On Thursday night CIHR Cafe Scientifique held a lecture titled "Understanding Influenza Through the Media" in Toronto. The goal of the informal talk was to give people real information and break the myths that are out on H1N1.
The fact is H1N1 is a novel influenza that most of the population has no immunity to. Those born before 1957 are appearing to have a natural immunity. While most who get sick with the swine flu will not be in risk of their life doctors are seeing an increased amount of flu this year. Because of this increase the panel believes that the H1N1 vaccine is a positive vaccine.
The night's panel included Dr. Jeff Kwong, a scientist at the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Dr. Michael Evans, a scientist at Saint Michael's Hospital, Dr. Cecile Bensimon, a bioethicist at the University of Toronto and moderator Maureen Taylor, a national health and medical reporter formerly with CBC.
Dr. Kwong told the audience that the one-third of those who acquire the influenza virus any given year will be asymptomatic. The others will have varying degrees of illness. It bothers Kwong that the public doesn't know that there are so many people with the flu that have no symptoms and yet can be spreading the disease to others.
Any given year there will be 1.3 million people with the flu virus in Canada. This year those numbers will be higher because of H1N1. Not only will the numbers be higher because of a greater case load but because the media has been educating the public about the virus. The media got the message out. That education has both positive and negatives. On the positive side people are more aware of the virus. The negative side, as far as H1N1 is concerned is that those with mild illness are going to the doctor instead of staying home resting.
Dr. Evans discussed the need of vaccines, saying for the policy makers that vaccines are a no-brainer. Widely used vaccines will help ease the threat of the influenza virus for much of the population. He said that in his career he has seen meningitis cases go drastically down in the emergency room because of the Hep vaccine as an example.
Evans also discussed the need for the medical field and the media to have a closer relationship in order to better inform the public. The public by and large rely on the media for their health information. He pointed out that Jenny McCarthy's crusade against vaccines has had more impact than some doctors with patients. The media is good at swaying the public to their information.
When it comes to the H1N1 virus Evans said there are no black and white answers. The truth is there are still a lot of unknowns.
Dr. Bensimon discussed the ethics of pandemics. Is it realistic to expect health providers to put their lives on the line during a pandemic? What measures have society put in place to insure providers will be taken care of?
In times of pandemic we know that the medical demands will overwhelm resources. Where do the policy makers draw the line? Who will be the ones that are given the most care? It's a double edge sword. Do we tend to those that will in more likelihood survive or to those who are the most ill? If there is one respirator and two patients who gets the equipment that very well mean life and death? The answer is not black and white. Trying to decide which person benefits the most and how to explain those choices to the public is always a dilemma.
With the H1N1 virus have we run out of time? The disease is here. Because of the novelty of the virus the medical field has been running right behind the disease. This will be the case during future epidemics. The disease comes first and then the medical and science fields work to stop its progress.
That process also involves using the media to inform the public as to what the latest information is. Together. medicine and media work in the public's best interest to stop a pandemic in its tracks.
