Airports: The first cases of Swine flu entered India from abroad by channels such as air travel. So swiftly checking at international airports became the norm, with doctors and other health officials being placed at the site to monitor people coming in. Scanners and other detection devices such as thermal cameras were installed at very considerable cost at airports to try and screen and thereafter isolate those infected with Swine flu.

Healthcare costs: The government has incurred tremendous expenditure procuring and stockpiling Tamiflu tablets, equipping public hospitals with testing faculties to detect swine flu positive individuals and setting up isolation wards for swine flu positive patients. Further there has been a great deal of money spent on vaccine procurement. Since there is no indigenous vaccine currently available, in the country it was necessary to conduct clinical trials of imported vaccines to determine their safety and efficacy for Indian populations. There was increased pressure on already stretched public health care systems with vast crowds and long lines of people wanting to be tested and requiring medical attention for their swine flu infection.

Effect on the Educational System of the country: Countless numbers of schools have lost countless productive teaching days because of the swine flu scare firstly because of a government directive and then out of abundant caution or possibly due to parents pressuring school authorities to close schools. Whatever be the reason, one now wonders if there was sufficient reason for school closures.

Negative impact on Tourism: The swine flu scare has negatively impacted tourism in the country, with people choosing not to travel to Indian because of the H1N1 scare.

Negative Impact on the Movie industry: With the stress being placed on swine flu spreading in public places, particularly those where people tend to congregate in large numbers, people chose to stay at home rather than go to theatres to watch their favourite stars. A lot of money was lost due to this.

While the swine flu pandemic had this negative impact on several areas of public life, there have been those that have benefitted: certainly pharmaceutical companies have benefitted, with the government and people rushing to procure swine flu medication. Then manufacturers of surgical masks and hand wash liquids and hand sanitizer gels have also profited greatly from the pandemic.

Add to this there is now the emerging nexus between the board members of the WHO and several international pharma companies, which leads us to ask several questions about whether this was just a scare that was blown out of proportion of whether there was need to label Swine Flu a pandemic?

We are informed that around 3.7 million people in England alone have already been vaccinated against H1N1 flu at the urging of the WHO according to this NDTV report. 62 million Americans have received H1N1 shots and Chinese health experts told the WHO this week that a similar number had been vaccinated against the virus in China. And there is now real cause to wonder if people and governments were really required to undergo the expenses that they have? Has the world been taken for a ride in the interests of big pharma companies? These and several other pertinent questions are currently being asked.

The WHO has listed symptoms such as cough, fever, cold, body ache, running nose and sore throat as the common symptoms of swine flu however sometimes people do no display all these symptoms and there have been cases where patients have had only fever or only cold and still tested positive, according to the minster.

“Consider testing of non-symptomatic patients also for H1N1 and administer Tamiflu. At least, there is no shortage of Tamiflu,” Azad has therefore suggested according to this Indian Express report.

As the trials for the Swine flu vaccine are proceeding apace in the country, there are glad tidings that the first imported consignment of swine flu will be arriving in the country next month from a French pharma company, Sanofi Aventis according to this DNA report.

It is to be remembered however that even when the vaccine finally made available in the country, it will be made available for the use of the higher risk groups first, before being made available for use by the common man. Doses will be first provided to the high risk groups like doctors, health care workers, etc, who are most vulnerable to contract the H1N1 infection, the Health minister was quoted as having said.

It was also clarified that once the indigenous vaccine is out again priority will be given to individuals from the high risk groups like pregnant women, senior citizens and children.

Meanwhile the swine flu death toll in the country has now gone up to 1,082 and the total number of people infected with the virus now stands at 27,901. ‘Till date, samples from 117,943 people have been tested for Influenza A (H1N1) in government laboratories and a few private laboratories across the country and 27,901 of them have been found positive,’ according to an official statement.

Swine flu cases in the national capital of Delhi reached the 9,570 and children continue to be the worst sufferers there according to this PTI report, some 5,330 children being affected by H1N1 virus, causing the disease.

According to the WHO, India continues to report maximum number of cases of swine flu in the south east Asian region.

• Wash hands frequently, with soap and water. This is particularly important when one has been touching public surfaces, which harbour any number of potential infections.
• Soap and water may not always be around or available, and for situations such as this, it is prudent to keep a hand sanitizer handy. This is a useful thing to carry around in one’s bag or briefcase that can eliminate a number of infective organisms when it is not possible to find soap and water.
• Avoid touching the face. The germs that your hand carries are thus easily transferred to the face; particularly the mouth and nose.
• Sneeze into a handkerchief or paper napkin when possible  and if none of those are available, rather than sneeze into your hand, try and sneeze into the crook of your elbow; germs are transmitted less readily from there to others and other surfaces.
• If you are sick with flu like symptoms, try to stay home, limiting contact with others and trying to avoid crowds and other public places.
• If exhibiting flu like symptoms, it is important to visit a doctor so that the symptoms can be evaluated and tests conducted to determine if it is swine flu that causes them. Then the correct course of action can be prescribed.
• Do not use tamiflu as a preventive, it is not meant to prevent swine flu, rather to treat it. Besides using it for no reason makes the virus more resistant to the drug and ultimately less effective when one really needs it.
• When traveling, follow swine flu dos and don’ts vigilantly.
• Maintain high degrees of hygiene and make sure that all produce consumed has been thoroughly washed.
• Eat and drink well and exercise adequately to build up the body’s immunity to disease in general and swine flu in particular.
• As and when available in India, take the swine flu shot to prevent contracting it and passing it on to other, perhaps more vulnerable people.
• Children and pregnant women who are more susceptible should be all the more cautious and observe these guidelines.

So let’s make the attempt this year to minimize the spread of swine flu and stay healthy and stay safe during the coming year.

Whereas Gambhir tested negative and went on to score 21 runs in the T20 match against Sri Lanka in Mohali on Saturday, Sreesanth was admitted to hospital on Thursday with symptoms such as sore throat, body ache and high fever. He will continue to be in hospital for the next couple of days.

No other person of the cricket team has tested positive according to cricketnext.com, and even Mayank Parekh, and video analyst Dhananjay have tested negative for swine flu.

Though no other players displayed any symptoms, as a precautionary measure, antibiotics have been prescribed to players of both teams. Tamiflu has not been prescribed. “The tests for swine flu would only be conducted on cricketers and officials of both teams who develop symptoms. Others could go in for a general check-up. No member of the Sri Lankan team has shown any symptom so far. The situation is under control. There is no need to panic.” G.S. Walia, joint secretary of the Punjab Cricket Association was quoted as having said.

The Dettol website has a section devoted to swine flu including tips for prevention, FAQs, and other information and resources.  It also has a section for kids which includes games and quizzes relating to good hygiene. “Dettol kills 99.9 per cent bacteria and Flu viruses. Learn more now!” is a sponsored link that one probably sees frequently displayed on Google on a search result page when one has searched for Swine flu related keywords.

One could well argue that it is the economic imperative and a desire for better sales rather than any altruistic motive that guides their respective ad campaigns, which is most certainly true. These are business organizations formulated for the purpose of generating profit and it would be naïve to expect that advantage is not taken of people’s apprehensions about the H1N1 Swine flu pandemic.

However the fact is, that along with peddling their products, their association they have formed with swine flu has helped disseminate information. The ad campaigns and other publicity materials have made information about the swine flu virus more accessible, and have also offered practical and useful prevention tips that people can incorporate into their daily habits.

These are helpful and responsible policies adopted by these companies, even if they are guided by the primary profit motive. It would be good for other companies to also adopt these strategies in order to spread awareness. By aligning themselves to an anti swine flu and pro hygiene stand, companies not only stand to gain, they are also able to educate and create a better brand awareness of a product by association.

• Well for one the virus cannot thrive in very hot conditions. This is why at first swine flu was seen to hit the cities with temperate climate such as Pune and Bangalore hardest. Lower temperatures are more conducive for the virus’s survival.
• Secondly in the colder months, people tend to shut doors and windows in order to keep homes warm and also tend to crowd indoors much more. This makes it an ideal breeding ground for the H1N1 Swine flu virus.  In such situations of overcrowding, it’s impossible to stall the spread of respiratory tract infections, experts say.

According to experts, healthy people with effective immune responses should be able to resist this infection, however it is important to take sufficient and effective precautions and to make sure that guidelines are followed in order that the spread of the swine flu virus is limited.

The symptoms of fever, coughing, fatigue, sore throat, headache, body and muscle ache and sneezing should be watched out for vigilantly. Swine flu sufferer also show the additional symptom of diarrhea which can be another indicator. So when these symptoms do present themselves, one must get tested and obtain proper treatment.

Meanwhile swine flu can be kept at bay by observing preventive measures such as a healthy diet, high personal hygiene and regular exercise. It is also important to observe the following guidelines on hygiene as the poster shows:

• Cover the nose and mouth while sneezing or coughing to stop the spread of germs. Use disposable paper napkins and dispose them properly after use.
• Wash hands frequently with soap and water, if that is not possible, use a hand sanitiser, particularly in public places.
• Avoid touching nose, eyes or mouth or nose with unwashed hands
• If you have flu like symptoms stay indoors, and don’t go to school or office and try to keep physical contact with others to a minimum.
• If you have flu like symptoms, get them checked by a medical professional immediately and either rule out possibility of a swine flu infection or confirm it and get treatment started at once.

• Using a hand sanitizer can certainly get rid of a lot of germs on the hands and they are very useful if one has been in public places, particularly rest rooms etc., however it may be remembered that these do not get rid of dirt and grime from the hands. Since this is a rinse-less form of hand hygiene i.e. you don’t rinse your hands after using it, the dirt and grime is actually not got rid of.
• If possible, one must use good old fashioned soap and water, particularly before eating. However, if that is not available then certainly a hand sanitizer is better than nothing.
• If using a hand sanitizer, consider using one with alcohol content and low or no water content. Research has shown alcohol based hand sanitizers with no water content to be most effective.
• Use them properly, all over the hands and between the fingers as well, so that you don’t miss a spot where the germs may be.
• Be careful about using too much on children’s hands. If children lick off the sanitizer before the alcohol has had a chance to evaporate, it may be harmful for the child and may even intoxicate the child.

Meanwhile the death toll from the Swine flu pandemic in India is now at 561. The total number of those infected has reached and crossed 17,000 total infections. One swine flu death was reported in Punjab yesterday and 260 new cases were reported in the country, taking the total number of people affected with the contagious flu to 17,486.

Roche’s Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza are two of the most popular brands of the generic swine flu drug, Oseltamivir and there is actually a short fall in supply of these drugs when compared to demand.

To meet this shortfall, online scamsters are selling fake drugs online fooling gullible people into parting with their cash and also endangering their lives. While swine flu itself may not be a lethal infection, drugs such as these fake ones sold online could actually prove far more dangerous than the actual illness.

According to the report, British security software firm Sophos has found thousands of fake drug web sites and millions of bogus promotional materials, many being generated by Russian criminals. In a statement last week, the company said some criminals were claiming to be making “more than $100,000 every day” from gullible buyers of fake flu drugs. The report adds that the drugs will not work, and the identities of the purchasers may be stolen as criminal networks use their credit card details to further defraud them.

It has been suggested that a deficiency of vitamin D can occur in the winter months because of less sun exposure during this time, which may be one of the reasons why there is greater proliferation of the infection during the colder periods of the year. It is also seen that Flu outbreaks tend to occur in places where solar radiation is low.

This is why, many medical practitioners advise that those who are not getting sufficient sun exposure should consider a vitamin D supplement, which will also strengthen the immune system.

Some doctors and in particular proponents of alternative medicine even go so far as to say that if one is not deficient in vitamin D, then one does not even need the flu shot, which allegedly has side effects ranging from headaches to allergic reactions. However, the mainstream thought still favors the vaccine and urges people to take the swine flu vaccine if and when available.

Also according to an article published in the Hindustan Times, as many as 225 doctors and 172 paramedics are still engaged in screening passengers as they arrive into India. Each day about 50,000 passengers at 22 international airports all over the country are subject to such testing.

The efficacy and requirement of such testing is certainly questionable at this point of time and at this stage of the Swine flu pandemic in the country. There are many reasons for this:

• Statistics now show that less than 2% of the people diagnosed with Swine flu in India have a history of foreign travel. This is to say that people in India are contracting Swine flu domestically not from abroad so there is really no point in checking if individuals coming into India are swine flu positive or not.
• The Swine flu virus is now said to be established in India and the major source of infection is domestic.
• Health care and medical resources in India are precious and inadequate and they could be put to better use than having hundreds of doctors and paramedics involved in the pointless activity of screening passengers at airports. These resources could be far better utilized elsewhere.
• The WHO has said that containment measures at this stage of the pandemic, (Stage 7) are of limited value since the infection is disseminated and spreading at the community levels as is the case now in India.

The criticism leveled at the airport screening process is that the government is continuing with this exercise which is essentially one of futility, because they want to be seen as doing something.

Meanwhile the death toll in the country from this disease is 530 and the total number of people infected with the swine flu virus is 15,726.  The number of positive cases in Maharashtra is 3,828 and in Delhi the number of infections is 3,837 with 62 new cases being reported yesterday.