Of all the potential global disasters that we periodically list and examine, only one has threatened repeatedly to become a reality: the flu, a variety of which is now spreading quickly across the world. A global flu epidemic seems a feeble threat compared to an asteroid impact or a nuclear holocaust, which nobody has encountered.
Japan confirmed its fourth case of the A(H1N1) flu virus on Sunday in a teenager who returned from a school trip to Canada with the three other Japanese who contracted the ailment, commonly known as swine flu.
Mexico city sprang back to life this week after two weeks of fear and inactivity. Officials shut down most of the economy to halt the spread of a previously unknown strain of the mongrel H1N1 virus, which is comprised of avian, swine and human influenza viruses. The hope is that the outbreak has now peaked.
After almost a fortnight of high alert and a five-day shutdown of ghostly calm, Mexico City this week began gingerly to return to its normal metropolitan bustle. Fears that swine flu might be a deadly epidemic have subsided: testing has shown that it was responsible for fewer than 50 of the 159 deaths that it was reported to have caused in Mexico.
The flu outbreak may be winding down in Mexico and causing fewer deaths than feared, but health officials now fear that a more virulent version will return to kill millions.
In the spring of 1918, North Americans were complaining about an unseasonable flu that was sweeping through several cities. They and the rest of the world were still blissfully unaware of what was in store for later that year: a pandemic that would kill 50 million people, or by some estimates many more - certainly more than the Great War that was still raging.
Thermal Scanners that were used to scan people for possible infection with swine flu (H1N1 virus) and failed to operate before have been reinstalled at the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake after repairs.
A spokesman for the Health Ministry said that the scanners had been sent to Singapore for repair and they were returned on Wednesday night.
With cases of swine flu, or A(H1N1) influenza, increasing and spreading worldwide, the ministry of health (MoH) called a conference yesterday for all relevant authorities to coordinate preventive and response measures to the possible entrance and outbreak of the flu in Bhutan.
