The Real Cost of Irrational Flu Obsession

I have said more than once that the influenza "pandemic"* is the Shark Attack or Missing White Woman story of public health. Yeah, it is actually happening, but it isn't nearly as important and the stuff we don't talk about because we're talking about flu all the time. One example is pneumonia -- the vast majority of the time, not associated with influenza -- which kills a little kid once every 15 seconds.

Really. Two gone while you have been reading this. The organisms most commonly responsible are not influenza virus, but Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) and pneumococcus, and there are others. Of course you didn't know that because you were busy reading about influenza.

A broad coalition wants to break through to your consciousness with World Pneumonia Day. It's a little hard from the web site to figure out that the date is November 2, but apart from that odd glitch, there's lots of information there, so check it out.

Of course, kids rarely die of these diseases in rich countries, because they are better fed and better housed, and so stronger and less susceptible; they are more likely to be vaccinated against many of the responsible organisms; and they get medical care if they need it. So this is very much about the social determinants of health, not just those nasty little microbes. In other words, this is about social justice and politics. Which is probably why we hear so little about it. Influenza is much safer to write about, because it is politics-free.





*By the definition they had to re-write in order to turn novel H1N1 into a pandemic, we have a global influenza pandemic every single year.