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SWINE FLU

Oct 07, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

If you see me during this week, do not bother to stretch out your hand for a handshake and bounce or a high five. I am not making physical contact with anyone, not going into any public washroom nor into large gatherings for the remainder of this month or until such time as I am convinced that there is no risk of a swine flu outbreak.
Swine flu is associated with pigs; it can be transmitted from animals to man and later from man to man. It cannot be spread by eating the meat of pigs or products made from pig meat.  At least this is what the experts feel. In effect it can be transmitted and exhibits the same symptoms as the common flu except that it can be deadlier. You can call me paranoid if you want but come this week I will have the cleanest hands on the planet. I will be washing my hands so often that I would not be surprised if I wash off a few finger nails in the process.
If you do not wash your hands often, then they become incubators for all kinds of germs and diseases which can then be spread to others or to surfaces with which other persons come into contact with. Washing your hands is therefore serious business and persons should do so frequently during the day.
The Peeper is taking no chances against any possible contamination of swine flu. And neither should you.
Guyana by now should have been on a full alert for a possible outbreak of swine flu. Yet, as of Saturday last, there has been no official notification of a national alert or for that matter any announcement as to what steps the Ministry of Health intends to take to protect the citizens against any possible outbreak of this deadly influenza.
Hopefully, by the time this column reaches the press, steps would have been taken to monitor visitors at all of the major ports in the country, including and especially shippers, and the public would have been forewarned about the precautionary steps they need to take.
This column is concerned that this outbreak within the Caribbean is taking place during the first term of the new school year. It is well known that all it takes is one infected student with a normal flu virus to cause many more to come down with the common flu. Schools are veritable incubator for viruses and the real fear is that there can be mass panic if a number of students begin to display flu-like symptoms and this is misconstrued as the swine flu virus, which has been detected in three Caribbean countries.
There have been confirmed cases of swine flu infections in St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. It is only a matter of time before it reaches Guyana. Nothing, except hurricanes, passes through the Region and does not affect Guyana.
Even though we are not in the path of hurricanes, Guyana often gets the tail end of the bad weather associated with this phenomenon.
There has been no confirmed case of swine flu in Guyana. As such, for any outbreak to take place it will most likely originate from persons who are coming from infected countries to Guyana. A few years ago, persons from the Caribbean accounted for around 25% of the total arrivals to our country. This means that the Caribbean is a major segment of our tourist population and thus a high risk for the transmission of an epidemic.
Given the recent outbreak in at least three Caribbean countries, it is to be expected that the local authorities would be closely monitoring arrivals, both national and non- nationals from these three countries and would be taking stringent steps to ensure that there is no outbreak.
It is also to be expected that our Veterinary Officers would be closely inspecting our stocks of pigs to ensure there is no infection in any of them, just as a measure of precaution.
There is a vaccine against swine flu but it would be much better if instead of a mad rush to immunize the population that surveillance measures are taken, especially in respect to persons coming from countries where there has been an outbreak.

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