Swine flu and DOH readiness

The Department of Health (DoH) should be put to task for allowing pork meat to still be sold in the markets. Yes, you really cannot get the deadly Influenza A virus H1N1 strain by eating pork meat. Yet, doctors from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) already advised US markets to limit the importation of pork meat from affected countries.

Besides, the DOH failed to inform us the volume of anti-swine flu vaccines they have stockfiled.

Pork, as what scientists described as "vessels" for viruses, should at least be limited in consumption. We exactly don't know how this latest strain acts or we have'nt exactly mapped its behavior. Therefore, as a precaution, we should at least refrain from eating pork for now. We'll never know if such a strain has already infected our swine stocks.

The H1N1 strain is transmitted either through close contact (hand shake) or airborne through air molecules coming from the mouth or nose (sneezing). For more information read: http://pinoyobserver.wordpress.com.

What I'm worried is the possibility of this flu strain reaching the Philippines through trade winds coming from the Northern Hemisphere. Trade winds coming from that side of Mexico reaches the Philippines, especially in the months of May-June. Since this newest strain, the deadliest so far and considered similar with the Spanish flu which killed 100 million people worldwide, is still being studied (and would take six months to develop an anti-virus vaccine), is there a possibility that such a virus can travel through air and reach a tropical country such as ours?

Remember that weeks before, the DOH reported swine flu affecting piggeries in Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Pangasinan. Though there were only two or three people affected, that shows you that, here in our country, the possibility of animal to human infection exists.

The DOH should not trick us with PR laden statements and just tell us the truth. Because the more the DOH limits information on this deadly virus, the more dangerous the situation becomes.

Likewise, the DOH did not even inform us how much Tamiflu stocks they have. At least in the US, they can adequately vaccinate 50% of their population, while Malaysia can vaccinate 10% of theirs (according to the latest BBC report).

How about us, Filipinos? If the worst case happens, how many of our population would survive such a vicious virus attack? 5%? 10%? India allotted 0.000025% of their population or just 2 million vaccines.

Health secretary Francisco Duque III should refrain from doing PR and instead tell us the things we want to know: how many anti-viral stocks do we have stockfiled and how quick the DOH can contain the spread of this virus.