Pandemics and Politics - A Recipe for Pandemonium

The very nature of influenza virus makes prediction difficult. New strains of influenza for which populations are not immune in combination with increased global travel, urbanization, and overcrowding make pandemic conditions inevitable (see WHO Pandemic Preparedness strategy)(1). Also, seasonal epidemics heavily influence the impact of pandemics. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have strategies for outbreak response (global outbreak/pandemic response) that includes communicating real and potential risks at the earlier phases;(2) unfortunately communications are filtered through sources with alternate agendas that do not account for the public’s short or long-term health.

The so-called swine flu provided the perfect mix of mystery and intrigue political mud slingers salivate over. From the first news reports the number of deaths was just as inflated as its origins. Turns out, swine flu doesn’t even come from swine – imagine that! Instead, swine flu is a strain of influenza virus - influenza A (H1N1) - isolated and reported to originate from a confined area in Mexico. Suddenly, suggestions of bioterroism and border closings ran through the media like California-wild fires through the canyons. Bioterroism from a flu virus? Border closings? Outbreaks do call for quarantine to complete epidemiologic investigations as well as treatment to avoid spread (when possible); however, no responsible medical authority made this declaration or even insinuated locking out an entire country as the option. So why did “the media” jump so quickly to this type of conclusion?

Politics. Throughout history disease has been used as an agent of power and politics (see Sheldon Watts for an excellent account on epidemics in history-3). Since a minority (about 20% according to a recent Washington Post poll) of disgruntled Americans (you can see a lot of them on Fox News) are beside themselves with anger about the last election and the perceived success of the First 100 Days, nearly any excuse for political posturing seems justified even in situations of extreme health. The paranoia that the news media has spread to elementary school children(4) who, yes, should be aware of ways to thwart human-to-human transmission but should not be afraid that they are going to die because someone sneezes on them. In fact, the precautions for this strain of flu are like precautions for any other strain of flu which should be taught outside of the confines of a pandemic alert.

Furthermore, what is not discussed nearly enough in the media is the link between very poor health and susceptibility to every day occurrences. The reality is, the American diet does not prepare American’s for epidemic catastrophes let alone pandemics. Furthermore, endemic flu continues to immobilize us as a nation because we have yet to confront the medical and social variants that propagate disease (see Holly Tomlin’s BW706 Final Project). This does not mean that pandemics or warnings should be ignored but the information should be communicated responsibly.

To panic people by combining basic fears of “terror” (thanks to the previous administration) with diseases that will become more commonplace with globalization is not only irresponsible but should be considered an act of treason; especially when the act is for political gain and not the public’s health.

Holly Tomlin
Blog 12

References
1. WHO. Pandemic Preparedness 2009. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/pandemic/en/index.html. Accessed 03 May 2009.
2. WHO. Global influenza programme: WHO pandemic descriptions and main actions. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/GIPA3AideMemoire.pdf. Accessed 03 May 2009.
3. Watts S. Epidemics and History: Disease, Power, and Imperialism. 1997
4. A personal account – my friend’s 8 year-old daughter called me with questions about the swine flu because of the stories she saw on the news and the information she received at school.