When the news of the unforgettable swine flu outbreak filled up all the communication ports and there’s was no other conversation topic besides it, honestly I didn’t care much about it; I thought that the advanced medical technology of our “amazing” 21st century could easily blow away a simple flu… not so simple. As the time went by, the news were getting worse and this swine flu caused some deaths in Mexico; I started to dislike the view… And here’s my confession, I started to panic :-S I became a “little” paranoiac about the topic; by those days I was assisting to college and I would think that I could acquire germs whenever I go, whatever I touch. I didn’t want to touch desks, banisters, elevators, doors handles, bathrooms faucets, anywhere that other person had had contact with. However, here in the United States, specifically in Texas, the state I reside in, there was only one death of a child who had already come infected from Mexico. The paranoia started to fade away; most people forgot about the topic and a typical chain e-mail letter arrived to my inbox. Such chain e-mail letter talked with certain skepticism about the famous swine flu and it stated many reasons why there’s doubt about the reality of the pandemic. Was it a false alarm invented by the governments of Mexico and United States? Read the content of the chain e-mail below and make your own conclusions.
On April 2nd, 2009 during the meeting of the group G7 which includes United States, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Japan, there were two important conclusions made:
1) The world economy needs a change.
2) The IMF will give out 500,000 millions of dollars to help emerging economies (poor countries willing to help rich countries)
After that, there was a private meeting between Obama and the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, on April 16th and 17th. Out of a sudden, on April 23rd, the Mexican president called for an emergency meeting with his congress members and later that day the Secretary of Health, Jose Angel Cordoba Villalobos announced on Mexican national television the swine flu outbreak, and the immediate decisions like the closing of schools everywhere in the state of Mexico and DF.
Finally, on April 27th the pharmacy wholesaler Sanofi Aventis announced the investment of 100 millions of Euros on a new plant of vaccinations and also the donation of 236,000 doses to Mexico as a support to control the illness. Let’s see the following:
1) Since more than 2 years ago the pharmacy industry in the world has had financial problems.
2) “If you don’t start wars, start illnesses” ( the world economy must be active)
3) Mexico was the perfect spot to start the illness and spread the word because it’s close to the United States which, even in crisis, it’s still the biggest market in the world. Also Mexico has an active touristic activity: tourists from Mexico could easily spread the flu to the world. And it’s not a coincidence that the countries that reported swine flu cases were the ones that make up the group G7.
4) What was everyone talking about during the flu outbreak, the swine flu or the financial crisis? That’s like an escape goat for the world markets
5) The president Calderon announced that the illness was curable; where were the dead and sick people?
6) If the swine flu was coming from the pigs the outbreak should have started on the country not on the cities.
