May 2, 2009

Swine Flu in Perspective

By Frank S. Rosenbloom, M.D.
Outbreak! was the title of the movie released in 1995 about an Ebola epidemic, inspired by news reports of outbreaks of the deadly virus in Africa. Some experts opined that "it could happen here" and that it was just a matter of time before Ebola would show up in the US. Never one to play along, I posted a sign in my office in 1996 that if Ebola broke out here I would move to Africa and live with the monkeys. I am still here. In 2003 a horrible new disease was spreading out of Asia. SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Distress) had the potential to cause a worldwide pandemic. My waiting room looked like the inside of a Bombay bus during rush hour as crowds of patients impatiently waited for me to reassure them that the dripping nose they had was not SARS. After all, the WHO, the CDC and CNN all told them that doomsday was likely only weeks away. "We are counting down to a pandemic," said Guan Yi, a professor at the University of Hong Kong who helped trace the outbreak...(Read Full Article)