MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING *
Or was it?
by Ed Rizkalla
It is almost a year ago, since the media first broke the news about influenza (flu)-like disease spreading in Mexico. The outbreak however seemed different from other flu’s, as it unexpectedly caused many fatalities among the young and the healthy. Initial reports associated the new flu with pig farms in Mexico, and labeled it as swine flu, which later on was identified as H1N1 flu. The unexpected fatalities, coupled with inadequate information and uncertainty about the behavior of the new virus strain stoked fears.
In the absence of concrete information, some speculated that the new flu might be similar to the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed over 50 million people. Newspapers and TV reports from all over the world showed pictures of worried travelers donning masks, which in turn added to the already existing anxieties and fears. The anxieties and fears increased world-wide, as the United Nation (UN) World Health Organization (WHO), declared the H1N1 flu as “Pandemic”. However as the months passed by, the vast majority of people who contacted the H1N1 flu, experienced mostly fear and anxiety, but for the most part, it turned out to be just another bout of the flu. As of April 18th, 2010, WHO (1) estimated the fatalities resulting from confirmed H1N1 flu to have been a little less than 18,000 world-wide.
With the benefit of hindsight, it seems that the dread of the H1N1 flu has been mostly overblown by inadequate knowledge and uncertainties. The inadequate knowledge and uncertainties were further hyped by the media. Some writers tend to conclude now that it was all “much ado about nothing”. A fair observer however would think long and hard before reaching such a conclusion, if he or she does at all. The “actual” fatalities, which occurred, turned out mercifully to a very small fraction of the initially forecasted figures. However some fatalities did in fact occur. Furthermore the fears and uncertainties led to some hardships and dislocations experienced by many peoples and industries all over the world such as the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. It is fair to note that, among the many people around the world who suffered hardships and economic losses because of the H1N1 flu, the Christians of Egypt, the Copts, stand out rather prominently. The poor Coptic garbage collectors, Coptic owners of and Coptic workers at the pork meat industry in Egypt have sustained major hardships and economic losses.
International health experts recognized early on, that transmission of the flu from pigs to humans was not common, and that the pork meat, even of infected pigs, did not pose a risk of infection to humans. However, oblivious to the then available expert views, Islamists in Egypt used the opportunity to manipulate the public fears to further oppress and impoverish the Coptic population. As early as April 2009 and though no infections have as yet occurred among the population, or evidence of infected pigs found, the Islamists agitated to eradicate the pigs from Egypt. In the National Assembly debates, Islamist members agitated for the eradication of pigs, on a pretext of preventing the spread of the H1N1 flu into Egypt. A lone Coptic lady, Dr. Georgette Killiney voiced her concerns in the Assembly and requested compensation for the owners (2). However a decision to slaughter the pig population estimated to have been 250,000-300,000 was made. Amazingly, the usually tardy Egyptian bureaucracy started with uncommon speed the process to confiscate the pigs from their Coptic owners, regardless of their protests. Mr. Amin Abaza, Minister of Agriculture noted that the decision made was to slaughter the pigs and their meat would be preserved, and accordingly there was no need to compensate the owners (3). The international media soon took notice of the rather unusual measure to slaughter of the pigs noting the advice of experts world-wide against it. The Christian Science Monitor (4) of May 5, 2009 reported that “both WHO and the UN have criticized the measure”. It also noted the measure’s discriminatory nature stating that “Most of Egypt's Muslim majority population does not consume pork, and the pigs are raised and consumed by Egypt's Christian minority. The Christian garbage collectors, who sort and recycle the city's waste, also raise pigs, using them to dispose of some of the garbage, and depend on the animals for part of their livelihood.” It also noted that some 30 million Egyptian pounds were expected to be allocated for compensation of the owners. The unusual measure proved not only to be another discriminatory measure against the Copts and their livelihoods, but also the execution of the pigs kill turned out to be unnecessarily brutal and savage (5).
The poor Coptic garbage collectors used to raise pigs to supplement their meager incomes. The pigs they raised, fed on the organic matter in the collected garbage. The garbage collectors also engaged in recycling some of the garbage for different uses, thus providing a form of garbage collection, recycling and disposal necessary for the function of a large city such as Cairo. A few months later on, Cairo was wrestling with a severe garbage problem (6). The New York Times of September 16, 2009 quoted a spokesman for the Ministry of Environmental affairs in Egypt stating “the problem is clear in the streets.” It further noted that “the crisis should not have come as a surprise. When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring-in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu- it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash.”
The eradication of the pigs might have satisfied the political agenda of the Islamists, but as expected could not prevent a H1N1 flu outbreak in Egypt. The H1N1 virus was simply not deterred by, let alone prevented by the measure to eradicate the pigs from Egypt. In the fall of 2009 many Egyptians contacted the H1N1 flu, the experience of which proved similar to other countries. Egypt, however ended-up suffering an unnecessary bad publicity in the international press, and the loss of the pigs contributed to a severe garbage accumulation problem in the streets of Cairo, posing a real health hazard to the overall population both Muslims and Copts alike.
The peace of Christ the Lord be with you all. Irene Passe.
References:
1- WHO Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 update http://www.who.int/csr/don/2010_04_23a/en/index.html
2- Swine Flu affects financial markets; Egypt declares a state of high emergency (Arabic), al-Masry al-Youm, April 28, 2009. http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=208918
3- The day to slaughter the pigs (Arabic), al-Masry al-Youm, April 30, 20009
http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=209051
4- Egypt’s slaughter of pigs draws criticism as misguided, by Liam Stack, The Christian Science Monitor, May 4, 2009. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2009/0504/egypts-slaughter-of-pigs-draws-criticism-as-misguided
5- Cleaning Cairo, but taking a livelihood, by Michael Slackman, The New York Times, May 24, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/world/middleeast/25oink.html?_r=3
6- Belatedly, Egypt spots flaws in wiping out pigs, by Michael Slackman, The New York Times, September 19, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/world/africa/20cairo.html
*The title of this article is borrowed from the well-known comedy “Much ado about nothing”, written by the famous British author William Shakespeare.
Ed Riakalla is a management consultant and freelance writer. He is the founder of Pharos on the Potomac Group (POPG), a non-profit organization at Annandale, VA.