Editorial: Take common-sense approach to swine flu news

You might think that inter-species diseases are a thing of the movies, but in reality viruses, bacteria, and fungus jump between the species they attack. The recent H1N1 pig flu virus had genes from bird flu, and when it migrated to humans, it acquired human genes.
Vaccines try to prevent inter-species viruses and include immunity against variations of H1N1, H3N2, H1N2. Viral mutations are not fiction, and vaccination and potent anti-virals are some of our weapons.

The H1N1 virus, more popularly known as "swine flu," is a new strain of influenza, and many questions about its likely severity and its reach remain unanswered. As such, it presents public health officials and elected officials at all levels of government with the considerable challenge of getting information out to the public without unduly overblowing or understating the risks of the disease and the chances of contracting it.

Those two factors - the novelty of the virus and the need on the part of government officials to keep the public informed even as they are learning about the new flu strain - go a long way toward explaining the confusing guidance and directives coming out of the various agencies of the federal government in recent days. In changing circumstances, changing messages are to be expected.

Still, though, there is reason to question whether the administration of President Barack Obama could be handling the public health issue that is the H1N1 flu virus differently. The administration's most serious gaffe of recent days was, of course, Vice President Joe Biden's going way off what had been the administration's message that Americans should avoid unnecessary travel to Mexico, apparent ground-zero for H1N1. "It's not that it's going to Mexico," Biden said last week on NBC's "Today" show. "It's you're in a confined aircraft; when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. ... I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway."

But there have been other missteps. Within the past few days, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has declared herself "cautiously optimistic" after seeing "encouraging signs that this virus may be mild, and its spread may be limited." At the same time, though, Napolitano was warning that the virus "could die down soon" only to return "later again this fall when the ... flu season enters back in full swing."

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its guidance on closing schools where swine flu cases have been reported, saying that closures aren't necessary, although parents should keep sick children out of school.

While it is, again, certainly understandable, over time the continuing shifts in guidance and tone from federal health officials could incite exactly the sort of unreasoning public reaction that communication from those federal officials should be aimed at tamping down.

Frankly, it's time for a bit of perspective here. While it's clearly possible for the story to change dramatically in the coming days, as of now there has been only one death from the H1N1 virus on U.S. soil. A Mexican youngster visiting Texas from his home country died last week in a Houston hospital.

And, in a nation of more than 300 million people, the combined total of confirmed and probable cases stands at less than 2,000.

Worldwide, the number of confirmed H1N1 cases stands at less than 1,500, with a death toll of 30, according to media reports.

Obviously, there will be some continuing anxiety with regard to H1N1 until health officials get a clearer picture of the virus and its likely course in this country. Until then, the best course of action for the public will be to recognize the tentative nature of guidance from health officials, and to combine that guidance with a healthy dose of common sense and some perspective.

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Biotechnology advances have allowed us to understand viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens better than ever before. We use genetic engineering, DNA sequencing, microarrays, PCR, and other genomic and proteomic tools to understand pathogens better.

We've also developed vaccines and potent antivirals and antibiotics that fight diseases. A proof of this is how much longer life expectancy is Today than it was before the 1940's when antibiotics were invented.

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