The topic of my column this month is epidemics.
No, I'm not writing about the crime epidemic in North Battleford.
Instead, I'm focusing on a more relevant topic, and that is infectious diseases.
This column comes in the wake of the recent measles outbreak that has ordinary people freaked out in the Northwest region and elsewhere. The outbreak hit Alberta hard and spread just over the border with five cases identified in Saskatchewan.
Personally, I ought to be fine against the measles. I was given my shots years ago. Still, I was concerned when I heard stories about measles hitting the Lloydminster area. I worried whether my immunity will still hold up, all these years later.
This outbreak has also reignited the whole debate about vaccinating people in general. A lot of people are saying the reason measles is making a comeback is many people didn't bother with childhood vaccinations in the first place.
Personally, I feel getting vaccinated, whether it's the annual flu shot or for these other awful diseases when you are a kid, is the responsible thing to do to protect yourself and others. Unfortunately, now there is this big ugly debate that has erupted, with famous people such as Jenny McCarthy going around trashing vaccinations and blaming it for autism and the like. You have many people believing this stuff, and the debate has become political.
There is nothing I can say to change the minds of these "conscientious objectors," people who will stand on principle and refuse to get vaccinations. What I get mad about, though, are the other people - the ones who think vaccinations are probably a good thing, but decide they cannot be bothered.
The consequences of this can be horrific, especially when it comes to stamping out those horrible diseases that ought to be consigned forever to the dustbin of history.
Look at how hard it is just to wipe out polio, for example. That disease is very close to being eradicated right around the world - almost, but not quite.
Whenever I go to cover a Rotary meeting they would talk about massive vaccination efforts in places like India, where the volunteers sweep into a community and mass-vaccinate all the kids to stop polio in its tracks.
Despite these massive efforts, we're hearing troubling stories about polio making a comeback in places like Pakistan, Cameroon and Syria, among others. Last week the World Health Organization sounded the alarm saying vaccination rates in some of these places needed to increase, and soon.
This is my concern - there is a sense of complacency out there. People ought to be hearing these stories in the press, and ought to be worried about polio, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and other scary diseases making a comeback and wreaking havoc.
Besides, the health care professionals have enough to deal with without having to worry about these diseases coming back, too. There are enough health concerns in the world to worry about - such as, of course, Ebola.
Surely you are familiar with Ebola. That virus, which has particularly ravaged people in western Africa in recent weeks, causes horrific bleeding and the death rate is through the roof.
There was a report back in March of someone in the hospital in Saskatoon who had travelled to Africa and was being tested for Ebola. The tests came back negative, but not before lots of people were panicking about the possible arrival of Ebola in Saskatchewan. This was scary business.
Another coronavirus getting a lot of press is MERS - Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. That's that respiratory infection mainly afflicting people in the Middle East. There've been reports of a spike in cases in the past few weeks and the death rate is high. People are scared that this terrible epidemic will spread to other countries, like the United States, where a health-care worker came home infected.
This is closely related to the SARS outbreak that was seen in Asia and made its way to Toronto a decade ago.
That experience freaked me out to the point where I was questioning whether to shop at any pharmacies, or travel on buses or subway trains, out of fear of encountering someone with SARS unwittingly spreading the virus around.
Having experienced first-hand the worry that ordinary people felt there, not to mention the negative economic impact, let me say this is the type of thing Canadians don't need to experience again.
Another scary situation when it first came out was H1N1, the notorious Swine Flu.
The pandemic hit Mexico hard in 2009 before spreading to other countries. That news had all the Mexican vacationers in a panic.
Not long after this, we heard of reports of the H1N1 flu hitting the Battlefords - which made perfect sense, because many from the Battlefords go to Mexico on vacation. Someone was bound to bring this virus back. Thanks a lot, eh?
Because the strain was brand-new, no flu shot could protect you, nothing. That was another situation where I was avoiding drug stores and, for that matter, all people.
The threat of another pandemic sweeping the globe has me thinking that I really ought to have some sort of "survivalist" plan ready for such a situation. I really ought to set up a bunker somewhere in a remote area, and stock up on non-perishable food items so I am able to wait out and survive the big pandemic that is surely coming.
I could go on and talk about how antibiotics are now losing the battle against the "superbugs," but I think I have cheered up enough of you for one day.
