(http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/)
It seems that the "swine" part of the name of the current flu pandemic is having repercussions around the world. It was announced that fear of swine flu recently led the Egyptian parliment to demand that all pigs be slaughtered. The reaction in the second of my worlds hasn't been quite that drastic but I got a text message this morning that people supposedly from the health department had been going around the area "spraying pigs against pig flu".
Remembering the "spraying against dengue" that was done a few weeks ago, I wondered what on earth they could be doing. This flu isn't being spread by pigs, pigs are not getting sick, and as far as I know there is no vaccine out yet and even if there was it would likely be injected not sprayed.
The villagers were in a bit of an upheaval because they are concerned that their pigs are being sprayed with some kind of poison or even a virus to make them get sick and die. They are very aware of the paranoia towards pigs by some of the folk of a different religion and they well remember the attacks on pig farms by some fanatics a few years ago.
A quick check on the internet showed a few stories on how the department of health in various parts of the country has begun spraying pigs with disinfectant. More texting back and forth revealed that the pigs had been sprayed as well as the area around them and that it was odorless. And at least one family had just flatly refused to let their pigs be sprayed. I told them about the spraying with disinfectant and suggested that it was probably okay and wouldn't hurt the pigs.
I do wish the folk from the health department would put a bit more effort into explaining things to people.
I am not sure how much good spraying bleach water on all the pigs will do towards stopping this human flu pandemic but perhaps it makes nervous people feel like the government is doing something?
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