The H1N1 Pandemic - WHO's Overreaction?
How Did Swine Flu (H1N1) Affect an Average Person in 2009?
As general practitioners, the regular question we heard was: "This isn't swine 'flu, is it? Anything but that."
We were continually reassuring patients. H1N1 hadn't been isolated in South Africa yet.
And then - a young university student died of swine 'flu. The first confirmed case in the country. That started the panic. People who had managed to remain fairly calm, became hysterical if they sneezed. We were extremely busy. There was such a run on Tamiflu, that it was soon unavailable anywhere in Cape Town, and we were told that it was not to be had in the country.
Were our patients any sicker than any other year with regular seasonal 'flu? I didn't see any who were. It was interesting that nobody working in our practice including four doctors, and five receptionists / book keepers, got H1N1. None of us worked with masks while seeing patients. I don't think any of us felt unduly concerned. If any of us had got it, it would certainly have been a nuisance, and I don't enjoy being ill more than anyone else does. But what we were seeing, while no pleasure to have, was no worse than what we usually see.
The only person in my own family of five children to get the H1N1 was my schoolteacher daughter. She was really not well. I gave her Tamiflu and I can't say that I was all that convinced that it did a great deal. She got over it, without needing an antibiotic, but she was off work for about ten days.
Was my impression one of a devastatingly destructive virus of pandemic proportions? We certainly saw a lot H1N1, and there have been 93 deaths in South Africa. But in my community, it felt no worse than any other seasonal influenza. All influenzas can make you really ill, but some are more virulent and aggressive - as H1N1 was initially.
Sources:
Todd Neale, Swine Flu Pandemic: World Health Organization Scientists Linked to Vaccine Companies - ABC News abc news / health
Fiona Macrae, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1284133/The-pandemic-Drug-firms-encouraged-world-health-body-exaggerate-swine-flu-threat.html?ITO=1490 Dailymail.com
Eben Harrell, Did the WHO Exaggerate the H1N1 Flu Pandemic's Danger? - TIME Time.com
Paul Flynn, http://assembly.coe.int/CommitteeDocs/2010/20100604_H1N1pandemic_e.pdf Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly
Published by Sally Powrie
My background is as a general practitioner (for more than 20 years). Over the last few years I have developed my other main interest, which is writing. I have written three children's books. I am a happily... View profile
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