Increase

The country is now experiencing a sharp increase in the number of A H1N1 cases. The Health Ministry is trying its level best to cope with the situation. However, the Information Ministry has inexplicably decided to throw a spanner into the works by announcing that from now on, the pandemic would be referred to by the words 'selsema babi' ( pig influenza ). The reason for using 'selsema babi' was that these words would produce a big impact and raise greater awareness among the public about the presence of the dangerous infection. This is ridiculous and the Ministry is trying to throw us back to the period of the 1980s or even the 1970s or the 1960s. Now is the 2000s and people today are more knowledgeable, less manipulatable & very much less ignorant. The Information Minister certainly and definitely has sinister intentions here. The Ministry should first ask itself whether it was proper or appropriate for it to meddle with something that concerns the Health Ministry. The Health Ministry is the body responsible for handling the issue and not the Information Ministry. Perhaps the latter is trying to usurp the duties and responsibilities of the former. Should the Health Minister bow to the wishes of the Information Ministry ? Is the Information Minister now on the same level or rank as the PM or even the DPM ? ? Must all other ministers now bow to the boss at the Information Ministry ? ? The Information Minister has totally ignored the real facts of the present A H1N1 pandemic. The bug behind this pandemic is a genetic combination of human, bird and pig flu viruses. Thus to refer it as 'selsema babi' is most incorrect and very misleading. Moreover there has been no evidence that it originated in pigs. The virus first surfaced among rural Mexican villagers who could have caught it from a variety of sources, the surroundings of the area or migratory creatures. Why try to fabricate or sow very misleading information ? ? ? It is most silly to think that people would raise their awareness towards the A H1N1 infection because you used a fake or misleading terminology. Pig flu would not affect the general poplulation, especially the tourists arriving (home) from abroad. It would only affect pig farmers and their helpers not the rich and famous. Using the A H1N1 description would be most correct. This would make us familiar with the class of the particular virus family that is responsible for the vast majority of influenza infections that occur yearly all over the world. It is not pig-this or pigthat that is responsible for the annual influenza outbreaks. The present A H1N1 virus is part of the Influenza A family of flu viruses which also include the H5N1, H2 and H3 subtypes. Therefore we should be getting familiar with these descriptions for our own good. All these viruses transmit or infect people through the air or through contact with moist surfaces and do not have anything to do with the sale and consumption of meat from pigs or whatever.

Infection through the air or moist contact is made possible by the constant movement of people all over the place. Going to school, to the cinema, to the fast-food restaurant, to the shopping mall, to the public toilet, to the airport and to many other places where there are crowds of people. All these places make it possible for the virus to infect one person after another. A chain infection, that is. The creatures most liable to blame for the present outbreak are the authorities in Mexico, the US and the WHO, not the pig. The authorities in Mexico, where the outbreak first surfaced, were initially in a state of denial and even claimed that the virus originated outside of Mexico. By the time people in Mexico were dying from the infection, the border areas in the US were already affected. Still, the US authorities allowed people to travel to Mexico and back, and soon even places like New York were affected. The WHO kept a low profile until it had spread to other continents through airline passengers and even then it dared not admonish the Mexican and US authorities. Western journalists turned the situation into a media circus with hordes of Western photographers and newsmen camped outside Asian hotels and clinics. All this was taking place despite the fact that almost all the initial infections were then occurring in just two countries, Mexico and the US. ( As of 25 June 2009, over 230 deaths have been recorded worldwide, with Mexico accounting for 115 of them and the US, 87 ). The Health Ministry is not to blame for the spike in the number of new cases of A H1N1 in the country. The government should be blamed instead. Tourism is actually a toxic industry but the government has always been promoting tourism to foreigners and locals alike. Tourism is responsible for transporting or transmitting various dangerous diseases including flu, AIDS, TB, leprosy and many other infections. Even rare but highly debilitating diseases like Lyme disease are easily spread by tourists travelling from one place to another. Air travel is the worst culprit. The situation is made worse by increasing numbers of people entering or leaving international borders via illegal or fraudulent means. The government must now punish those who got infected because they went holidaying abroad. These people were selfish and very irresponsible. Make them pay for their treatment. Charge them the full amount. Stop sending people or delegations abroad for the time being. Stop inviting foreign sportspeople. Do away with the present various 'international' meets. The ignorance of the authorities and the low profile adopted by the WHO will only ensure that the present A H1N1 pandemic is going to linger around for a long time to come. There is surely every possibility that the 2010 Asian Games and even the 2012 Olympic Games might eventually get shelved out of fear of the virus. The airports in America, Canada and Australia are the transit points for the virus and the virus has begun to heavily infect Asian countries. In the meantime the WHO is acting nonchalantly since it is the Western countries that are transmitting the virus and not the other way round.

Malaysia can do its part by turning its back on tourism and making tourists arriving from the US, Australia, Canada and Mexico pay a hefty airport tax. Ask them to pay US$50 each. Or better, US$100 each. Don't blame the pig or those who eat meat from the animal !!! Directly or indirectly !!! Focus on those tourists instead !!!