Swine Flu will burn and rage through South Africa - but wait, South Africa says no sweat, they can handle it

SHOOT: It is shocking to see the level of calm denial from South Africa's government and media, where a large proportion of the country's inhabitants have severely compromised immuno-response.

South Africa has one of the world's largest HIV-AIDS infected populations - about 5 million. This is a tinderbox for this disease, but as usual, South Africa thinks it's business as usual. Cabinet today confidently proclaimed: SA can handle swine flu. Sure they can. Look how well they've mis-managed AIDS, crime, Zimbabwe, electricity, land re-distribution, housing, xenophobia (in short, everything).

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk According to WHO estimates, there are 33 million people infected with immune-weakening HIV worldwide, and another 9 million people are diagnosed with tuberculosis every year, a disease that only rears its head when immunity levels are low. If swine flu infiltrates those communities, and takes hold in impoverished and densely-populated areas such as urban slums, where tropical and other diseases are rife, health experts expect the outbreak could quickly become more severe. "Many of the world's poorest people are particularly vulnerable to lethal airborne diseases," said Glenn Thomas, a spokesman for the Stop TB Partnership.