cHeroKee
09-03-2010, 10:35 PM
Flu pandemic revealed flaws (http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/194534/flu-pandemic-revealed-flaws)
Published: 4/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
Just three weeks after World Health Organisation chief Margaret Chan assured the world that the type A (H1N1) flu pandemic was over and had not been as severe as first feared, Thai virologists warned of a renewed threat. In interviews this week, they expressed fears the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain could soon re-emerge.
No Thai has caught it since 2006, when the death toll stood at 17, but poultry populations are still being infected. The scientists pointed to Vietnam which has had 119 cases of avian influenza in humans to date with 56 fatalities. Controversially, they cited pet cats and dogs as possible transmission routes to humans.
The reason these medical researchers are raising a red flag is to provide plenty of warning. That is understandable given the bungling and hysteria that characterised our handling of the H1N1 flu crisis. Politicians and health authorities initially played the outbreak down but later went into panic mode which peaked with the scary suggestion from some doctors at Chulalongkorn Hospital that borders should be closed. Despite all the money spent, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation failed in its efforts to synthesise an effective vaccine safely and in sufficient quantities.
Why they were unable to replicate the manufacture of WHO-approved vaccine in time for it to be of any real use, remains a mystery and one that must be resolved. Other countries did not seem to have a problem and our scientists are as knowledgeable as theirs.
The scanners supposed to detect fevers in people arriving at airports or land borders also proved to be unreliable. If the flu virus had mutated into a more virulent strain, we could have been in serious trouble. It is fair to say that the ability of the medical authorities to counter emerging diseases has been tested and found wanting. The lesson that should be learned is the importance of contingency planning - lots of it.
While it would be foolish to dismiss such warnings as this latest one on bird flu, it is important we keep a sense of proportion and not let them distract us from countering the unfashionable but widespread potential killers such as tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, diabetes, cancer, dengue and malaria. These are the diseases already causing widespread illness and economic harm.
While fewer than 300 Thai patients have died in the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic and 17 from the bird flu outbreak, tuberculosis alone accounts for over 12,000 deaths a year in this country, with up to 100,000 new cases diagnosed annually. About 25% of these patients also test positive for HIV/Aids. Worldwide the disease kills 1.3 million people a year. Yet eradication programmes often have difficulty in obtaining adequate funding because the money is needed to tackle the newer threats and there is never enough to go around.
Rather than competing for cash, the threat from newer diseases should serve as a catalyst to combat existing epidemics. But there seems to be a lack of urgency in fighting TB, despite a high proportion of the world's population being affected, and it shows in the inadequate investment in treatments and diagnostics. Research and investment have taken on added importance because of dangerous new strains of TB that are resistant to both first-line and second-line treatments.
Our superb handling of the Sars crisis in 2003 seems to have allowed a degree of complacency to creep in. In the 2009 flu pandemic we lost the battle and were lucky not to lose the war. In future we must be more responsive to whatever nature throws at us while still keeping up the fight against the less exotic, older diseases that so many of our countrymen and women die from.
Published: 4/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
Just three weeks after World Health Organisation chief Margaret Chan assured the world that the type A (H1N1) flu pandemic was over and had not been as severe as first feared, Thai virologists warned of a renewed threat. In interviews this week, they expressed fears the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain could soon re-emerge.
No Thai has caught it since 2006, when the death toll stood at 17, but poultry populations are still being infected. The scientists pointed to Vietnam which has had 119 cases of avian influenza in humans to date with 56 fatalities. Controversially, they cited pet cats and dogs as possible transmission routes to humans.
The reason these medical researchers are raising a red flag is to provide plenty of warning. That is understandable given the bungling and hysteria that characterised our handling of the H1N1 flu crisis. Politicians and health authorities initially played the outbreak down but later went into panic mode which peaked with the scary suggestion from some doctors at Chulalongkorn Hospital that borders should be closed. Despite all the money spent, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation failed in its efforts to synthesise an effective vaccine safely and in sufficient quantities.
Why they were unable to replicate the manufacture of WHO-approved vaccine in time for it to be of any real use, remains a mystery and one that must be resolved. Other countries did not seem to have a problem and our scientists are as knowledgeable as theirs.
The scanners supposed to detect fevers in people arriving at airports or land borders also proved to be unreliable. If the flu virus had mutated into a more virulent strain, we could have been in serious trouble. It is fair to say that the ability of the medical authorities to counter emerging diseases has been tested and found wanting. The lesson that should be learned is the importance of contingency planning - lots of it.
While it would be foolish to dismiss such warnings as this latest one on bird flu, it is important we keep a sense of proportion and not let them distract us from countering the unfashionable but widespread potential killers such as tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, diabetes, cancer, dengue and malaria. These are the diseases already causing widespread illness and economic harm.
While fewer than 300 Thai patients have died in the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic and 17 from the bird flu outbreak, tuberculosis alone accounts for over 12,000 deaths a year in this country, with up to 100,000 new cases diagnosed annually. About 25% of these patients also test positive for HIV/Aids. Worldwide the disease kills 1.3 million people a year. Yet eradication programmes often have difficulty in obtaining adequate funding because the money is needed to tackle the newer threats and there is never enough to go around.
Rather than competing for cash, the threat from newer diseases should serve as a catalyst to combat existing epidemics. But there seems to be a lack of urgency in fighting TB, despite a high proportion of the world's population being affected, and it shows in the inadequate investment in treatments and diagnostics. Research and investment have taken on added importance because of dangerous new strains of TB that are resistant to both first-line and second-line treatments.
Our superb handling of the Sars crisis in 2003 seems to have allowed a degree of complacency to creep in. In the 2009 flu pandemic we lost the battle and were lucky not to lose the war. In future we must be more responsive to whatever nature throws at us while still keeping up the fight against the less exotic, older diseases that so many of our countrymen and women die from.