FLU FOR YOU
Alas...the Great Swine Flu epidemic of 2009 has turned out to be a dud. So far, at least, the cases that have arisen have been fairly benign, and most recipients of the virus are recovering rather swiftly. Much has been made of the media coverage, somewhat crazed, but frankly, not nearly as rabid as it could have been. No one is more ready and willing to pounce on the "mainstream media" than I am, and as a talk-show host I suppose, I'm a teeny, tiny part of it, but I thought the coverage was restrained, by and large. Remember, had the spread of this flu, and the virus itself, been more aggressive, and coverage had been lacking or "behind-the-curve", the media would have been excoriated for that as well.
In a way...a strange sort of way...the false alarm may do us more harm than good. As a culture, we have a short memory. Consider that just eight years after 9/11, half the country wonders if terrorism really exists. So we will forget about this non-event rather quickly, but the incident, however brief, raised some interesting questions.
First, we are reminded that in the event of an easily transmissible disease, this over-populated and very mobile planet spreads germs quickly. Even though the number of cases of Swine Flu came nowhere near some of the earlier, dire predictions, you've got to give the little bug credit. It went from Mexico to Texas to New Hampshire in no time at all. Travelling, as viruses do, without the time-crushing security checks and long waits at the baggage carousel that slow down larger species.
Second, I , at least, was reminded that it is the Center For Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration, both Federal Agencies that operate with the expected awesome fluidity and effectiveness that federal agencies are known for,to whom we turn for protection and guidance, It's like learning there is a murderer loose in town, and realizing that Barney Fife is your Police Chief. Only days into the Swine Flu scare, we learned that there were only very limited amounts of Tamiflu doses available, state by state, and further, that it was unknown whether or not the Tamiflu was effective against this particular strain of Swine Flu. To further un-assure citizens, the FDA announced that a Swine Flu vaccine was at least six months off. Remember...when a federal agency tells you a result is six months away, figure on six years...or better.
This in itself struck me as odd. Swine Flu has existed for decades, in fact, it is almost exactly the same as the Spanish Flu which killed tens of millions of people around 1918. So what do these agencies do in their spare time? It seems as though, like the CIA may have noted student pilots from the Middle East taking flight lessons that didn't include learning how to take-off and land, that this is something we may have been at least moderately prepared for, or at least, paying attention to. For years there have been murmurs amongst the nation's security-elite, that our food supplies, and our citizens, are very vulnerable to biological attack.
Just like the idea of terrorists with box cutters simultaneously taking over several commercial airliners and flying them into buildings in New York and the Pentagon would have seemed ridiculous...before it happened...so too does the idea of thousands of people dying from something you can't see. You have to use your imagination. A recent event in my life opened my eyes to the vulnerability of the human body.
Without any outward investment on my part, I am blessed with pretty good health. In over thirty years of full time work, including many round-the-clock shifts during the winter when plowing snow, I don't think I've been home sick more than seven or eight times. I am a creature of routine, and I usually get myself out the door to work, one way or another. Then, last year, my wife decided we should take our kids to the opening of a new water park up in North Conway, New Hampshire. An indoor water park. I remember, walking in, the air was humid and thick with disease. My wife laughed.
We were there two days. When we got home, my son Mitchell, then 10, and I, came down with an intestinal disorder that truly seemed like it would kill me. Over a period of about 36 hours, I expelled, from every orifice in my body, every last drop of moisture my body had to give. At times, this expelling of fluids would happen simultaneously. I lost 14 pounds in two days.
I was so dehydrated and thirsty I would have inhaled seawater, but I couldn't even keep water down for a few days. Eating was painful for about a week. We had to call Clean Harbors, Inc. to clean the house. I had the physical appearance of Dustin Hoffman in the last scene of Papillion.
A few days after this dreadful event, I read in the newspaper that there had been an outbreak of Norovirus, a stomach ailment, at the hotel across the street from where we had stayed. Over 20 people had been admitted to the local hospital. I marveled at the thought of some invisible little germ, floating around in that North Country wind, and landing, in a celebration of opportunity, in my nostril. The humidity of the water park had made my nostril a warm and inviting place for a microbe to breed and grow.
It seems silly, but that event really impressed me. Had I just been recovering from...say...pneumonia, that Norovirus would have killed me. I've never been that sick in my life. It was violent, and could easily, I believe, killed an elderly, infirm, or very young person. So imagine a strain of that, a little more powerful, a little faster-travelling, and a little more transferrable.
Or...don't imagine it. But any American who thinks we are not incredibly vulnerable to an attack of that nature, and that there are not viruses up to the job sitting in laboratories right now, better think again. Hey, if you need a persuader, just let me know. I'll send you pictures of my bathroom from last October.
Karl From New Hampshire