Sep 17 2009
Swine Flu scare
In the last few months there have been serveral warnings about the dangers of the swine flue, a type of influenza that has caused some deaths in different countries and we are told that it will extend throughout the world triggering a pandemic and therefore a health chaos of unexpected proportions.
There is no doubt that it is something to worry about , yet to me these alarming warnings seem disproportionate . I’m not saying to forget about it, yes, we must be alert to any symptoms and seek medical advice, especially for children and people in the high risk group and take preventive measures.
What scares me the most is that the most alarming people are the pharmaceutical companies who have developed an anti-viral drug (Tamiflú) and a vaccine which has not been proven useful but which they have sold hundreds of millions of doses to different countries (The richest) who have bought it to reassure the population.
In the world millions of people die each year due to AIDS, cancer, heart disease, hunger, thirst, war … and we don’t pay much attention because we see it as natural and it even seems logical that in Africa children are born infected with AIDS and elsewhere die of starvation or lack of water. I wonder if it would be good idea if these big corporations that profit from scaring donate some of their huge profits to alleviate the needs of the neediest.
I’m sure that a preventive policy will avoid any epidemic and this this is the task of governments who must guide their citizens.
Preventative measures
photo: Flickr-FernandoFreitas
