"Fluphobia" -- Trying to beat those Swine Flu Blues...

Swine Flu Blues--

Oh no! I caught the Swine Flu Blues! Think I got infected by swine working at the Federal Communicable Disease Centers, or maybe it was the ones reporting health issues for major news outlets, for together these scheming quadrupeds have marketed this Swine Flu-to-do in a typical Pandemic Panic Package. Maybe it was both at once. But what I can't figure out is their goal: is it just to stop Americans from visiting Mexico or hiring Mexican labor, or is it about increasing the level of fear we live with every day, so we'll stop complaining – or even thinking – about the budget, the planet, or the coalescing messes in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and who-knows- where-next, that are making the Real Big Problems, and everything else, worse? Perhaps public health officials simply want to stimulate the economy by funding that always-a-season-late vaccine R&D, encouraging deployment of pricy anti-virals, and boosting sales of stylish protective masks.

Notice how easy it is for a collusion of public health officials and major news outlets to spike mass fear, even panic, by simply issuing press releases where experts warn us "The Deadly Flu is threatening to go PANDEMIC" and "Public Health officials are trying to Stem the Panic!" Protest-too-much denials like "Be vigilant," "Don't freak out," and "No cause for alarm" are all it takes to stampede public imagination and make rational people suspend their disbelief and self-hypnotically ignore blatant contradictions. For example, if you pay attention to the reports, you'll repeatedly see and hear that "All of the Deadly Flu Cases in the US have been mild," which, if you're actually thinking, might prompt you to ask: "Just what is a 'mild case' of the 'Deadly Flu?'" How many times in a row can you say "cognitive dissonance" without thinking about what it means? Every time we process this kind of information without evaluating it. It increases our level of inner conflict associated with flu-related fears, and I predict we'll soon be seeing epidemic outbreaks of "Fluphobia."

If there's a silver lining, and I always look for one, I hope people note how the same virus is more virulent in Mexico than in the US, which suggests that the microbe's virulence might be subject to the immuno-competence of those the virus infects.

Cleary, investigating differences between people who get life-threatening infections and those who experience a mild flu could be a very important step in understanding virus/host dynamics. For example, are the worst outcomes happening in the primary epicenters? If so, why? What is the role of prior vaccine exposure or livestock proximity? What role is played by the quality of water and concurrent parasitic infections? What difference do nutritional considerations and basic healthiness of the population have on these outcomes? An un-neurotic look at the situation could provide valuable guidance for this event and the next, and insight in to what's really going on. In closing, I hereby go on record as saying the Great Swine Flu Scare of 2009 is completely unwarranted and the stress this fear-mongering is causing is probably more dangerous to our health than the swine flu itself, though of course, that's not a medical opinion and I'm not a licensed health care provider.

Michael Ellner, NYC © 2009