SHOOT: They've done the right thing, but this is tremendously scary.
"It is really all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic."
I've found the level of complacency shocking around me. I made a comment today urging that our attention be on this important, evolving danger and the response I got was a sneer and a snide remark. It's an interesting response when you look at Chan's remark, that this is essentially something serious that calls into question the entire human condition (for each and every one of us).
"No matter what the situation is, the international community should treat this as a window of opportunity to ramp up ... response," Chan said.
When the response is scathing sarcasm and petty criticism it makes you wonder whether your concern for fellow human beings is justified. Maybe some of us are not worth caring about, maybe swathes of people aren't worth saving. Maybe what you sow is what you reap.
"It is really all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic."
I've found the level of complacency shocking around me. I made a comment today urging that our attention be on this important, evolving danger and the response I got was a sneer and a snide remark. It's an interesting response when you look at Chan's remark, that this is essentially something serious that calls into question the entire human condition (for each and every one of us).
"No matter what the situation is, the international community should treat this as a window of opportunity to ramp up ... response," Chan said.
When the response is scathing sarcasm and petty criticism it makes you wonder whether your concern for fellow human beings is justified. Maybe some of us are not worth caring about, maybe swathes of people aren't worth saving. Maybe what you sow is what you reap.
The world is at imminent risk of a pandemic from H1N1 swine flu.Chan said she hoped to reassure governments but urged them to prepare for the worst.
"The world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history," Chan said. "For the first time in history we can track the pandemic in real time."
The H1N1 swine flu virus has spread around the world, killing an estimated 159 people in Mexico, claiming the life of a Mexican toddler in the United States, and infecting people in at least eight other countries.
It is a never-before-seen mix of swine, avian and human viruses and it is not clear how deadly it is or how easily it transmits from one person to another.
"No matter what the situation is, the international community should treat this as a window of opportunity to ramp up ... response," Chan said.
"It is really all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic."
Pharmaceutical companies should ramp up manufacturing she said. Two antiviral drugs -- Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline and Tamiflu, made by Roche AG -- have been shown to work against the H1N1 swine flu strain.
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