The outbreak of Swine Flu in Mexico has caused many to go into a state of panic. As of today’s date, there are confirmed infected persons in Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, Spain, and Israel. In the U.S., confirmed infections have been noted in ten states.  Therefore, it should not be a surprise to anyone that Travel and Tourism will be at the mercy of this crisis.  Over the last three days, travelers cancelled their flights and land based all inclusive vacations citing concerns over Swine Flu.  While the cruise lines have suspended all stops to Mexico out of caution, their historical records indicate that the Cruise Lines are, and have always been, better prepared to respond to viral outbreaks when compared to land based destinations.

Since the 1970s the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a division of the U.S. Public Health Service, and the cruise industry established a good cooperative relationship through the establishment and implementation of a Vessel Sanitization Program (VSP).  The simple goal of the VSP is to assist the cruise ship industry to prevent and control the introduction, transmission, and spread of gastrointestinal illnesses (GI) on cruise ships.  The VSP is implemented through a program which consists of Inspection, Monitoring, Training, and Providing Education.

During an inspection, the CDC inspects the medical facilities, portable water systems, swimming pools and whirlpool spas, galleys and dining rooms, children activity center, hotel accommodations (rooms and suites), ventilation systems, and common areas of the ship.  The CDC utilizes electronic monitoring of illness on cruise ships, and must be notified of illness onboard prior to the ships arrival at a U.S. port.    Most importantly, all cruise lines must develop and maintain an Outbreak Prevention and Response Plan (OPRP).  In the event of an outbreak, the cruise ship is required to increase daily cleaning and disinfection frequencies; stop high-risk activities, such as self-service buffet tables and handshaking; isolate ill people; collect clinical and/or environmental specimens for analysis; and provide daily updates to VSP that include case counts and reports of what the ship has done to establish control.

As you can see, the cruise line industry has been trained and prepared for more than thirty years to handle and manage infections like the Swine Flu.  In fact, some cruise lines have successful done so over the years.  In addition to all the precautions, all cruise ships, unlike many all inclusive vacations destinations, have medical infirmaries, with the appropriate staff to manage acute situations.  Additionally, to bridge the gap, cruise lines, and their agents, usually recommend the purchase of travel insurance to cover medical expenses, emergence air transportation, and other important items, in the unlikely event that illness interrupts your vacation.

Is your all inclusive vacation destination prepared to respond to the Swine Flu in a manner comparable to the cruise line industry? Cruising is the clearly the best vacation value.  If you disagree, I would love to hear from you.

Wash your hands

Basic way of preventing getting infected is washing your hands frequently, especially after coughing or sneezing. You can use soap and water, alcohol-based hand sanitizers are also effective. Hand sanitizers can be used when water isn’t available.

Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth

Germs spread when you touch your eyes, nose or mouth after touching something that’s contaminated.

Avoid close contact with sick people

If possible, avoid contact with possibly infected people. Avoid crowds. Swine flu spreads mainly when people cough or sneeze.

Avoid travel

Try to limit traveling, especially to high risk areas such as Mexico. If you’ve been to Mexico and have flu like symptoms visit a doctor.

Wear facemask or respirator

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing facemask in crowded settings to prevent getting infected and to not infect others. Respirator should be used if you have close contact with infected person (for example you’re caring of sick person at home).

Antiviral drugs

Swine influenza A (H1N1) is sensitive to Oseltamivir (sold under name Tamiflu) and Zanamivir (sold as Relenza). They are effective means of swine flu prevention and treatment. If taken for treatment, Tamiflu and Relenza are most effective if taken within 2 days after illness started. They are also effective for prevention if given to healthy person that had contact with infected people. Antiviral drugs are 70% to 90% effective means of flu prevention. According to CDC, number of days they should be used to prevent H1N1 influenza varies depending on each person’s situation.

Vaccine

Influenza A (H1N1) vaccine isn’t available yet, WHO and CDC are working on it.

Stay home if you feel sick

CDC recommends to stay at home for 7 days after symptoms begin or until you are symptom-free for 24 hours to not spread infection further.

Take care of your health

Sleep well, be active, manage stress, drink lots of fluids, eat healthy. This strengthens your immune system.

While it may sound like something out of a bad sci-fi movie, it has become our reality. US doctors, in accordance with WHO regulations, have drafted a document deciding who will live and who will be allowed to die when the Swine Flu Pandemic strikes the greater part of North America.

Once Swine Flu has America in its death grip, medical care — including everything from vaccines to respirators to doctors and nurses themselves — will become scarce. So a task force of members from prestigious universities, medical groups, and government agencies (the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Health and Human Services, and World Health Organization) has compiled a list of people who would not be treated.

Those of us most affected by this decision can easily see this as an attempt to “play God” on the part of these doctors who so willingly ignore their Hippocratic oaths, but Dr. Asha Devereaux, a critical care specialist and lead writer of the task force report, called the guidelines a “blueprint for hospitals so that everybody will be thinking in the same way.”

It’s being recommended that every hospital choose a triage team to decide who will get lifesaving treatment and who will not, but the guidelines already spells out those who will be denied care. They include:

People older than 85

People with severe trauma, such as critical injuries from car crashes and shootings

Severely burned patients older than 60

People with severe mental impairment, such as advanced Alzheimer’s disease

People with severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes

Others who are at a high risk of death or have a low chance of long-term survival would also be unlikely to receive medical care.

The guidelines will clearly violate laws against age discrimination and disability discrimination, according to public health law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University. Gostin also called the report “a political and legal minefield.”

Though most experts acknowledge that health care will, in fact, need to be rationed once Swine Flu infections begin, the current list will basically single out the poor blacks, Mexicans, homosexuals, non-English-speaking peoples and any others who are generally considered as undesirables in America. Because in addition to this list, the triage team will, at its discretion, decide on millions of others who will be arbitrarily denied medical treatment.

As for when the guidelines will be enforced, members of the task force said it’s only a matter of time. Phase Five Pandemic Alert means that a pandemic with millions infected, dead, and dying is imminent. It WILL happen!

According to Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, Department of Health and Human Services:

“Forty million people died when the last major influenza pandemic swept around the world in 1918. We have seen two less severe pandemics since then. We will no doubt see another sometime in the future.

We don’t know when, and we don’t know how bad it will be. But we know it will happen sooner or later and that what we do now will save lives – maybe millions of lives – in the future.”

How did this happen? How did we get to the point where we allowed an engineered virus to be released onto an unsuspecting population – then in the face of imminent death – we are being told that our job is to die.

Don’t allow this fate to happen to your family. The triage experience will not be just about the color of your skin. You may be denied treatment just because someone doesn’t like you or in your haste to get treatment for your loved one, you may become momentarily rude.

Any little thing can mean life or death for someone you love.

Protect your family today before it is too late.