The flu panic

On the streets there are more and more people in gauze masks. Restless citizens cut off the phone “03” and sweep away antiviral drugs from the pharmacy shelves. And the chief sanitary doctor calls to cancel all mass events, as well as close schools and universities. Is panic appropriate - the New Times found out
Denis led his daughter to the clinic to make a mantu (a test for the presence of a tuberculous stick). He himself is a doctor and knows that you cannot pull with this procedure - you need to clearly observe the schedule. But this time it was not possible to observe - on the occasion of the “pork” influenza in the clinic, quarantine was declared. Healthy children inside are not allowed under any pretext. True, you can get used from seasonal flu, but other vaccinations and a planned examination will have to be postponed.

Who is afraid of the "pork" flu
But Denis himself increased. He works on an ambulance in one of the districts of the Moscow Region. So, lately the calls have become almost three times more. The lion's share of patients is with a slight cold and temperature just above 37 degrees. According to Denis's observations, the TV is influenced by the patients: “This is clearly visible in the dispatch. They will only show the news about the “pork” flu, all the phones begin to call at once. ”

Fear makes you stand up with medicines. In the three pharmacies that the New Times correspondent contacted, sales of antiviral agents doubled in three weeks. Dear Tamiflu (one of two drugs that proven that they really kill the influenza virus) at a price of more than 2 thousand rubles for packaging in two pharmacies where he was, they have already completely bought it and continue to ask about twenty times a day - despite the fact that doctors recommend using it only in emergency cases. But the people are reinsured. Marlean bandages, it is worth it to bring them, they are sold out instantly.

Under the noise, sellers infuriate prices. According to Roszdravnadzor, in 32 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, antifungal drugs since September have risen by more than 3%, in particular, in Moscow - by 7.9%.

Clinics close to quarantine, in hospitals in whole departments are prescribed patients to prepare places for potential patients with influenza. In educational institutions, they transfer the holidays and cancel classes. And this is not the limit. Rospotrebnadzor requires more stringent measures. So, in his next letter, published on November 10, the head of the department, Gennady Onishchenko, offers in all regions where the epidemiological threshold for flu and SARS is doubled (and such regions in Russia 17), completely ban mass events and stop classes in all schools and universities.

Vaccination urgently begins in the country. Four domestic vaccines were developed at the budget funds and 4 billion rubles were issued for the purchase of 42 million doses.

Real picture
According to the Ministry of Health and Social Development, as of November 10, there were 4,563 pork flu with a laboratory -confirmed diagnosis in the country. 21 people died from this virus. No matter how cynical it sounds until it is a drop in the sea of ​​ordinary seasonal viral infections. In Russia, according to the annual report of Rospotrebnadzor, last year almost 27.5 million cases of SARS and more than 322.5 thousand cases of influenza were registered. There are no exact information for 2009 yet, but there is Rospotrebnadzor data on a decrease in the incidence of 8% and mortality by 10% (from January to September from influenza and SARS, 439 Russians died, against 484 for the same period last year).

According to WHO, in developed countries, the majority of influenza victims are elderly people. And the "pork" variety of old people are the least. The fact is that, contrary to all statements about the new mutant virus, a third of those born before 1957, scientists discovered immunity to this strain. In particular, therefore, many foreign experts, for example, the authors of the British Medical Journal, consider the H1N1 flu less pathogenic than seasonal. Although, according to another important characteristic - in terms of infection - the new virus exceeds seasonal.

Who benefits
WHO announced the pandemic of the “pig” influenza on June 11, assigning the virus a sixth degree of danger on a six -point scale. This has not been the last 40 years. The disease is put on a par with three pandemias of the twentieth century: “Spanish”, Asian flu 1957–1958. and Hong Kong flu 1968–1969. But few people know that in early May, WHO corrected the very determination of the pandemic. Previously, a prerequisite for its announcement was a severe course of illness and high mortality. Now it is enough to fix the infection on five continents.

Such manipulations could not but arouse suspicion. A group of Russian doctors from the Society of Evidence Medicine Specialists (OSDM) and lawyers from the League of Patient Defenders publicly accused the WHO and Russian officials of medicine of deliberately escaping panic.

“The hysteria around the“ pig ”influenza is beneficial to the structures that“ serve ”the epidemic,” said the President of the OSDM Kirill Danishevsky. - WHO receives more money and influence. Institutes and manufacturers of drugs - orders for the development and manufacture of vaccines. Pharmacological concerns - billions of profit. "

Russians are urged not to panic, not to storm the clinics, not to lean on toxic antiviral, to wash their hands more often and treated with symptomatic agents.

Reinsurance
Officials themselves admit that they are reinsured. “According to our calculations, if the incidence will develop as in large countries-the USA, Canada, China, then we can expect that the H1N1 flu will illuminate to 30% of the population,” the press service of the Ministry of Health and Social Development reports. -The most unfavorable scenario is a disease of up to 70%, it is 100 million from the 140 millionth population. We act based on the principle: "We hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

As a result of universal preparation for the worst, first of all, those who really need medical care suffer. Children do not receive planned vaccinations in time. The patients are waiting for an ambulance longer. Now the sorting of calls to more and less important, and the infarcticians are forced to wait for the doctor in the same line with those who suspect the “pork” influenza, doctors say. Not news: worse than panic is just a greater panic.