Shying away from swine flu

I must admit that I do not enjoy boxing bouts. For me, boxing is a violent sport. It allows protagonists to hit, batter, and, in some cases, without meaning to, kill each other. They love maiming, and felling each other. I wonder why people who oppose the death penalty allow a sports that kill and maim.

Without giving up my dislike for the sport, I must congratulate Manny Pacquiao, the phenomenal wonder boy from General Santos City, for flattening Englishman Ricky Hatton in the second round, in less than six minutes, with a devastating left to the chin. The world was watching and chuckling and shaking its head, and the Philippine nation felt intoxicated, thrilled, tingled, by southpaw Manny’s incredible performance. I reluctantly watched the fight on television, and, forgetting my reservations, squealed with delight as with one blow after another, our man shook up the Englishman, and with one final blow to the chin, rendered his enemy immobile for a few long seconds on the canvas. My partner, a sports lover and admirer of Manny, kept watching many replays of those two rounds, until he, too, fell asleep from exhaustive watching of “the best fight ever,” as our sports writers and commentators like to say.

I congratulate Manny for keeping us, a seeming divided nation, united for several minutes. Newspapers reported that no crime was committed last Sunday, and hostile forces, from north to south, declared a ceasefire to watch the fight on the boob tube. If only we could keep up that feeling of unity, that thrill of being alive, despite the saddening forces around us — people blaming the President for every bad thing happening in this country and not seeing anything good she’s done; thousands of jobless people; the unending war in parts of Mindanao; the evil hands of the Abu Sayyaf; the threat of a swine influenza pandemic, the liars and cheats in Congress. Now there’s talk of Manny engaging another boxer to a fight — and our hopes are going to get us up again. Yes, Manny deserves to be called a national figure.

After Manny wins his last fight, I can start working on my lawmaking friends to pass a law banning boxing.

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The Medical City beat Press Secretary and sometimes Acting Executive Secretary Cerge Remonde to the draw by holding a forum on the 21st century’s unexpected dreaded enigma — Swine Influenza — and how to keep its virus from sweeping into the Philippines. The Medical City and Department of Health hosted the forum which they titled “OPLAN: Sagip Bayan.” My favorite Cabinet Secretary Remonde said DOH and other government agencies are joining forces possibly next week to do a bigger version of a campaign to combat the H1N1 Virus threat.

For those still trying to figure out what animal H1N1 is, here are some facts about the virus that hit pigs (for decades already) and now, humans. Swine influenza, also called swineflu, pigluenza, hog flu and pig flu refers to influenza caused by strains of the influenza virus that usually infest pigs and are called swine influenza virus (SIV). The first report of infection and deaths caused by the swine flu virus came from Mexico, considered as the epicenter of the virus.

The latest figures reveal that nine countries have officially reported 148 cases of swine influenza A/HINI: Mexico (26 laboratory confirmed human cases including 7 deaths), and the United States (91 laboratory confirmed human cases, with one death).

Countries that have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths are Austria (1), Canada (13), Germany (3), Israel (2), New Zealand (3), Spain (4) and the United Kingdom (5).

Speakers at the forum talked about efforts of the government to prepare for the possibility of the virus sweeping into the country (including producing our own vaccines): Health Undersecretary Jade F. del Mundo; Dr. Enrique Tayag, director, National Epidemiology Center; Dr. Remigio Olveda, Medical Center Chief, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The Medical City doctors who talked about the preparedness of their institution were TMC president and CEO Alfredo R. A. Bengzon, Maria Fe R. Tayzon, and Mediadora C. Saniel.

The specialists said the swine flu virus is contagious and easily transmissible from human to human. The viruses are spread by people sick with flu. Symptoms are similar to the symptoms of ordinary flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, and in some people, diarrhea and vomiting.

TMC information brochures state that swine flu can infect people by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose. So precautionary measures are, first and foremost, washing your hands, then getting plenty of sleep, being physically active, managing your stress, drinking plenty of fluids, eating nutritious food, trying not to touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus, and avoiding close contact with people who are sick.

By the way, the forum doctors and literature distributed said it is safe to eat pork The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, say that one cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe. But already, many consumers are shying away from eating pork.

As we can see from cases of laboratory confirmed virus infections, not everyone dies from swine flu. But when the number of cases dramatically increases and vaccines are not available, then we can’t help but worry about the World Health Organization’s concern that swine flu can reach up to Phase 5.

It’s a good thing the government and private health institutions are prepared for that eventuality. But let’s pray swine flu does not come to our shores at all.

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