Swine Flu Started in Asia, Not Mexico
Who will compensate Mexico for false swine flu reports?
As we all rode this "swine flu" roller coaster, both Alix and I were a little worried since we'd both recently been in Mexico and had both been traveling by air a lot recently. Was this what would bring the end of the world? Not global warming? Not the economic crisis? Not peak oil? Maybe we thought. Maybe.
But wait! Alix pondered; "how many people die from the flu in any given year NORMALLY?" Very good question. It might put some things into better perspective. I quickly checked Wikipedia and came back with this:
"...in a years normal flu season there are between three and five million cases of severe illness and up to 500,000 deaths worldwide [...] Although the incidence of influenza can vary widely between years, approximately 36,000 deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations are directly associated with influenza every year in America."
If you don't have much faith in Wikipedia, then try the WHO website:
"Worldwide, these annual epidemics result in about three to five million cases of severe illness, and about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths"
Please take a look at these related articles:
- CNN: Regular flu has killed thousands since January
- AP: Confirmed cases: Estimated 6672 in 33 countries
6672 cases. That's a far cry from 3 to 5 million in a NORMAL year! In fact it's between 0.13% and 0.22% of the number of cases in a normal year!!!
So what does all this mean? It means that you shouldn't be afraid of H1N1, at least no more so than of the flu in general. And you certainly shouldn't let this outbreak affect your choice of whether or not to visit Mexico. Whatever the motivation was for this massive anti-Mexico campaign, it has resulted in some very quiet tourist destinations all over the country, and has really hurt the many wonderful people of Mexico who rely on tourist dollars for their survival. The bad publicity was completely free, but good publicity to undo the damage will be very expensive!
Let's all think about what we see and hear and read on the news instead of just blindly believing it.
