Swine "snafu"

By Jaya Spier

Panic levels are starting to rise as the recent outbreak of the Swine Influenza in Mexico has quickly spread to New York, Canada, and probably soon to parts of Europe. Students who went to Mexico City on spring break have reportedly become mildly sick. The numbers in Mexico have risen to 103 dead and 1,600 infected. Fortunately there have not been any deaths outside of Mexico thus far (Yahoo! News).

“Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans” (cdc.gov). The Swine flu can be passed on to humans through contact with infected pigs or objects that have been in contact with the infection. Apparently symptoms of the Swine flu in people are very similar to that of the normal flu including fever, coughing, and muscle aches. Reportedly the Swine flue includes symptoms of increased diarrhea and vomiting.

This particular strain has been examined from patients in the United States by the Center for Disease Control and it has been said to be “a never-before-seen mixture of viruses from swine, birds and humans” (latimes.com).

So far twenty people have been reported sick in the United States and six in Canada. The United States has declared a public health emergency “providing for easier access to flu tests and medications, and enhanced surveillance along the US-Mexico border (timesofindia.indiatimes.com).

Cases have also been suspected to exist in other parts of the world such as New Zealand, France, Spain, Israel and Australia (BBC). The World Bank has granted Mexico emergency loans equaling a total of $205 million to deal with the Swine flu crisis. “The World Bank is granting Mexico an immediate loan of $25 million to help with medicine and medical equipment and is to provide a further $180 million to help Mexico set up operations to deal with the outbreak.”(guardian.co.uk).

Hopefully as governments heavily monitor people coming from infected countries the likelihood of the disease spreading will lessen and soon die out. The mass outbreak in Mexico must be dealt with as soon as possible before the strain mutates even further to cause more deaths. Unfortunately the money from the World Bank may not do as much good as could be expected if it is not distributed correctly. Corruption and poverty are very influential in circumstances like this, if the Mexican government doesn't act efficiently, the situation could quickly spin out of control.