‘In 1918, half a million Americans died. The projections are that this time, the virus will kill one million Americans.’ These were the words of the President’s chief health adviser, as he warned about the dangers of swine flu. But he wasn’t speaking this week. The year was 1976, the President was Ford, and the adviser had, it transpired, overestimated the death toll by 999,999.
Swine flu has already proved more lethal this time round. There are 152 probable deaths in Mexico (though only 20 cases are confirmed) and 1,614 sufferers under observation there. At the time of writing two British cases have been confirmed, with another 14 being investigated. But the lessons of 1976 are just as relevant today. In the words of the late Douglas Adams: don’t panic. It’s not yet a pandemic and we’re well prepared.
The only proper pandemic so far has been a panic pandemic, and the causes of this are not hard to identify.
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