Apparently the relatively benign h1n1 flu virus has only killed thousands and not millions as once feared, thus far. Granted there are new cases popping up everyday around the world regardless of efforts to isolate this virus. Kudo’s to the World Health Organization who always maintained vigilance with this pandemic while others criticized them for overreacting. The death toll is still rising but who cares, people die all the time right?

Regardless of the virulence of the H1N1 virus this exercise or pandemic has shown how futile man’s efforts are to stop it whence disease reaches epidemic proportions. By the time vaccinations are finally produced to combat this strain it will have already mutated only providing a deterrent to the original strain. This is the scenario we will have when a much deadlier virus breaks out in the future. When we realize how deadly the next virus is it will be too late since we only pay attention after the fact. Prevention is considered overreacting these days as people and organizations are debased for their efforts to warn the public.

For the people who’ve lost family members from this strain it was just as devastating to them as the Black Plague or the 1918 pandemic that killed millions around the world. I lost a cousin and an aunt to another flu strain in years past with little fanfare so I’m vigilant regardless of the purported virulence of these civilized diseases. Pandemics and biological warfare have already devastated populations. Whether intentional or not the arrival of Europeans to the America’s killed off millions of Native’s do to the diseases they brought. Later cholera infested blankets devastated Indigenous tribes during conquest according to our oral history. With biological weapons in the arsenals of many nations this is a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) equal to or more then a thermal nuclear device.

The only real deterrent to the spread of disease is vigilance from the public at large and on an individual basis. We need to be more responsible and take some simple precautions. Man’s indifference to the cries of hungry and impoverished people has made the Earth a petri dish of new diseases. With famine on the rise it is guaranteed we will face much more virulent disease in the near future. Call it the domino effect for starvation breeds pestilence and pestilence breeds pandemics. It’s sad to note that profitability is the first priority when facing environmental and humanitarian issues. Small wonder many people will not survive the time of change. But I’ll bet they will have a nice portfolio and be fashionable dead.

Your Devil’s Advocate

Buffalohair