LEvko is astonished at the panic in Ukraine and the way over-the-top reaction from the government and politicians over the swine flu epidemic which has hit the country. There is even talk of the president establishing a state of emergency and possibly postponing the presidential elections.
The United Kingdom has been hit harder than most countries by swine flu - there have been well over one hundred swine flu-related deaths since the start of the current outbreak - but if Ukrainian visitors to this blog read this advice from the BBC, then maybe they will be able to sleep more soundly tonight.
The British National Health Service latest information bulletin on this virus says: "As in other countries, most of the cases reported so far in the UK have been mild. Only a small number have led to serious illness, and these have often been in patients with existing health problems, such as cancer, that already weakened their immune systems.."
American experts paint a broadly similar picture.
Sadly, for an unlucky few, swine flu will mean hospitalisation. And one has to remember that even normal seasonal flu kills over 250,000 people in the world every year.
Ukrainian politicians would do better to take a good look at Ukraine's appalling life expectancy figures. Major causes of premature deaths in the country are the smoking of cigarettes and excessive alcohol consumption. A ban on advertising these products and restricting their availability would help save countless lives, but it won't happen because there's too much money being to made from their sale. Much easier to show "decisive leadership" and determined action over the flu epidemic, and scare the the population out of its wits - no doubt increasing the sales of cure-all vodka even more...
p.s. I 'phoned the official goverment swine flu information hot-line today...all I got was crackling..
"I 'phoned the official goverment swine flu information hot-line today...all I got was crackling.."
ReplyDeleteMaybe 28 Days Later was not a fiction.. More infor at www.ihaveinfluenza.com