Post #4: Swine Flu Op-Ed

Concerns and fears of swine flu have been spreading rapidly as more and more cases are being looked at in the United States. The New York Times posted an op-ed on how different types of influenza develop and change throughout history.

The article was well written and gave a nice overview about the flu in both a scientific and historical context. However, I found myself questioning who the author was and it was not until the end of the story that I found out he was a scholar. But that still leaves the reader to wonder just what are his credentials and where exactly did he obtain this information? It is perfectly evident that he is a writer because of the way the sentence structure flows.

As for his theory that there is a six month gap between the initial wave of the flu virus and a second and, what he claims, more deadly wave makes me feel uneasy. If we are currently looking at the first stage of this, then around October/November we will be seeing an even worse attack. In my opinion, the season itself will be more favorable for people to be catching the flu because the weather will be changing from warm to cold. Will we be seeing the swine flu in the Fall, I guess only time will tell.

As for the author's claim that in the past it has usually taken about four months to make a vaccine for a certain strain of influenza, I would like to believe that our medical technology has come a long way. It seems to me that by only looking at the past to give an estimate of how long it will take to produce a vaccine is not sufficient. Current trends in medical research and development should also play a role in determining the length of time it would take to create the vaccine.