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8/16/2010
Is Superbug another health crisis?
The fear of H1N1 has just subsided after hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to stock up the vaccine by fearful nations, particularly those countries that have a lot of money to pay for the drug. The pharmaceutical companies must be very thankful for the monetary windfall for a crisis that was blown out of proportion and is now seen as not worst off than another variation of the common flu.
The new hype, Superbug, is catching the attention of news hungry media. It is seen as another big thing by the European experts, and the monetary potential for big profits is very tempting. The Superbug is claimed to have its origin in India. The Indian health authority is not amused and angry that India is being picked as the culprit for the bug. And they too are questioning the vested and commercial interests of parties crying wolf.
Could this be another cry wolf episode and a money spinner? Or would the world take this less seriously as the H1N1? Would WHO raise the alarm and pronounce this as another epidemic waiting to happen?
Let’s hope that this is a false alarm. Let’s hope that countries were not made to waste precious money to hoard vaccines that may not be necessary. In this case there is no vaccine available for the next 10 years. But huge sums of money will have to be set aside for R&D to come up with a wonder drug.
What if this is real? How are we going to be affected should we be found to harbour a big pool of carriers living in our neighbourhood? One thing for sure, our economy will shrink immediately if we are to repatriate in bulk, all the foreign workers from affected countries. There is a health risk and an economic risk. Our HDB flats will be vacant with no more tenants or foreign talents vying to buy resale flats. The property bubble will surely to burst, not because of a world financial crisis, but a Superbug.
I recall the Year 2000 bug and how that also led to a crisis of worldwide proportion. This Superbug is an interesting development that could prove comical.
Let the Superbug (if there ever was one) come out of hiding and screw the world one more time.
ReplyDeleteFinancial markets need something or someone to jolt it out of balance and create great buying opportunities for contrarians.
Come to think of it, there are many many diseases that have yet to be discovered so what's new? And don't worry, those guys in the pharmaceutical industry sure knows when to announce the discovery of another buy, after they have done their due diligence on the profit potential of producing some antidote to fix the problem. Hehe.
We oldies are better prepared for any bugs, super or otherwise lurking in wait to unleash their deadly force. How? Because over all these years we have acquired anti bodies in our immune system from thousands of colds and flu we have suffered. So the body builds up virus signatures and the immune system is active and up to date. I don't get infected when my grandchildren has cold or flu because I've already got the antibodies while they are just acquiring theirs.
Like computer viruses that keeps the Nortons, Kaperskys and AVGs and clones busy, I fear there are some special-interest groups who wants to create fear about H1N1 and Superbug and future viruses. Then there is the global warming rumour-mongerers, which many have debunked as yet another b**s. Many businesses are kept alive and extremely wealthy from such "scams" and now many countries are left with vaccines that most probably will be left on the shelves to rot. No defence business can continue churning out weapons of destruction if there are no conflicts in the world. Think about that.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the products sold at Guardian and healthcare shops makes me wonder what is happening with the people of this world.
ReplyDeleteThe amount and variety of hair shampoos and conditioners alone boggles the mind, and all those chemicals in the products are pouring into the environment. They also have separate products to make hair soft, shine, prevent splits etc. And all this is just products to do with hair.
Then they have all the variety of shower creams and gels to nourish, soften, whiten, vitamin enriched and wtf.
And we are talking about saving the earth by using fewer plastic bags. I don't think they are serious.
There are so many humans trying to be gods and many are taking advantages of others miseries. As coffin makers make good profits from the trade, surely they wish that more people will die, the dotors want more afflictions and governments want more people to beg them. Pharmaceutical product makers will of course want more bugs and viruses.
ReplyDeleteThe World is very sick because of humans.
Virues and bacteria are there to keep the arrogance of the human species at bay. These microbes are a constant reality check.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, "we" (as in "Self-concept") are more "bacteria" than actually "human".
It is pointless panicking about any "superbug"... why? Because it won't ever be the last one to hit human kind.
Tiny little single-molecule "organisms" like viruses and slightly bigger but still small fully-functional bacteria eating up human tissue and making humans very sick or dead: AWESOME!