From Egypt’s order that all 300,000 pigs in the country be slaughtered to travel bans and putting the kibosh on kissing, the world is taking drastic — and some say debatable — measures to combat swine flu.
Egypt ordered the pig slaughter even though there hasn’t been a single case of swine flu there and no evidence that pigs have spread the disease. Britain, with only five cases, is trying to buy 32 million masks. And in the United States, President Barack Obama said more of the country’s 132,000 schools may have to be shuttered.
At airports from Japan to South Korea to Greece and Turkey, thermal cameras were trained on airline passengers to see if any were feverish. And Lebanon discouraged traditional Arab peck-on-the- cheek greetings, even though no one has come down with the virus there.
All this and more, even though world health experts say many of these measures may not stop the disease from spreading.
In Germany, where officials confirmed three cases, Lufthansa announced that starting Thursday it will put a doctor aboard all flights to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Experts said that makes sense: The doctors will be able to field questions from uneasy passengers and tend to anyone who might fall ill.
The World Health Organization said total bans on travel to Mexico — such as one imposed by Argentina, which hasn’t had any confirmed cases — would have very little effect, if any effect at all, at stopping the movement of the virus.
Nor will killing pigs, as Egypt began doing Wednesday, infuriating pig farmers who blocked streets and stoned Health Ministry workers’ vehicles in protest.
Unlike bird flu, where the H5N1 strain that spread to humans was widespread in bird populations and officials worried about people’s exposure to infected birds, WHO says there is no similar concern about pigs — and no evidence that people have contracted swine flu by eating pork or handling pigs.
“There is no association that we’ve found between pigs and the disease in humans,” WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.
But that hasn’t stopped governments from banning pig products.
Macedonia ordered a halt to all live pig imports, and on Tuesday, Mexico City closed down all its popular streetside taco stands for at least a week.
But some anti-flu measures have merit, such as Obama’s admonition Wednesday that more American schools might have to be closed temporarily if swine-flu cases spread. Already tens of thousands of students in Texas, New York, California, Chicago and elsewhere are out of school.
The WHO said closing schools and public places, along with banning or restricting mass gatherings, can be a way to contain the spread of disease. Epidemiologists call it “social distancing,” and the idea is simple: If you keep people who have the virus away from others, you can stop the chain of transmission.
“That’s a technique we would be recommending in a pandemic,” said the WHO’s Thompson.
