Flu in Mexico
Thanks for all the comments and good wishes.
Is the government over-reacting? I think this is one of those cases where the government, advised by the CDC and the WHO, had to act. Following SARS, there are lots of protocols in place. Rumors aside, I find it hard to imagine any government doing this unless there were good reasons.
Why aren’t there firmer numbers? I assume because they are very difficult to get. How many individuals have had a mild case without even realizing it? How many doctors have seen cases in the past weeks and months and not realized it was a new kind of flu? How many people now are not going to doctors or hospitals because they doubt that tamiflu (or its variants) is available? And how many people (particularly older rural people) are not going because they still prefer the local curandero to the hospital which in their opinion is where you go to die. (This is not a crazy notion, it was the traditional role of the hospital into the twentieth century as historians of medicine have made quite clear.)
All remains very quiet here though I doubt this can last. I shudder to think about the economic impact.
Finally, here are some words of sanity on the flu itself. Take the author’s account of Mexico with a hefty pinch of salt though. It´s not as backward as she suggests.
Rachel: Thanks for the update and the link to word of sanity. Be safe.
Rachel I’m going to write basically the same comment that I put on your Facebook site and then develop it a bit further.
This article you link to above from Junk Food science is very good, notwithstanding its view of Mexico. Thanks for linking to it. I think the point about whether we are really seeing an epidemic or whether we are just seeing better diagnostic methods is very interesting.
As the article says: “Cases identified with increased surveillance is not the same thing as actual increased incidents.”
Mind you, the latest figures I heard this morning are for around 150 deaths in Mexico, not 7 as the article quotes when it was written on 27th April.
I think another interesting point is why we and/or others have this need to scare ourselves with sensationalist stories. This reminds me of the sociology I studied many moons ago about “moral panics”. I also remember seeing a film by Michael Moore where he argues, in relation to the Bush administration that keeping a society in fear is a good way of controlling it too.
I think another aspect of this flu scare is where we can find reliable, trustworthy information. The degree of distrust of the government in Mexico is palpable – I think it is to some degree in most countries, in this type of situation, but even more so in Mexico. I have even heard people saying the whole thing is a smokescreen to take attention away from other issues.
Given then that we cannot trust the authorities, where do we turn to for good information? Obviously, here the internet is an incredible tool, but again we have to be discerning. I think though that the internet does change what happens by giving people access to information that they could not have had before. I can communicate directly and quickly with friends in other parts of Mexico to get a sense of what is happening there, and articles like the one you link to above are really informative.
Thanks Paul. Things are moving so fast I think we’ve already covered some of this on Facebook. Enjoying your posts.
One of the reasons I decided to leave the cushy life of a corporate VP was that this ‘keeping a society in fear’ method of management was beginning to be touted as the way to operate as a manager in order to achieve the best results. The ‘society’ translated to the employees. The managers were the ones charged with keeping them off-balance.
At that time the co-chairmen of the company were one Democrat, one Republican. Michael Moore might extend his research a bit beyond George Bush and find some equal results elsewhere.
Poo.
Sorry for going off-topic.
I hope this flu thing gets over sooner rather than later. All of you in Mexico, my heathen prayers are with you.