Swine flu and Bangladesh
Swine flu is a highly contagious respiratory disease in pigs caused by H1N1viruses. It can be transmitted to humans via contact with infected pigs. This disease was first reported in Mexico. Now according to World Health Organization (W.H.O.), H1N1 influenza had been laboratory-confirmed in 41 countries and more than five lakh people have been infected and around eighty people have died.
Recently, twelve people have died in India. So far around 200 swine flu- infected patients have been identified in Bangladesh. To prevent the outbreak of swine flu government should arrange training programmes for the health officials. A good number of Bangladeshi workers from Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and some other countries are returning home every day following the global economic recession. But many of them are not aware of the healthcare desk.
So, we should take necessary steps to raise collective alertness.
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Two leading English medium schools in Dhaka city have shut down for an indefinite period amidst fears that the number of swine flu cases might increase in the country. Experts, however, said the swine-flu situation in the country does not warrant such drastic steps. Swine flu was noticed first in 1918 and that time it was called Spanish flu, which had spread globally killing over 50 million people in various countries. A lot of panic has been created in the last several days after couple of people tested positive for swine flu in Bangladesh. The latest about swine flu infection in Bangladesh is that the number of reported cases has gone up to 87. Of that number, 32 have been fully cured and the remainder receiving follow-up treatment. Reports from neighbouring India speak of the affliction widening; and an alert was declared in the Indian states. There is no cause for people to go into panic mode. Following media reports, the people's panic has been caused by ignorance and it is unnecessary. There is no need for them to wear facemasks. The situation was creating more panic than the actual ground reality For an example, doctors and experts while addressing a seminar said that in India two people die of tuberculosis every three minutes, 6,301 die daily due to heart trouble.
While diabetes claims the lives of 2,740 daily, about 290 people die due to tobacco-related diseases every day. So no panic should be created over influenza A (H1N1), which is just one of the many viruses in the environment. One worrisome dimension of the swine flu situation is that it's at level-2 now inasmuch as several cases have been detected in the community via cluster identification. It is now for the people to come forward to inform the health professionals with any symptom of flu they have contacted, besides, of course, maintaining personal hygiene meticulously.
Avik Sengupta, Biochemistry McGill University Montreal, Canada
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