Barbadians from all walks of life have been expressing concern at the Swine Flu pandemic sweeping neighbouring countries. Too close for comfort many are thinking! If the reports in the international press are to be believed the virus originated in Mexico. The 23 month old who died in Texas, USA within the last 24 hours was a Mexican child who had sought treatment in the USA.
The medical authorities in the USA are being very negative in their forecast on how this pandemic will spread. This is not good news for the Barbados authorities, North America is a top three tourist market for Barbados. The positive spin is that Barbados has always enjoyed a diversified tourist product unlike Bahamas and others.
At this point we can only hope that the Barbados government is able to galvanize all the stakeholders to treat with this matter with the seriousness it deserves. Reports out of Mexico indicate that the tourist resorts are now ghost like in activity. Barbadians have been lulled into believing over the years that such catastrophic events cannot ever happen in Barbados.
Bloggers have been expressing their opinions on the matter. We have been inundated with interesting emails from BU family members to blog on the issue. We also want to thank BU family member Tourism Monkey who was the first commenter to alert the BU family on the subject.
We urge Barbadians every where to cooperate with the authorities to ensure that we keep Barbados Swine Flu free. Let us all exude positive karma, let us pray, whatever it takes!
Barbados Underground 
@The Scout
Frankly, I’m with you in many respects, including on Tamiflu and its side effects. But to my peculiar (economist) mind, if you are going to spend scarce resources (money and time) then make use of what you buy and the time you use. So, let’s give sensible advice to the general public (as you did) and take reasonable precautions, and let’s not fool ourselves with PR suggesting that anything else will work for the moment.
heard its in barbados now
A crusie ship in the Port is reported to have 3 suspected cases.
this is zmoneyent
do you have a link to the actual story cause I heard it on the radio?
And everyone, except those showing outward symptoms (of course) was allowed to leave the ship!
What did I tell you?
I hearing some rumours that the workerw at a specific Hotel because of this swine flu. Anybody hear anything? What are they talking about?
Sorry about the unfinished sentence it should read:
I hearing some rumours that the workers at a specific Hotel because of this swine flu have gone home. Anybody hear anything? What are they talking about?
Did it make sense for Stetson ‘the Tuesday edition” Babb to rush to the public with a news flash that there was a swine flu alert at the port this morning? Would it not have been better to work with the medical authorities to manage how this news was disseminated given the untold damage in can potentially do to Barbados tourism industry?
David
You mean the ‘chewsday edition’.
VOB thrives on sensationalism.
Right now they are doing anything to get the public’s attention.
It is two weeks since there has been a posting on this pandemic which is worsening by the hour. Saw the following article on the NET and decided to share it with the family.
I hope that Barbadians aren’t letting their guards down. There are two confirmed cases in Jamaica . I would like the BU family to read the following article copied from yesterday’s edition of the Jamaica Observer. We in Barbados should have
H1N1 Virus preparedness ads on radio/tv and in the print media similar to hurricane season ads.
The article reads quote
DR SUGGESTS EXTENSIVE SCREENING TO AVOID SWINE FLU SCARE
BY KIMONE THOMPSON, Observer senior reporter thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, June 01, 2009
FORMER president of the Medical Association of Jamaica, Dr Alverston Bailey, is warning that there could be a major public health scare if extensive screening of all the persons with whom the two persons confirmed to have the H1N1 influenza A virus have come in contact is not undertaken in a timely manner. Bailey, who practises general medicine in Kingston, was referring to the two cases of the flu reported on the weekend. Both cases, the Ministry of Health said, were detected after the persons travelled separately to New York, one of the cities in North America where the virus has been wreaking havoc in recent weeks.
“There’s a distinct possibility that all the persons in the transportation, be it plane, ship or minibus, would have been exposed to it and not only their immediate relatives,” said Dr Bailey. “That’s where the problem is and it’s slightly worrying.”
“The public health people are going to have a big problem on their hands because they will have to track the targets from the time they boarded the plane until when they were diagnosed. They have to track the flight they were on, the mode of transportation they took to get home, whether it was a minibus, if they were at the bus stop. They have to find all the people with whom they came in contact and they will need to call them in to be tested.”
Added Bailey: “If I were in government I’d say “all the persons who were on flight X please come in for testing”. They may not do it because they have to be political, but from a public health standpoint I would.” Chief medical officer at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Dr Trevor McCartney, had similar concerns.
“I don’t have the facts and I am not privy to the information but it appears that the virus has been here. The detection was made after samples were taken and had to have been taken some time ago. From what I have seen, I don’t get the impression that the persons came today,” he said, suggesting that the virus could have already spread.
He did say, however, that in the case of an outbreak, the major hospitals had sufficient supplies of antiviral drugs.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health cancelled the second of two press conferences on the subject and when contacted, spokesperson on the H1N1, Dr Marion Bullock Ducasse, declined to comment. Members of the surveillance team were reportedly locked in a meeting up to late evening.
The Observer could not ascertain the sex or age of the affected persons yesterday but we did find out that they were tested at the National Influenza Centre (NIC) at the University Hospital of the West Indies.
The centre works in collaboration with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States and with the Pan American Health Organisation and is accredited to test for seasonal flu as well as the H5N1 (avian) and the H1N1 (swine) types.
NIC Director Dr Sandra Jackson told the Observer that once the four tests to detect swine flu were done and the virus confirmed, the public was informed within 24 hours, and while she did admit that “there might be more cases”, she stressed that proper hygiene should go a far way in preventing illness.
“It’s not as severe as people may fear that it may be because it was contracted in the States and it isn’t as bad there as in some other places,” she said.
Dr McCartney, meanwhile, emphasised the need for heightened public awareness in the face of the two confirmed cases.
We really need to step up surveillance. We need to step up the public’s awareness of the virus being in their environment by using radio and television ads, putting signs in schools and other public spaces. We need to let people know that it spreads very rapidly by contact so hand washing is of prime importance,” he said, adding that “wherever there is the suggestion of flu-like symptoms persons are encouraged to seek medical attention”.
“Hospital workers have been instructed as to the protective measures they are to take to ensure that they don’t come in contact with the virus and signs have been posted in the hospitals,” he said.
As for Dr Bailey’s position on protective measures, he said the public should adopt “universal precaution”.
“I’m hoping that the Government puts all systems in place to ensure that all the target cases are properly quarantined…but my approach is the same as it would be for HIV, universal precaution and the health care professionals and the public should do it too. Avoid shaking hands, avoid crowded places, use personal protective equipment – respirators that effectively filter out virus, goggles to protect the eyes, and gloves – and view all situations as potential cases.
“Wash hands continuously, especially if you go out and if you’re sick, don’t go to school or work,” Dr Bailey advised.’
Ends Quote
It is time this foolishness stops. It seems so obvious that this swine flu was developed in a lab and spread by couriers to different parts of the world as a ploy to sell drugs and make money. The market was either slow or not vibrant enough.
but if you think that was enough, you now have some more surprises. A new H1N1 vaccine, lol! Pull your pockets some more…
but the most marvellous thing about this is that when we done buy-up and stockpile, the drugs, test kits etc. are not returnable and non refundable and I bet they have an expiry date. After all the stockpiling, we now have to stockpile the new vaccinations.
I see one commenter writing that Jerome Walcott stockpile a vaccination. What you really telling me is that the plot was on the cards for a long time and that the then Minister of Health knew?
If this is so, then I have no apologies whatsoever for my conspiracy theory and I am linking it back to HIV/AIDS because that came about with a similar MO to swine flu.
Interesting stuff. Did you hear that there’s a new strain which is resistant to the anti-flu drugs? Tamiflu etc? Found a really good website for tracking it’s progress, seems to be updated every hour or so… http://www.swinefludeaths.co.uk.
i here saying the same thing barbados doesnt seem to be taking no precautions to get rid of this swine flu because every day people from england and surrounding areas are still coming into barbados and are among our people and england for example there are over 6300 cases of swine flu and 29 people at this moment have died already and we just taking them in barbados and not taking precautions what is wrong with bajans we want to dead for a pound
Since we all know that our country, Suoth Africa will be hosting the most important event of soccer World Cup for the very first time. i would like to know what interventions are bieng made to ensure that the pandemic influenza of Swine flu does not spread through our loving country, what should the municipalities do to ensure that the virus is well managed so it does not contaminate our country anymore, especially those minicipalities that will be hosting the games in them so that people won’t have fear to go to the stadiums?