St. Jude working overtime in South Asian bird flu fight
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
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2 Comments
The current situation in South Asia:
Over half of Bangladesh's political divisions are overrun by H5N1 in poultry. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have all created "isolation wards" for what they assume to be an eventual stream of bird flu-infected farmers and cullers. India and Bangladesh, two nations that are constantly feuding, skirmishing and even occasionally warring over disputed border territory, suddenly realize there is no border when it comes to H5N1 and begin cooperating with each other.
India's culling attempts are insufficient to stop this latest and worst outbreak of H5N1 in poultry in the nation's history. The virus may have spread to other states neighboring West Bengal -- plus one state not so close, specifically the port city of Chittagong. Culling in states neighboring West Bengal is underway, now under mandate from the Congress of India.
Experts argue over whether there is, or is not, H5N1 now in human hosts. And the WHO is trying valiantly to determine if this fertile human Petri dish of a region will spawn the Next Pandemic.
So to say the situation in the South Asian region is bleak is to say the 1972 Miami Dolphins were simply happy at the outcome of the Super Bowl. In other words, a massive understatement of the situation.
Of course, there are suspected cases. A few cullers in hospital in Kolkata (Calcutta); a few elsewhere. There are legitimate concerns regarding the accuracy of the tests being administered to the suspected infected. And that is one reason why the WHO is on the ground there, making sure that everyone does their due diligence.
I can only assume that St. Jude (not the hospital -- I mean St. Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, and the saint the hospital is named for) is in the region, working overtime for the benefit of all. Why? The good news in the bad news is that, at least so far, there have been no confirmed cases of H5N1 in humans. Considering the size of the poultry cull, which almost certainly will reach to tens of millions of birds in total between India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey, to not have detected H5N1 in humans so far is nothing short of miraculous. And miracles are the province of the saints, right?
It's as good an explanation as any I can come up with, or have heard up to now.
Reader Comments (2)
St. Roch is a patron saint of epidemics. I wonder if Roche Pharmaceuticals is named for him. http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/str06003.jpg
Good one! Never heard of St. Roch. Fascinating! Fed by a dog. But then he was executed as a suspected spy. Like today's disease experts, he got no respect.