Swine flu develops transforms and variants

The swine flu epidemic still rages on globally... I am beginning to get convinced that nobody really knows too much about swine flu and that even the best laboratory eggheads have been taking it for granted.

Granted, when related to annual malarial deaths and cancer and cardiac arrest figures, the global death toll from swine flu of just over three thousand people - actually 3,205 according to the World Health Organization - pales in comparison.

However, perhaps it is also true that many governments are using scare tactics to deal with a medical condition that is still not yet fully understood.

My country's health minister goes a stride further into the funny zone with his solemn televised advice about swine flu - with a 'Dettol' advertisement in the background, as if washing with the soap or antiseptic solution is a sure way of eradicating the viral infection!

The result may be too much panic and misinformation and so many, even within the supposedly research-based environment of the universities, are actually falling victim to the disease unwittingly.

In other developments in the global flu pandemic, somebody has even come up with a software version of the swine flu virus to infect your computer system - just detected in Spain!

Finally, unfortunately the dreaded occurrence has happened, according to news from Australia.

Yes, there exists now a drug-resistant version of the swine flu virus - perhaps a variant from a mutant pig or an escapee from a mutation laboratory?

The worst part about this whole global SNAFU, if you will pardon the pun, is that the WHO says that its studies so far reveal that the best way to tackle a swine flu outbreak in schools is to close them down totally for each incidence!

Perhaps, in my humble opinion, swine flu should be tackled more seriously so that the 'swine' behind it can be arrested ASAP before the kids also become well-read but un-schooled children...

Otherwise, most of the developed world would get an instant insight into what education has become in Nigeria - courtesy of the strike actions of academic and non-academic staff unions of the Nigerian federal and state government universities, which perennially go AWOL for anything between three to six months at a stretch: demanding ever bigger salary increments but rejecting the responsibility of university autonomy...

To get a good idea of how the blood pressure and pocket books of most Nigerian students and parents have been affected by the above-mentioned labor-related prolonged strike actions and the attitude or inclination of university staff bent on striking it rich within the citadels of knowledge, you only need to look at the following catalog of strikes - by no means a comprehensive list, by the way - as supplied on page 41 of Daily Sun, Tuesday, September 1, 2009:


As a parent or guardian, can you imagine paying for room and board for seven or eight years after paying for tuition for a four or three year college course or program?


Update - Thursday, October 08, 2009:

I came upon the following link today and thought it could be useful to you - Think You Have Swine Flu? Ask Your Computer.

Other interesting links are listed below:

Wary Americans Told: H1N1 Vaccination Is Safe, Get It

As H1N1 vaccines go out, questions answered