Indian Rojak, Then Mexican Swine Flu
Even before we’ve stopped talking about the Indian rojak saga, Mexican is next on the menu. And it’s not about food poisoning. 1400 people in Mexico have contracted swine flu at this time of writing. 86 have died.
Fortunately, swine flu is a lot less deadly than SARS. However, it is more infectious than SARS. The SARS patient is only infectious a few days after the onset of fever. By that time, he could have been safely quarantined. The swine flu patient, on the other hand, is infectious the moment he shows signs and symptoms. This makes the virus a lot more difficult to contain. In spite of all our efforts to screen passengers coming into Singapore, patients who are yet to develop symptoms may slip through. Already, there was talk about closing borders. All the ridiculously extreme measures which were suggested in online during the SARS epidemic suddenly came back to life. I’m glad that our health minister is not even considering that yet. That would be equivalent to self-strangulation.
Back in Hougang when I shared premises with a doctor, the effect that SARS had on the practice in 2003 was nothing short of devastating. This time round, I don’t have any coughing and sneezing patients in my waiting area. Hopefully, the effect that an outbreak of swine flu might have would be somewhat blunted. Unlike deadly SARS, the fatality rate of swine flu is estimated to be 6%. The bad news is, the virus is somewhat resistant to Tamiflu (oseltamivir). Another drug, Relenza (zanamivir) is slightly more effective against it. Rumour has it that Relenza may be replacing Tamiflu as the drug of choice for treating life-threatening influenza.
As this is a new strain of swine flu virus, we are still learning new things about it as events unfold. My next blog entry may contradict some of the info in this one. But the biggest question on my mind right now, is when all this is going to blow over. As we’ve seen from SARS, the economic impact can be as deadly as the pathological impact. The current outbreak is something that this economic crisis doesn’t need. Just as everyone thought that the bulls are out on Wall Street again, the pigs rear their ugly heads. Why worry about nuclear proliferation?
