Once a swine, always a swine

Why is swine flu called 'swine flu'? This is a question posed by a concerned doctor in today's The Hindu op-ed page. Isn't swine a bit of an insult, a negative word? Would we call the three little pigs, the three little swines, he asks? Doesn't the use of the word swine aggravate public hysteria? Whatever. These are semantics. Not sure how much changing swine flu to pig flu is going to do for the outbreak's public image. The damage has already been done.

Though I must admit I've been a bit concerned myself about contracting swine flu, not so much for myself as for the four-, nearly five-, month-old under my maternal watch. I mean, how do you protect a little one from an illness that doesn't have any clear, unique symptons? And we are, after all, in one of the world's most densely populated cities. Short of locking him up in a room and keeping him away from any sort of activity, I can't say for sure that I'm protecting the little tyke.

The authorities here say they're doing everything possible to keep swine flu in check. Not sure how that sort of statement translates to blocking all private labs from screening concerned parties for Influenza A and B. They've also decided that only one hospital in this city of many millions, can screen and then quarantine the infected. Fat chance of me going there to get myself tested if I know that all the city's potential swine flu candidates are lining up in the heat for hours waiting to be treated. I mean, that's like getting a prescription to catch swine flu.

Can't entirely blame the authorities, of course. One doctor told me that it's impossible to take care of swine flu in India because everyone lies about their health. No one wants their family, neighbors or relatives to discover that they are marked goods, so they'll never admit to having potential swine flu symptons. Tres possible.

Though I have to say the officer manning the swine flu post at the airport, whom I encountered upon my return from Thailand, seemed only mildly interested in his job. of course his job was to collect forms from deplaning passengers attesting to having no fever, flu etc, etc. — a mildly interesting job, to be fair. A friend who has been in and out of the country three times this month says he accidently found all three of his forms in his bag. He forgot to hand his in, and our friend at the counter forgot to ask him for it.

So there we have it. To date, we know that 22 people have died in India and some 1,300 have become infected, according to the Times of India's coverage. The paper also informs us that doctors are being shunned socially because people are wary to go near them. In response, some doctors are refusing to treat potential swine flu candidates.

Not to worry though, the top man in India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, says no one needs to panic. Hear hear, let's take a chill pill.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/india/090814/our-bay-pigs