The swine flu virus that is scaring the public this week has spread to another state in the United States.
But in what appears to be a quirk, officials are unable to fid any connection between the infected resident of northern Indiana and Mexico.
THAT IS SIGNIFICANT because the story being pushed for days is that this virus broke out in Mexico, spread rapidly there because of negligence, and is now spreading to the United States.
It is fortunate for us that federal officials these days are showing some restraint and not giving much credibility to the people who would have this illness become the excuse for shutting down the U.S./Mexico border.
Some officials seem to realize that trying to associate this virus with any nationality is little more than a trivialization of the issue. Yet there are some political people who are more than willing to engage in such ridiculous rhetoric.
And they’re not limited to any one nation.
TAKE THE MEXICAN government, which these days is trying to spread the story that this virus may very well have started in south Texas, then spread across the border INTO Mexico.
“I think it is very risky to say, or to want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there have already been cases reported in Southern California and Texas,” Mexico Health Secretary Josè Angel Cordova told reporter-types.
It helps their rhetoric that the World Health Organization has stressed the fact that swine flu cases are being documented around the world, pushing the idea that no one nationality ought to be associated with the virus – even though the bulk of the outbreaks and fatalities have come in the Mexico City area.
But residents of the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Israel – to name a few countries – also have become infected with the virus. While many did recently travel to Mexico, not all have.
I’M NOT SURE if I find this blame game to be scary, or silly. It reminds me too much of the time last year when tomatoes and jalapeño peppers grown in Mexico were found to be tainted with a bacteria that made people ill.
At one point, Mexico officials were claiming that the infection of the Mexican-grown crop came at a U.S.-run facility where they were inspected before formally being trucked into the United States.
My point is that the blame game served as rhetoric meant to distract attention from trying to fight the potential contamination of vegetables, such as it now serves to keep people from focusing on how to best contain this virus that can spread out of control if left unchecked.
I’m not so sure I care where the virus started, as much as I’d like to know that steps are being taken to try to control its spread – since it appears it could be as long as six months before a vaccine meant to stop the virus can be produced in significant quantities.
THIS OUGHT TO be an instance where people put aside nonsense talk, because all it does is interfere with the attempts to find a solution.
And at a time when the number of infections worldwide has reached the thousands (with more than 150 fatalities in Mexico), that kind of attitude borders on criminal.
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EDITOR’S NOTES: Who’s fault is it? Such rhetoric accomplishes little when addressing problems (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/04/28/2009-04-28_where_did_swine_flu_start_.html) caused by the swine flu spread.
Not every swine flu incident can be clearly traced to Mexico, which has officials (http://www.nwi.com/articles/2009/04/28/updates/breaking_news/doc49f720b2ec660720930896.txt) investigating (http://cbs2chicago.com/health/indiana.swine.flu.2.996247.html) the outbreak confused.
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