EDITORIAL - Combating complacency

I found this excellent article in the News Straits Times today, which takes the words right out of my mouth. Please do read the whole article and you will realise, it's really time for us to stand up and do something about H1N1 and all these diseases, let's not be complacent. I'm posting the whole article:

" INFLUENZA A is back in the spotlight again with isolation rooms in schools, a rise in the number of cases, and the death of its 81st victim. And so is the problem of obesity, which not only increases the risk of dying from H1N1 but is also the underlying cause of modern killers like kidney failure, stroke and heart disease. Then there is dengue, chikungunya and tuberculosis, which refuse to disappear from our list of infectious ailments. All of these medical conditions can be alleviated or warded off by just a few simple precautions.

Right now, however, just as there has been no rush to vaccinate again influenza A, there does not appear to be a sense of urgency among many Malaysians to practise good personal hygiene, or change their diets, though severe illness and death is more common in people with underlying medical problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. If Malaysians are at all worried about the outbreak of H1N1, or the spike in dengue cases, they are certainly hiding their fears very well. Or perhaps they just prefer to find comfort in the statistics, which show that for the most part, H1N1 has been mild and most cases have not been life threatening. While there have been about 13,000 confirmed cases since April last year, the death toll is 81, or less than 1 per cent of all cases. For dengue, between Jan 1 and April 10 this year, there were about 14,000 cases with 47 fatalities. No wonder the director-general of health is worried that people have become complacent and have been taking the H1N1 pandemic lightly, as well as concerned at the lack of action in cleaning up houses and compounds.

As relieved as Malaysians may be that the worst fears about the flu pandemic have not materialised, and there is no sign yet of a second wave, this is no time to relax. We cannot consider any virus as mild when it has been lethal for the obese, pregnant women and those with underlying medical conditions. When the flu pandemic is by no means over, and dengue and other contagious diseases are still endemic to the country, it is only prudent to take the necessary precautions and increase our resilience by reducing the vulnerabilities associated with uncleanliness and obesity.

There is nothing like making good hygiene a personal priority to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, making those lifestyle changes to decrease susceptibility to flu and other illnesses, and making home and country clean to deprive the aedes mosquito of its breeding ground."