LA GLORIA, MEXICO – As we arrived the little Mexican mountain hamlet of La Gloria, where the swine flu epidemic may or may not have begun, we were all a little nervous about infection.
Apparently about 400 people here had suffered serious flu symptoms in the last month or so. And any kind of flu – porcine or not – seems worth avoiding.
We all strapped on our special FFP3D masks. But as soon as we got out of the car I felt very self conscious about our preparedness.
If people here had masks at all they were flimsy paper ones. Usually filthy and clearly had been worn for days. Exactly what we’d heard on TV that day didn’t work to stop infection. And these are the people who sincerely believe they are living in swine flu ground zero.
They looked enviously at our “Star Wars” masks and said they would only take us to where they had found piles of rotting pig carcasses if we gave them fancy masks too.
We had none spare so had to bribe them with little bottles of hand sanitiser. Apparently there isn’t much of that in rural Mexico either.
As for medicine – that arrived in La Gloria the same day we did. Weeks after the first flu cases had been reported there. And almost no one could afford to pay for what few drugs were available. Not until the Red Cross turned up.
It’s not quite as bad in Mexico City. But I have spoken to desperate people queuing up outside hospitals, convinced they have the flu, but unable to get any kind of treatment.
The big question for the WHO, the CDC and everyone else right now is why are there so many deaths in Mexico and so few elsewhere?
Well, I am no scientist but I do know that all I had to do to get a packet of Tamiflu in Washington before I left was make one call to my doctor. When I had not even been exposed to the virus at that point, let alone shown symptoms of the flu.
While in Mexico the desperately poor know they will have to suffer without treatment. And that contrast may go some way to answering the conundrum.
- Previous blog post from Mexico City is here.
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[...] Friday, Sarah Smith of Britain’s Channel 4 News filed a blog post about her visit to the village. Ms. Smith’s post includes a video report (embedded below) in which a resident of La Gloria [...]
World poverty is a very real problem. Obviously it effects peoples health and their ability to fight infection. Poorer countries will always have a higher rate of mortality than richer ones. But I think simply putting it down to the availability of the miracle drug known as “Tami Flu” is an error. Even in the UK with our vast stock pile of it you will be lucky to find a GP who with prescribe it (Unless of course you go private). No, those of us on the NHS simply get told to go to bed and drink plenty of fluids. The UK are now being given a choice between a seasonal flu vaccine and a swine flu vaccine. It is known that seasonal flu kills thousands of people in the uk. To date swine flu has not given anyone in the UK anything more than a mild illness. It remains to be seen whether rationality can beat hype. As I am typing this it is being reported that Mexico may have made an error in the number who have actually died from the flu. This was always a possibility in fact it was probable. Its was actually being hinted at by some media when this story started to break. I still have not seen anything that has made me reconsider the opinion that the WHO wants a crusade against flu. For years public turned a blind eye to the danger of flu. The WHO have hyped it up the danger of epidemics and pandemics over last decade to the point that they have created a Frankenstein’s monster which the media have grabbed hold of with relish. Millions of people die from the flu, malaria, cancer, Ebola, the measles etc. We have to find ways to fight them but we have to stay rational and we have to keep things in perspective. We have to deal with what is happening not with what might happen. The WHO should have shown a lot more clinical detachment.
” had to bribe them with little bottles of hand sanitiser. ”
I am not sure that can be qualified as bribing, more like Quid Pro Quo.
When a “third world” person requests help in a situation like this, can it be portrayed as asking for a bribe?
And yes, it would be extremely out of the ordinary if you could find hand sanitizer and facemasks in rural Mexico.
Maybe I am misunderstanding your statement, but the way it is built, it can be very easily misunderstood.
Hi Sarah
I have been doing some investigations of my own this weekend and I would highlight that Tamiflu, may not be all it is hyped up to be. It would seem that government stockpiles of this drug may be less effective than asprin at some point in the future (http://www.of-networks.co.uk/blog/Tamiflu_resistence)
All 13 strains of H1N1 have been developing resistence to oseltamivir, the active ingredient in Tamiflu. The WHO was reporting this developing resistence in 2007 (http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/oseltamivir_summary/en/index.html). Last year in August, H1N1 achieved 100% resistence in South Africa and Australia according to Dr Niman (the Doctor responsible for the Google Swine Flu map and a recognised flu authority). – http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08250801/H274Y_Mismatch_Spread.html
This does raise a question as to why countries are actually stockpiling Tamiflu?
Maybe, someone in the mainstream media may pick up of this at some point and wonder why as well. My personal theory is that of institutional establishment are to cumbersome to respond to fast paced changes in the globalised world, so we continue with plans that were drawn up in the recent past, that hold little relevance to our fast changing systems.
If this strain continues to spread during the Southern Hemisphere flu season and becomes more virulent, if I was a reporter covering the hot zone, I would get the antiviral Relenza instead as there does not seem to be any significant resistence in any of the H1N1 strains to date.
am not trying to belittle this epidemic, but am fairly sure we all got swine flu here in glasgow late feb early march – according to symptoms – headaches serious aching and major sneezing went on for weeks
Sarah:
Thanks for the “Ground Zero” story and its problems from La Gloria and how the swine flu started and ending up going around the world…
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