Why the scare : the H1N1 virus

Is H1N1 the biggest threat to life today? No. There's traffic, Mumbai locals, AIDS, measles, cancer, stress and myriad other reasons why India's death rate is what it is. Then why is there such panic around H1N1?

I believe it is the simple fear of the unknown. People do not know enough about the disease. What causes it? How do we recognize it? What to do if we are in the care of someone with H1N1? In the absence of knowledge, people clam-up. They become scared and fear has strange ways of ruling our responses.

The other unknown in H1N1 is the treatment & screening option available. If you get H1N1, you'll be made to experience something even worse - a Govt. Hospital! For those of us who have never visited a Govt. hospital in our life (these are exactly the people who are running scared shit), let me just say that they breed disease more than they treat it. We hear horror stories about staff apathy, vermin laced wards, spit covered walls and a general lack of hygiene and care.

Now, if the only screening and treatment option available for H1N1 is a Govt hospital, you'll pray to your Almighty that you never ever have anything to do with the flu!


Traffic, Mumbai locals, AIDS, cancer, measles, stress are knowns. You know what to do to prevent them (thought in the case of cancer that's less certain) and if you get hit by a car or a local (God forbid!) or come down with measles, cancer, AIDS (again double forbid!) you can go to your GP, nearby clinic or plush private hospital to get treated. Medicines are freely available at your nearby chemist and the whole thing seems to be under control.

For H1N1, it is a Govt hospital, it is bureaucracy, medicines are rationed - you'll only get them if they THINK you have the flu. So the risk and cost of getting the flu just spiral up.

In this situation it is better to be safe - stay indoors, don't go to school, don't visit malls, don't talk, don't breathe. Because the alternative, however improbable, is unpalatable - a rendezvouz with the opaque, kafkasque Govt machinary! You don't know what'll happen to you if you're in the care of the Govt.