The media is often blamed, and often culpable for spreading panic about infectious diseases. In the case of swine flu this is partially fair. However, this is the first potential pandemic in which Twitter has been implicated. Yes, Twitter has become some the first source of healthcare information for a certain set of people. The UK Department of Health’s plan to deliver leaflets on swine flu to every household will provide more valid information, but is unlikely to quell fears. It will probably increase demand from the worried well on General Practitioners.
Technology has been helpful and unhelpful at times. Google set up Flu Trends to track prevalence. This works without going near any patients. No medical records are investigated. No one need have his or her temperature taken and no virology needs to be done. It simply works by measuring the incidence of various search terms relating to flu in different areas. Its success so far may well be confounded if people round the world all want to know about flu all of a sudden due to media interest. In response, Google has set up experimental flu trends for Mexico but the accuracy of this remains to be validated.
The main problem with swine flu for some people is not the fear or the existing death toll, or the potential problems caused to travel. It is the name that has been given to it. A state department has worried that this may cause offensive to Jews and Muslims, and has suggested the term ‘Mexican flu’ as a replacement. The point that this stigmatises against Mexicans appears to have been lost.
Some have gone as far to suggest that the swine flu epidemic is merely a test by some evil terrorist organisation before they launch their genuine attack. These are most likely the same people that thought the Dudley earthquake of 2002 was testing a new Weapon of Mass Destruction as demonstrated in the 2003 film The Core. It is easy to find human agency where there is none.
Jon Stewart has pointed out that in Mexico, swine flu is insignificant as a cause of death compared to the airborne “bullet flu”. This is flippant, but there is a serious point to be made about demographic transition. As societies develop economically, the profile of causes of death change. A lower proportion of people will die from communicable diseases like flu, leaving more people to succumb to non-communicable disease such as stroke.
It is unclear exactly how this potential crisis will unfold, or what the eventual toll will be. The main learning points may not be related to medicine, but rather to farming, which may be the cause of the problem.
- Dom
