Swine flu, and so did a lot of rumours about it

Around this time last year, the world first heard about the dreaded H1N1 virus, better known as swine flu. To make matters worse, the word ‘pandemic’ was bandied about by the WHO, which only resulted in more panic.

A year later, with Tamiflu, an indigenous vaccine being launched by the central government this month, and four more in the pipeline, the virus has lost our respect. Doctors and health personnel, who are most likely to come in contact with H1N1 patients, are now refusing the vaccine, while isolation wards have become synonymous with holiday homes.

On a recent visit to the sprawling green premises of Kasturbha Hospital, I met a patient who had tested positive for swine flu. To my surprise, he proceeded to introduce me to his completely healthy and swine-flu free family comprising his mother, brother, wife and three kids, who, he said, had shifted base to the hospital to be with him. So much for isolation.

Whenever a new disease crops up, you can be sure several myths about it will follow. The biggest one about swine flu was that you could catch it by eating pork. This, in turn, had the unlikely side-effect of turning many carnivores into ‘health-conscious’ vegetarians.

The one thing that could allegedly protect you was a WHO-certified N95 mask. Needless to say, this resulted in a mad scramble for the masks. So much that on a visit to Princess Street, I met an enterprising vendor who had made a killing by selling what he called the ‘N85 mask’. “N95 is out of stock, this is the next best thing,” he said, pointing at the masks which were merely hand-stitched pieces of white cloth.

Swine flu also turned out to be a hypochondriac’s worst nightmare come true. Believe it or not, this newspaper, which had a panel of expert doctors to offer advice on swine flu to readers, received the following e-mail from an anxious reader: “I have tears coming out of my left eye. Do you think I have swine flu?”

And finally, this was an SMS doing the rounds during the peak swine flu season: “They said a black man would be president of the US when pigs can fly. A hundred days into Barack Obama’s presidency, and... swine flu!”