\u201cSwine flu\u201d is really a misleading term for the current pandemic, \ninasmuch as no single species serves as host of preference for the new \nvirus. It does not need to mutate as it jumps from pig to human and back\n again. This is a fully trans-species disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the findings of Canada\u2019s National Microbiology Lab, the \ngenome of the new virus is a strange composite of eight segments from \nfour old viruses, associated with two distinct varieties of swine flu \n(North American and Eurasian), a North American avian flu and a human \nflu (the H3N2 strain last seen in 1993). New Scientist calls it \u201can \nunusually mongrelised mix of genetic sequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Possible sources of the virus <\/strong> This explanation is certainly plausible. Pigs are susceptible to most\n if not all of the main virus families, so different kinds of virus can \neasily accumulate inside the cells of their tissues and exchange genetic\n material. Pigs are therefore ideal incubators for the evolution and \nspead of viruses, especially when their immune systems are weakened by \nbeing crammed together in the filthy pens provided by profit-seeking \nagribusiness. Over the years, many experts have predicted that the \noutcome would be pandemics of new diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, the evidence for this version seems far from \nconclusive. There may well be earlier cases elsewhere that have not been\n traced. Smithfield systematically obstructs all investigation into its \noperations, but that proves nothing: no doubt there are many things that\n they want to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So other possibilities cannot be ruled out. It is unwarranted to \nassume that the virus must have originated in Mexico because conditions \nthere are more unhygienic than in the US. The pig factories in Veracruz \nand those in North Carolina are owned by the same firms and run in the \nsame way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Online Journal, a \u201ctop UN scientist\u201d believes that the \nvirus was released, accidentally or deliberately, from a biological \nweapons lab, inasmuch as certain features of its highly unusual \nstructure are suggestive of genetic engineering. A possible source is \nthe US Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, \nMaryland. It was from here, for instance, that someone spread anthrax \ngerms in 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prospects<\/strong> To a large extent, the mixed responses can be explained in terms of \ndivergent commercial and other interests. The reassurance is designed to\n avert panic and unrest, safeguard sales and exports of US and Mexican \npork, protect the tourist industry and maintain business confidence. The\n alarmism serves the interests, above all, of the big pharmaceutical \ncompanies that produce anti-flu drugs and vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mass vaccination is not always an effective measure against pathogens\n susceptible to rapid mutation. Moreover, the vaccine itself may be \ncontaminated with viruses. Thus, last December a lab of Baxter \nInternational in Austria distributed vaccines contaminated with live \navian flu virus to 18 countries. The same company has now been \ncommissioned by the World Health Organization to develop an experimental\n vaccine for the new flu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever the outcome of the current pandemic, it is safe to say that \nit will not be the last. On the one hand, meat factories and biological \nweapons labs continue to generate new pathogens. On the other hand, \nthese pathogens are increasingly drug-resistant due to the \nindiscriminate use of antibiotics and other malpractices. It is only a \nmatter of time before we find ourselves helpless in face of some new and\n much more fatal trans-species virus or bacterium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Preventing pandemics in socialism<\/strong> However, this may not suffice if socialist society were to commit \nitself to providing a meat-rich diet for most of the population. (Some \npeople, of course, will not want such a diet.) Disease control may well \nrequire the abandonment of animal factories and a return to a more \ntraditional type of farming. This is likely to reduce the supply of \nmeat, although it will also enhance its taste and nutritional value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides change in patterns of production and consumption, a shift away from reliance on air travel would help slow down the spread of new diseases and allow more time for research and countermeasures. (It would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.) Work schedules might be coordinated in such a way as to give people the time they need to use and enjoy slower means of travel, interspersed as desired with participation in the life of local communities, including farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Original article<\/a> by Stephen Shenfield in the Socialist Standard<\/strong><\/em> June 2009<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cSwine flu\u201d is really a misleading term for the current pandemic, inasmuch as no single species serves as host of preference for the new virus. It does not need to mutate as it jumps from pig to human and back again. This is a fully trans-species disease. According to the findings of Canada\u2019s National Microbiology…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2909,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907\/revisions\/2909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIt is widely assumed that the virus evolved in a pig. Suspicion has come\n to rest on a huge fly-infested lake of pig shit on the site of a pig \nfactory \u2013 calling these places \u201cfarms\u201d creates quite the wrong \nimpression \u2013 in the central Mexican province of Veracruz. The pig \nfactory (one of 16 in the province) is owned by Granjas Carroll, which \nis itself half-owned by the US pork and beef conglomerate, Smithfield \nFarms. The idea that this particular factory is the source of the \noutbreak is based on the fact that a young boy living nearby is the \nearliest known case of infection with the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWhen the pandemic first hit the headlines, scientists did not yet even \nunderstand the nature of the new virus and it was impossible to assess \nthe severity of the danger. That did not deter some politicians and \nofficials from reassuring the public and others from voicing the most \nalarming predictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nEliminating the profit motive will remove the major obstacle to the \nprevention of trans-species pandemics. Those responsible for food \nproduction will be able to give proper weight to environmental and \npublic health considerations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n