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I'm sorry - I can't resist. The following reporter's view of the state of affairs pretty much sums up the self-absorbed news media in my opinion).
Swine flu: so far, so good
Wednesday, 20 May 2009by David Dickson
The prospects of a severe global swine flu pandemic appear to be diminishing. Informed reporting can take some of the credit.
When the first reports of swine flu — so described because of its apparent origins in pigs, but since renamed as the less provocative A(H1N1) — appeared in Mexico last month, the prospect of a global pandemic set alarm bells ringing in medical and political circles around the world.
So far our worst fears have failed to materialise. Although 74 people have died — out of more than 8,829 infected in 40 countries — 68 of these were in Mexico. And many parts of the world, including Africa and South Asia, have yet to confirm any cases at all, according to reports from the World Health Organisation, as of May 18.
But this doesn't mean we can be complacent. Initial outbreaks of a relatively benign form of flu have often been followed several months later by a much more virulent strain as the virus mutates. This was the case in 1918 when 'Spanish flu' killed perhaps as many as 100 million people worldwide.
And it is widely acknowledged that, if this happened again, people in developing countries could be most at risk. This is partly because closer living conditions help a contagious virus spread rapidly, but also because many countries lack diagnostic facilities, anti-flu treatments and vaccinations.
No swine flu vaccine
Pharmaceutical companies have had to choose between developing and manufacturing seasonal influenza vaccines or swine flu vaccines. Early this week, WHO advised the pharmaceutical industry against switching its production focus onto the new swine flu virus.
"WHO made the recommendation that seasonal influenza vaccine (production) should continue," WHO director-general Margaret Chan told member states at an annual assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. Chan came to international prominence in 2003 as Hong Kong's chief medical officer in charge of a campaign against the SARS virus.
Chan said the industry was still not in a position to make a potential swine flu vaccine. Based on experience gleaned from the 40 countries where outbreaks of swine flu have spread, health experts say the symptoms of A(H1N1) are regarded as no more severe than those of seasonal flu.
Developing countries
Some developing countries were already planning their own vaccine production programmes. Indonesia, for example, is building research facilities to produce a single vaccine for both the swine and bird flu viruses. Health authorities cannot confirm when they will be able to start making a vaccine, but construction of at least one facility is almost finished.
Pharmaceutical companies and government research institutions in India have similarly agreed this week to explore whether they have the capability and technology to produce a domestic vaccine in case a second wave of A(H1N1) hits later this year.
There is a long way to go, of course, before these countries can equal the production capacity of the developed world. But their willingness to invest in key technologies — spurred, no doubt, by the prospect of growing markets in other developing countries — is welcome.
Their efforts are made easier by the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, which is releasing free samples of the A(H1N1) virus essential for vaccine production. This welcome openness of the US authorities stands in contrast to the tight control of intellectual property usually encountered in the global pharmaceutical industry.
Informed reporting
It is not too fanciful to suggest that informed media coverage — helped by instant and comprehensive online reporting — has contributed to the current state of affairs.
Admittedly some headlines have inflated the pandemic's severity, which may have provoked an excessive response from some public authorities. Egypt, for example, has been criticised for its decision to slaughter all its pigs — roughly 300,000 — earlier this month.
But in general, reporting has been responsible and accurate, neither underplaying nor exaggerating the threat, whilst scrutinising issues such as the need to treat the developing world fairly.
It seems that the lessons of earlier pandemics have been well learned. Chan herself is familiar with these; public concern in China over the SARS outbreaks was only exacerbated by attempts to restrict media coverage (see China must do yet more to promote scientific openness). And the WHO, burned by injudicious comments from one of its top officials during the bird flu epidemic, has been more measured in its comments.
There are still lessons to be learned from the current outbreak, such as the time it took Mexican authorities to recognise the new strain, or the lack of adequate diagnostic facilities in many parts of the developing world, particularly in Africa.
But if the case for vigilance remains high, so does that for recognising the critically important role of an informed media in monitoring how public health authorities perform in developed and developing countries alike.
Swine flu: so far, so good
Wednesday, 20 May 2009by David Dickson
The prospects of a severe global swine flu pandemic appear to be diminishing. Informed reporting can take some of the credit.
When the first reports of swine flu — so described because of its apparent origins in pigs, but since renamed as the less provocative A(H1N1) — appeared in Mexico last month, the prospect of a global pandemic set alarm bells ringing in medical and political circles around the world.
So far our worst fears have failed to materialise. Although 74 people have died — out of more than 8,829 infected in 40 countries — 68 of these were in Mexico. And many parts of the world, including Africa and South Asia, have yet to confirm any cases at all, according to reports from the World Health Organisation, as of May 18.
But this doesn't mean we can be complacent. Initial outbreaks of a relatively benign form of flu have often been followed several months later by a much more virulent strain as the virus mutates. This was the case in 1918 when 'Spanish flu' killed perhaps as many as 100 million people worldwide.
And it is widely acknowledged that, if this happened again, people in developing countries could be most at risk. This is partly because closer living conditions help a contagious virus spread rapidly, but also because many countries lack diagnostic facilities, anti-flu treatments and vaccinations.
No swine flu vaccine
Pharmaceutical companies have had to choose between developing and manufacturing seasonal influenza vaccines or swine flu vaccines. Early this week, WHO advised the pharmaceutical industry against switching its production focus onto the new swine flu virus.
"WHO made the recommendation that seasonal influenza vaccine (production) should continue," WHO director-general Margaret Chan told member states at an annual assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. Chan came to international prominence in 2003 as Hong Kong's chief medical officer in charge of a campaign against the SARS virus.
Chan said the industry was still not in a position to make a potential swine flu vaccine. Based on experience gleaned from the 40 countries where outbreaks of swine flu have spread, health experts say the symptoms of A(H1N1) are regarded as no more severe than those of seasonal flu.
Developing countries
Some developing countries were already planning their own vaccine production programmes. Indonesia, for example, is building research facilities to produce a single vaccine for both the swine and bird flu viruses. Health authorities cannot confirm when they will be able to start making a vaccine, but construction of at least one facility is almost finished.
Pharmaceutical companies and government research institutions in India have similarly agreed this week to explore whether they have the capability and technology to produce a domestic vaccine in case a second wave of A(H1N1) hits later this year.
There is a long way to go, of course, before these countries can equal the production capacity of the developed world. But their willingness to invest in key technologies — spurred, no doubt, by the prospect of growing markets in other developing countries — is welcome.
Their efforts are made easier by the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, which is releasing free samples of the A(H1N1) virus essential for vaccine production. This welcome openness of the US authorities stands in contrast to the tight control of intellectual property usually encountered in the global pharmaceutical industry.
Informed reporting
It is not too fanciful to suggest that informed media coverage — helped by instant and comprehensive online reporting — has contributed to the current state of affairs.
Admittedly some headlines have inflated the pandemic's severity, which may have provoked an excessive response from some public authorities. Egypt, for example, has been criticised for its decision to slaughter all its pigs — roughly 300,000 — earlier this month.
But in general, reporting has been responsible and accurate, neither underplaying nor exaggerating the threat, whilst scrutinising issues such as the need to treat the developing world fairly.
It seems that the lessons of earlier pandemics have been well learned. Chan herself is familiar with these; public concern in China over the SARS outbreaks was only exacerbated by attempts to restrict media coverage (see China must do yet more to promote scientific openness). And the WHO, burned by injudicious comments from one of its top officials during the bird flu epidemic, has been more measured in its comments.
There are still lessons to be learned from the current outbreak, such as the time it took Mexican authorities to recognise the new strain, or the lack of adequate diagnostic facilities in many parts of the developing world, particularly in Africa.
But if the case for vigilance remains high, so does that for recognising the critically important role of an informed media in monitoring how public health authorities perform in developed and developing countries alike.
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