‘H1N1 Influenza A’ nee Swine Flu

George Rebane

The medical mavens in Washington and WHO have again renamed the pony (or is it the pig?) in the middle of the stream.  Following a week of dubious and hard-to-track reports on the progress of the Mexican flu (another interim politically incorrect name), as of today the disease will be known as 'H1N1 Influenza A'.  This is a real mouthful that is sure to please both the world's pig farmers and Mexicans, and throw another curve into the reportage on whatever you want to call it.

During the last couple of days the WHO (not to be confused with those of Dr. Seuss fame) and our own CDC have upped the epidemic alert level from Phase 3 to Phase 5.  In the US we surprised everyone yesterday by skipping Phase 4.  Phase 5 means that we have “Larger cluster(s) but human-to-human spread still localized.”  Phase 6 is the highest alert level and means that we have a “Pandemic: increased and sustained transmission in the general population.”

Today’s WSJ has a page-wide headline “WHO Warns of Imminent World-Wide Pandemic”, and its Director General Dr. Margaret Chan declared “All countries should immediately activate their pandemic preparation plans” and be on “high alert” for outbreaks.  President Obama added that the situation is “serious enough to take the utmost precaution.”  Not to be outdone, VP Biden is telling people to stay out of subways and catching hell from NYC Mayor Bloomberg for that prescription.

At the state level, California’s “Gov. Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency that will allow federal funding to combat an outbreak of swine flu in California, which could be the first state to link a fatality to the virus.”  No doubt his readiness to let federal funds flow into our bankrupt state gives some comfort to us resident full-fledged taxpayers.  Actually, the state has also implemented some command and control plans with local governments so we can at least say that the phones are manned at both ends.

But up here in the mountains, our Nevada County officials are not about to be jacked around and get into a panic about all this “utmost precaution” ballyhoo.  Visiting the county’s website over the last couple of days has restored in one a sense of calm that usually pervades these forest covered Sierra foothills.  When landing on the front page, you have to have a sharp eye to pick out anything that might give you a hint that the world is on the verge of a pandemic.  The national health scare is presented on an equal level with our hoped for share of the ARRA stimulus gettings and the I-80 detour. And to get any real information on the swine/Mexican/A(H1N1) flu, you will have drill down a couple of layers (here and here).

We mountain folk are not easily rattled.

Comments

[Jeff Pelline]

I hope you weren't upset that the county also provided bilingual links.
Down in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control also presents a sober picture of the situation: http://www.cdc.gov/. It's not just here.

[Duckie Narveson]

H1N1... A new, lovely shade of lipstick?