Cuckoo over the Flu Nest

A movie must be made of this. The World Health Organization must be run by a committee of doctors who lack the ability to distinguish between the words "ambulance" and "ambivalence". The world needs an ambulance and they sent the latter.

Any freshly discovered disease should have triggered alarm bells. A pandemic stance should be adopted and then relaxed. They relaxed and then they appear to panic. A week ago little was known about the little virus that could.

Now more is known. Its an H1N1 virus commonly called Swine Flu. And nothing could be worse than to call it that. The appropriate name should have been something like Vera Cruz A.

Here's the reason. First off. They didn't exactly know the vectors then, and from all appearances they still don't. One would think that if it was possible for this virus could come from swine to human, it could also be possible for the virus to exist in another species. Mexico has a lot of species. According to testing, the likely origin of the virus has no virus activity in the local domestic pigs.

Wild pigs called Peccaries also exist in Mexico. When it comes to a virus no one really knows until much later when detailed study can be afforded. Eventually the viral vectors will be known but not likely in a short time. Every expert though, skirts around the issue that the virus effects only those Nahuaa seriously. Only people of Mexican Ameri-Indian heritage seem to be dying in any numbers. And that is interesting.

Another large issue with WHO is their assertion that travel bans and restrictions don't stop the virus. They are right in that way, but the goal is to slow the progress down. It buys time to build and produce a vaccine. Time also reduces plague by reducing the sheer quantity of illness and improving the virus mutations to a milder version. WHO is idiots, that's who.

However, the principle quirk of H1N1 class of virus. Simply banning sick people who show symptoms is too late. The disease has a very long primary phase where no symptoms show but has already achieved a high degree of contagiousness. In other words, when it shows, its already too late. You can wear masks but the simple patch mask shown worn by so many people don't work.

The very strange possibility for this virus is that this virus may be genetically selective. American First Nations called the Nahua seem the most susceptible. Youth seem very vulnerable. WHO stated that this may be the first genuine pandemic in forty years. It may be the first virulent form of "A" flu in forty years.

Any one who is older than 1964 carries a definite level of immunity or capability of coping with the disease because it was around the last time this type of pandemic occurred. I myself suffered considerably by several rounds of Type "A" Flu, then.

And back then, a lot of people did not know how to cope with influenza. There wasn't the social supports surrounding people back then. People still went to work ill. There wasn't a concept of sick days. People got fired for being sick and absent from work. Now most of society knows that when an individual becomes sick, stay home til you're better.

Also vaccines were cruder and not as effective back then. Many flu shots weren't the right type for the year. Modern mass communication alerts the social members into being proactive. Many more people get flu shots. This gives some protection by simply keeping the immune system active.

Despite the prevalence of junk foods today. When ill people change to the correct diet to cope. And those foods, select vegetables and fruits are available. Forty years ago, year round fresh fruits weren't always available.

Yes this round of influenza will be serious but not as bad as what the media loves to portray. If you do feel ill, put the feet up, keep and drink a large quantity of non-alcoholic beverage next to your sleeping hulk, and call in sick.