The flu outbreak, which stopped short of becoming a pandemic, has shown us quite a lot about how some of sections of mankind deal with other sections of mankind -- those of us who are in trouble, that is. Let us first recap some of the facts. Initially news came in from Mexico on Tuesday a week-and-a-half ago, that 152 citizens of that country had died due to influenza A. When I checked on the figures the following morning, this number had risen to 159 with cases being reported from many other countries. Days later it transpired that only a small number of people who got infected actually died of the illness -- we all breathed a sigh of relief.
What made me worry besides these numbers, though distressing as they were causing hardship for many families, was a story coming in from Hong Kong. In its restaurant and entertainment district of Wan Chai, a hotel named Metropark was apparently being shut down. Not only this, it was closed and sealed off with all 350 guests and staff inside -- the Chinese side called it “quarantine” as one person who was suspected of carrying the virus was thought to be staying at the hotel. Not only this; at least one person walking past the building was stopped on the street and was also quarantined inside the hotel.
Chinese authorities were either overreacting or doing the right thing; only time will tell. What should be avoided if viruses like influenza A break out again is the situation in which one country thinks that all the citizens of the country where the virus originated have to be treated as dangerous people. The next move was the culling of all pigs in Egypt -- scientifically, it was not necessary as the WHO confirmed that all meat, including pork cooked above a certain temperature, is safe to consume. The virus was not designed by a Mexican person -- and the Mexican people are the least to blame for the outbreak of this near-pandemic; they are the ones who really suffer.
The story then turned into a kind of retaliation match (‘China versus Mexico’) resulting in Mexican citizens being repatriated to their country and the Chinese side trying to bring their citizens back home from Central America. Carrying a Mexican passport was enough evidence that you are a threat to Chinese homeland security; bizarre, was it not?
The WHO did what it could to create an atmosphere of relative calm by not raising the alert level to six; it stopped at level five, implying that a pandemic was imminent but had not yet occurred -- a wise choice in a moment of worldwide concern. The UN showed that it actually does have a multitude of roles to play, not only with its Security Council and General Assembly, but in health-related matters, too.
The swift reaction as demonstrated by the Mexican government deserves applause. It did not panic and tried to stay on top of the situation in line with the WHO. What it did not expect was the economic crisis which would follow in the footsteps of influenza A. Nor did it expect the five days of national standstill as were ordered by the authorities and which will cause a headache to the people of that country. The foreign investors and tourists who may decide to stay away will also bring economic hardship to its citizen unless a proactive lobbying campaign takes away unfounded fears.
Following these events from Turkey, it is easy to compare the influenza A outbreak to the outbreak of bird flu here some years ago. In moments of crisis a government is asked to show that it can deal with the situation effectively. When bird flu reached Turkey in the autumn of 2005, the Turkish authorities were faced with many issues. Do they have to cull all birds, in particular chickens? Do they have to quarantine whole villages? And if so, which? Do the authorities ban all meat imports or only poultry? Will other countries retaliate and ban all poultry products coming from Turkey? Should tourists change their travel itineraries for 2006, and if they do, how could Ankara counteract? As we all witnessed, the Turkish national and local authorities did all they could and made certain the virus was contained as much as possible. Again, it did not come from Turkey -- migrating birds do not have to pre-register their flight paths.
There will be another virus coming our way some time in the future. It may originate here in Turkey, in Mexico, in France or indeed like SARS, in China. Global solidarity is a phrase that may have lost its original meaning, but in times like these it would be wise to understand that all of us -- the pharmaceutical companies, governments, airlines and above all the people -- have to cooperate and not unduly panic when it happens. Singling out ‘the other’ is always an ill-footed cure.
