Over the last couple of weeks nothing has been more prominent in the news than the dreaded swine flu. A number of countries, including Argentina, Cuba and Peru, have begun restricting travel to Mexico.
In Hong Kong, the Meropark Hotel will be quarantined for a week thanks to a single case being reported within its walls.
Schools in Texas have been shut down in places where cases were thought to be likely; indeed it has turned into quite the “pandemic.”
But is the swine flu really a pandemic?
The reality is that swine flu is no more deadly than the regular flu. In a given year, in the United States alone, the standard old flu will infect between 35,000 and 40,000 people.
To date, the swine flu has infected 615 worldwide and has killed only 17. This sheds a whole new light on Stalin’s famous line that “one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.” Fueled by the fires of a reactionary media trying to stir a fire, we as a global population have supremely overacted.
According to the National Meningitis Association, bacterial meningitis will infect about 3,000 Americans this year with about 13 percent of those cases being fatal.
The World Health Organization predicts that around 200,000 people will come down with a case of cholera this year. It also predicts that Dengue fever will infect around 50 million, and that there could be as many as 500 million malaria victims.
I am not attempting to turn you into a hypochondriac, just pointing out that we have really been making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Had you even heard about the swine flu until just recently? Well, it turns out it has been around for quite some time. The first report of a transfer of influenza from pigs to humans was in 1918.
If we stop being so tunnel-visioned and look at the big picture, we would realize how silly we are all being.
Swine flu is doing more damage as a media phenomenon than as a virus. It has hurt the North American pork industry badly as other countries have started barring the purchase of our pork.
Planes that should be flying have been grounded, and people who would otherwise be out and active, are confined to their home for fear of the tiny virus. Carson Painter is an international business and finance sophomore.
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Kaolson 3 years ago
"Had you even heard about the swine flu until just recently? Well, it turns out it has been around for quite some time. The first report of a transfer of influenza from pigs to humans was in 1918."
Even though I tend to actually agree with your general idea that many are overreacting, the above reference really does not help your argument. If you recall world history, we most defiantly HAVE heard of swine flu before recently, in the exact year you mention. The 1918 H1N1 flu pandemic killed more than twice the number of people killed during World War I... I would consider that a big deal.
1918 flu pandemic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RogerG 3 years ago
WOW an international business and finance sophomore is an expert on medical matters