Last night I was playing beer pong with my friends, and I ended up contracting the swine flu.
Obviously, that didn’t happen, because if it did, nobody would probably be on campus today. However, with Arizona’s first confirmed case of the deadly virus on Wednesday, it seems to be a scenario not too unlikely.
For those wondering, why all the hype surrounding the swine flu, and what can we do about it? First off, while yes, the swine-flu threat should be taken seriously, everyone needs to calm down and take off their surgical masks. As far as micro-organisms go, a cloth mask is not going to be much of a deterrent. The best way to handle such a situation is common sense: Wash your hands and avoid touching your mouth and face. Simple sanitation is always a blessing.
When people clamor in fear, they typically ignore the basic facts.
The “swine flu” is a misnomer for a new strain of flu that is a convergence of two variants of swine flu — one strain of human flu and one strain of avian flu. To be technical, it is called H1N1; though it holds the same clinical name as the virus that emerged as the 1918 flu pandemic, today’s H1N1 is a new variant.
The world has kept a watchful eye on Mexico City, the epicenter of the breakout and where the most deaths have occurred. The World Health Organization raised its warning level from four to five on a scale of six, indicating that a worldwide pandemic is possible. We have been long overdue for a pandemic.
Delaying any possible future trips to Mexico would be a good first step. Closing the border is a tad too extreme. We need to be cautious but also cooperative. The flu is not a pandemic; it just has potential. Closing the border would only further cripple our economic situation, and would not do much to alter the spread of the flu — it is already here.
The biggest issue with Mexico is that nobody can figure out why so many deaths have occurred there. One reason could be secondary infections such as pneumonia; another is simply that Mexico’s health-care system is not the best in the world.
Whatever the reason, peoples’ biggest fears stem from Mexico’s current situation, which probably won’t happen to that degree in the U.S.
This brings me to my largest gripe with the flu hysteria.
Between swine-flu hysteria and SARS, we are becoming somewhat desensitized to anything that might actually pose a serious threat.
Swine flu appears to be responsive to flu vaccinations; what are we
going to act like when we have a virus that doesn’t?
President Barack Obama basically said that the government is prepared for the worst-case scenario with the swine flu outbreak, which is good for us but is also prompting more terror among the masses.
I don’t wish to contract the swine flu by any means — it sounds pretty horrible to have. I just don’t think this is going to be the next pandemic.
Everyone needs to take a breather and buy some hand sanitizer — life will go on.
Send Alana get well wishes at alana.arbuthnot@asu.edu.
