| WHO loses control of H1N1 doesn't need to count the numbers anymore. |
 |
 |
 |
| News - Health |
|
We have quarentine laws on the books and we could have used them back in May to prevent a global pandemic, now its too late. The WHO says(1) "At this point, further spread of the pandemic, within affected countries and to new countries, is considered inevitable." and "The 2009 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks. The increasing number of cases in many countries with sustained community transmission is making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for countries to try and confirm them through laboratory testing." We can compress this down to a simple statement "It's so widespread at the moment, we don't need to count anymore." What a triumph for our public health agencies. A simple statement like "If you were in Mexico and are sick, place yourself under self quarentine." would have been so beneficial. Preventing people with visible symptoms from getting on board aircraft during an outbreak is really counter productive! Yes people have the right to travel, just stop blowing infectious mucus all over before you sit next to me in an airplane for a few hours. Our public agencies fail very rarely. They are quite professional. When they do fail it's most often caused by my misunderstanding their objectives. These organizations have a habit of achieving their objectives. So does the WHO work to prevent world wide pandemics? I really don't think so.
(1) http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_surveillance_20090710/en/index.html |