Accidental Blogger

The news outlets are full of reports about the impending global epidemic of swine flu. With cold weather on its way in the northern hemisphere and regular flu season beginning around September, we are being warned about a sharp uptick in the spread of the H1N1 (aka swine flu) virus. Drug companies are scrambling to produce a vaccine against the virus.  Mass vaccination was earlier expected to be in full swing by the middle of October. Now US health officials are saying that the vaccine supply will fall short of their earlier estimate thereby delaying the vaccination campaign.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. officials Monday said they had slashed their estimate of how many swine flu vaccine doses will be available for the start of a mass vaccination campaign in the fall. Citing delays in manufacturing and packaging the vaccines, the Department of Health and Human Services said only 45 million doses of the new H1N1 vaccine would be on hand in mid-October, instead of the 120 million previously forecast.

The revised delivery guidelines would push back a government estimate that all those requiring vaccinations be immunized by the first week of December.

"Our latest information from the manufacturers tells us that we now expect to have about 45 million doses by October 15 with approximately 20 million doses being delivered each week Thereafter, up to the 195 million doses that we have purchased," Bill Hall, an HHS spokesman, said in an e-mail.

The Geneva-based World Health Organisation declared H1N1 a full pandemic in June, and the virus has spread to about 180 countries. World health officials have said people should receive the two-dose swine flu vaccination as well as the single-dose seasonal flu vaccination this year.

Now, I don't mean to come across as dismissive of the dangers of a swine flu outbreak. If I had young children of school age or family members with respiratory conditions like asthma, I would be concerned. However, having grown up in a country with rampant infectious agents in the environment, in an era when few vaccines were available, I am a bit more realistic about what can or cannot be done during the spread of a contagious disease. When I was a child in the 1950s, we lived amidst routine outbreaks of small pox (this scary disease would be controlled and eradicated only a couple of decades later), cholera, typhoid, whooping cough, malaria, measles, mumps, jaundice, dysentery and flu. Tuberculosis was widespread in the population. Leprosy victims sat at street corners and came to one's front door to beg for food and money (leprosy is not contagious in the short term). One never knew what one would be exposed to on stepping out of the home and being in crowded places. Almost every place in India is a crowded place.

My sister and I grew up in the care of an intelligent and hygienically cautious mother. From early childhood we were trained to acquire some common-sensical habits without becoming unduly paranoid. Our mother taught us to:

• Avoid touching surfaces (hand rails, eg.) in public places that many others are likely to have touched.
• To always carry a handkerchief to cover the mouth and nose when others coughed or sneezed around us and also when we did.
• Not share food or drinks with others when saliva too is likely to be shared.
• Above all, to wash hands with soap many times during the day, especially before eating.
• We were regularly vaccinated whenever a vaccine became available.

My sister and I were very healthy children and have remained mostly disease free well into our middle age. Perhaps we are blessed with good immune systems or it is pure dumb luck. Or it could be that our mother's training bore fruit.

To protect yourself and your kids against swine flu (or any other flu) during the high flu season, you should do all the things that my mother taught me and some more.

• Stay in touch with your doctor regarding the availability of the vaccine and sign your children up as candidates.
• Avoid unnecessary contact with other people. For example, tell your children that instead of high fiving with open palms, they should celebrate an exuberant moment with a fist bump.
• Refrain from practices such as drinking from a shared bottle.
• Minimize time spent in closed places (movie theaters, planes) as far as possible.
• Always pack a bottle of Purell or some other hand sanitizer for frequent use when soap and water are not accessible.
• Carry a clean napkin or handkerchief (sterile masks if you are really concerned) to cover the nose and mouth around people with persistent coughs.
• At the first sign of flu like symptoms, please visit the doctor. Early intervention is the best line of defense.

I am sure most of you are aware of these precautions and probably the steps are already in place for your family. I am reinforcing them as a mature person who knows from experience that simple cautionary steps help even in panicky times.

There is another preventive measure that my mother taught us which you may not know and I have never seen it mentioned anywhere in public health guidelines. Gargling and irrigating the nasal passages with warm saline water is a stunningly effective way to destroy pathogens in our respiratory tract. During cold season when respiratory diseases are common, this practice (once or twice a day) can ward off many infections as well as any medication available at the pharmacy. I am not sure if this method will work against the H1N1 virus. But there’s no harm trying. See if you can inculcate this habit in your kids and yourself. Good luck and stay well.

(For more swine flu related cartoons from all over the world, see here)