma haamre bina so if we are part of the big correction folks, look at the big pic and do not despair. It's your contribution to making the world a more equitable place.
how safe and logical is the safety measures asked by the agencies to be adopted while treating patients of swine flu….the kit costs 3000 rs ,,, and minimum 3 kits to be used in 24 hours…so it is 9ooo,, and that too if only at any given point of time , only one person is attending the patient which is not possible ,, so the cost of kit is likely to further go up…to be borne by the patient. and as happens in most of the indian hospitals ,,, cost cutting measures which means using the same kits over and over again..which would further increase the chances of spreading the disease amongst health workers..
Well Sarbo dear, considering mankind cannot be placed in the time spectrum, except as a dot at the end of the scale, the ”detriment” of mankind only displays a presumtious arrogance of a new fangled species who think they are central to the universe. Lots of things in life are ”not nice to see” but the fact is they happen, mostly to other people and sometimes to us. You are only as happy as your most miserable child is .. the saying goes…. so yes that part of parenting - the lifelong misery and anxiety comes with the territory- a price we pay for being rational creatures and sentient beings with long memories. // The site is corrupt. Had your comment gone into the array folder I would just be sitting here and speculating on what gems poured out of Sarbo’’s cerebral box, and that hurts me. Sigh. I am so sentimental !
“This site seems to be completely corrupt now. Why write here at all, one wonders”, you write. And maybe that’’s what it’’s all about. I just wanted to say, the financial meltdown saw the rebirth of Keynes. His most memorable words were … “in the long run, we are all dead”. At he Delhi School of Economics, I wrote a tutorial of the flip side of that argument. In the short run, we are all alive, no? I got a D Minus for my efforts.
Your post seems to herald the rebirth of Malthus … who spoke of the correction brought about by Mother Nature, when Geometry trumped Arithmetics. to the detrimnent of mankind. I wonder when Schumpeter will see a rebirth. His most memorable statement was … “the devil takes the hindmost”.
It’’s not nice to see your child sicken or your pregnant young bahu die of swine flu. Bertie Wooster only had to face an angry sow. He was a lucky man. He never married or had children.
recently, our hospital has got the permission to admit the swine flu patients ….special isolation wards are being prepared,,, and i can palpate the tense feeling in the staff as they are actually the people most often exposed to the disease directly ..
in the end we can look at the death disspassionately and like u said ,, it all comes down to numbers in the bigger scheme of mother nature but u still feel bad for a seven years old girl dying of this deadly flu for no fault of hers,,,, especially if u see her photo((( she was the daughter of one of the doc of this city))) …it is scary.. and to tell u the truth , despite all the brave words , and expert comments on the disease by the doctors, regarding its spread, contactibility, its effects…everyone is clueless why it kills even healthy person in the age group of 35 to 45 years… so please take all the information with a pinch of salt ,,, and yes without panic.
u r so controversial Lissie
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This site seems to be completely corrupt now. Why write here at all, one wonders.
We bloody Indians are damn lax when it comes to preparation and planning to meet epidemics and disasters . We are ever ready to slip into a comfort zone and invite maladies that later tantalize us . There is a famous quote of Confucius “The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security, he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come”. I wish someone had pasted this quote in all corridors of administration….PGR
Rajesh swine because there is are strains from the pig and from birds and from humans in the genetic material of the virus. So that is part of its complexity.
the name is Swine but it could very well be a bird , a human flu…….. well written….the pic is so cute.
Eka he will be fine yaar. People are taking a lot of heavy precautions now. Those that went were the ones unprepared. Plus swine flu fatalities are 0.6 % the world over. Its the media that is actually causing panic. The silver lining is everyone is now sitting up and taking note. So dont you worry. Let me know if you need me to do anything from here. Mumbai is close to Pune. Want someone to look him up there?
Loved your conclusion Lissome. Dharti toh mehaka karenge hi. Don”t mind being part of the correction process. But kambakt ma ka pyaar has me concerned. My son is in Pune.
thanks 4 sharing informative
thanks 4 sharing informative
thanks 4 sharing informative
Your writing is unmatched Lissomeji. You”ve beautifully covered all the aspects of H1N1 - the facts, the satire, the fun, the history, the prevention, the lapses. Though I had also posted a blog on the subject a week ago on 6th August, yet that left much to be said. Nature does take corrective measures and till the beginning of 20th century, the world population remained almost unchanged due to floods, famines, draughts, wars, quakes, epidemics and so on. The different between the birth rate and death rate was very less. With the advent of science, global concerns and humanitarian measures, the death rate has fallen much below the birth rate and so the spurt in population…………BTW, I”ve received an SMS for taking two tulsi and amla tablets twice daily after the meals as a preventive measure against swine flu.