Swine Flu: Sociological Risk Factors For Indians

Although sections of the media insist that there is no need to panic about the Swine Flu in India; that there are several other diseases that claim far more lives each year, however there are several factors that make Indians more prone to a disease that is easily contagious and thrives where there is poor hygiene. What makes us Indians more at risk?

There are too many of us: Visit a market, a theater, a bus stop, a train station; you will find crowds. Think Mumbai local trains and you have the highest concentration of human presence per square meter of anywhere on earth. Long lines, seething crowds, just an overabundance of people is a reality anywhere that you go in India. There is just no escaping it; any public place is crowded to overflowing and it’s these crowds that are a perfect target for the H1N1 virus to freely multiply and progress from person to person.

Hygiene is not a huge priority: Where people routinely defecate in the open and open drains and sewers are still a dismal reality in so many of our cities, many people don’t have a lot of time for hygiene. And really it is not really that much of a priority when a person’s primary quandary in life is where his next meal is coming from. Small wonder then that washing one’s hands often, using a handkerchief to sneeze (which are all recommended for limiting spread of the swine flu virus), is not a top priority for your average street vendor, rickshaw puller or auto driver.

Infrastructure: The infrastructure that we all live with is also not conducive to great hygiene. Garbage collection is a problem in most urban areas. Stray dogs, monkeys, rats and other pests abound. Open drains are a reality in many cities still.

We spit: Not only is it strained circumstances that makes hygiene a low priority; let’s face it; it is also our sometimes shocking manners. Pan pichkaris, huge hacking coughs resulting in a stream of phlegm just about anywhere, even blowing one’s nose on the ground wherever and then not-too-surreptitiously wiping it on one’s clothes, we can see this in depressingly large parts of India.

Small wonder then that we Indians are at particular risk from the swine flu virus which is one that thrives in unhygienic conditions and quickly spreads from person to person, bringing more and more people within the possible ambit of the infection.

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