The threat from A/H1N1, a subtype
influenza virus commonly referred to as swine flu, drove people who have not
contracted the virus to contact the National Health Service Direct (NHS Direct)
helpline in England.
In July, 52,000
calls were fielded from people frantic about reports that the latest
victims to succumb to the new subtype virus were healthy.
Chloe
Buckley, six, died July 9th 48 hour after arriving at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington.
That
very same day a 64-year-old general practitioner, Dr. Michael Day, who was
treating swine flu victims died.
Several
United Kingdom (UK) media sources proclaimed that these cases were the first to
die without having underlying health conditions. However, further details that
were later released suggested otherwise.
Chloe originally went to the
hospital because of a sore throat. MailOnline.com
reported that she was misdiagnosed with tonsillitis. The
Sun reported that her distraught parents believe that if she received
anti-flu medicine at the time she arrived to the hospital she still be alive.
The comment that The Sun attributed to Chloe’s parents is
out of sequence with how the event actual occurred.
TimesOnline
later put the episode in its proper order.
Michael and Jacinta Buckley were
told their daughter Chloe contracted the A/H1N1 virus on Sunday three days
after she died. As for claim that she was misdiagnosed, the results of
post-mortem investigation listed the official cause of death as “septic shock”
due to a tonsillitis infection caused by streptococcus
A bacterium also called strep throat.
The omitted facts doesn’t end
there. Dr. Day, another apparent healthy victim who the media said life was
claimed by the new virus, had suffered a blood clot to the lungs and was known
to have heart disease and high blood pressure.
The hasty reporting by the news
media that are absent of crucial facts, like the ones just illustrated, are
fueling hysteria around the world over a relatively innocuous virus by
comparison. The dubious precautions taken by governments raise questions about
what people should fear more: the “deadly” pandemic or the deadly propaganda?
“We do have to remain cautious,” England's chief
medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson told BBC News. “The virus
may change or mutate, but as it stands at the moment, it's not a severe illness
for most people but some people can get it very severely.”
A regular Influenza virus worldwide
is responsible for 250,000
and 500,000 deaths. The new subtype influenza virus has a 0.5% death rate. Nevertheless,
the UK
government has organized and equipped itself for a toe-to-toe showdown schedule
for this fall to fend off possible mass illnesses that they believe will be caused by the virus.
All this despite the fact that no irrefutable proof has
been verified that the subtype influenza A virus causes death.
The so-called Swine flu, when it is reported on, is either
“known”
to have killed or “linked
”
to killing more than 700 people. All of them had underlying health conditions.
When a patient died in the greater Glasgow area, a
Scottish government spokesman stated that the patient had died from underlying
health conditions and said the parents requested that no details be released,
not even the gender and age.
The UK Ministry of Justice even
blocked an inquest into the deaths of two victims alleged to have died from the
new H1N1 virus. A spokeswoman stated
that, “There’s no requirement to hold an inquest into a natural death. Deaths
from swine flu would be regarded by coroners as natural.” [emphasis added]
In spite of having insufficient information
about the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) is fast-tracking
an A/H1N1 vaccine and making it available in Europe at least two months before
the US.
The UK is gearing up to vaccinate 60 million
people against the virus including health-care workers, children and pregnant
women. The European Medicines Agency approved GlaxoSmithKline
PLC and the controversial Baxter International Inc. to supply Britain with vaccines.
Enlisting Baxter’s help, by some,
would come as an alarm. Especially after the situation that took place in
February when a subcontractor in the Czech Republic inoculated ferrets
with what was believed to be human H3N2 flu viruses. To their surprise the
ferrets died. The vaccine, as it turns out, was laced with live H5N1—avian flu
viruses.
The contaminants were released by Baxter’s Austrian firm Avir
Green Hills Biotechnology. It was then
distributed to three sub-contractors in Czech
Republic, Slovenia
and Germany.
The Toronto Sun reported
that the mixing process called reassortment is one of two ways pandemics are
spread. The combination of H3N2 and H5N1 would serve as an incubator for a
hybrid virus if a person was infected, the Toronto
Sun reported. Then, the virus would be able to transmit easily to and among
people.
Three months
later, Baxter began working with WHO on a vaccine for the new influenza virus.
The vaccine “mix-up” was not the first time Baxter became a
name mired in shoddy health procedures that put other people’s lives in danger.
During the 1970’s and early 1980’s an estimated 6,000
to 10,000 hemophiliacs in the United States
and Japan
became infected with H.I.V. when they received tainted clotting substance made
by Baxter.
But Baxter is not the only pharmaceutical company standing
to make a profit from the sales of anti-flu medicines that will be disturbed in
Western countries.
Industry analysts are predicting that companies like UK’s own GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
will make £1 billion ($1.6 billion) from the sales of A/H1N1 vaccines.
“Swine flu is going to be positive
for the performance [of the company], but only because we have put ourselves in
a position to do it,” Andrew Witty, GSK’s chief executive said.
“And we have done that by taking
very significant risks over a long time, diverting a huge amount of resources
to it and doing the research that nobody else has done, so I'm not going to
apologize for the fact that the company is going to make a return.”
GSK has 195 million vaccine doses
under contract that is scheduled to sell at £6 ($10) a dose in Western
countries. One of the analysts at WestLB, Simon Mather, believes GSK will
generate sales of at least £500 million ($842 million) by next January then
climb to £1 billion ($1.6 billion).
GSK is getting plenty of promotion
from government officials in the UK who are advocating for the distribution
of anti-flu vaccines from Relenza inhaler to Tamiflu. The exposure would
contribute heavily to spurring profits for the company.
The power to promote vaccine sales
then financially benefit from them is a scenario where Professor Sir
Roy Anderson finds himself. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for
Emergencies and on the board of GSK and makes £116,000-a-year ($195,000-a-year)
from the company.
The United States (US) government
is also gearing-up and making provisions to tackle the threat of the new
influenza A virus. It is a familiar rode
once travelled before; with any luck, past mistakes won’t be repeated.
The US government in the past mobilized
a mass of people to be vaccinated against swine flu with disastrous
consequences. In October 1976, under Ford Administration 40
million people were vaccinated when 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis stationed
at Fort Dix, New Jersey,
became ill earlier that same year. Two months later, after the vaccine campaign began, more than 30 people
died and 500 people
developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome a paralyzing neuromuscular
disorder possibly link to
swine flu vaccine.