Swine Flu

Last May, I contracted the worst flu that I have ever had. With nothing moving too quickly in the emirates, it came on like a car creeping through rush hour traffic, reaching its peak one night at Al Zahra Hospital. My temperature surpassed 39 degrees Celsius (over 102 Fahrenheit) which felt exceptionally brutal given the temperatures outside surging to their highs for the year. With an IV in my right arm, two bags of saline solution and a candy-apple green antibiotic eased their way into my bloodstream. In the hour or so that I lay there, I could feel my body temperature drop and the most brutal symptoms of the flu dissipate. While the symptoms did not disappear altogether, my health improved over the next few days. What was the doctor's original diagnosis?

Hepatitis A?

(The question mark was part of the diagnosis).

For the next week, I assured myself that the doctor was being over-cautious as my health returned to normalcy. That was until ten days later when the same symptoms struck again, except this time not quite as forcefully. The thought that I might have Hep A continued until I left the UAE for the summer and came home where the illness did not strike again. What the doctors that I saw did not consider (at least vocally) was that it might be the H1N1 virus. The one response I did hear was from one of my students who joked/teased me that maybe I had the swine flu.

That was before the swine flu scare hit the country. Fears of a swine flu outbreak filled the media throughout the summer. Last spring, H1N1 was covered most nights in the news but it was always something that was happening to someone else. It was treated as the natural consequence of what happens to people who live around such a filthy animal. Now, the swine flu scare permeates the entire news. Each night, a different story documents how a different sphere of society is addressing concerns about the swine flu. Frequent coverage also asks individuals to discuss what they are doing to prevent the swine flu (anything from washing their hands more to wearing masks to isolating their family from strangers or food prepared outside the house). Finally, most stories conclude with a small summary of what preventative measures should be taken when you are in crowds (My favorite being text messages being sent out over the Eid holiday to warn people not to greet each other by kisses on the cheek or touching noses).

In a country made up of a majority of expatriates, many of whom are traveling throughout the summer, some of the fears about the spread of flu are warranted. Combined with the warm humid climate, the UAE could be seen as a perfect atmosphere for the H1N1 virus to thrive. However, the intense media coverage and public concerns have created a very different atmosphere than when I was sick last spring. At school, parents are withholding their children from starting at the normal times, wanting to keep their children out until they are positive that they are not putting their child at risk. Nursery and and preschools in Abu Dhabi are rumored to be closed indefinitely while schools that have opened are reporting some of the lowest student turnout ever (Schools Reopen, but H1N1 concern forces low turnout--the comments at the bottom of the article give a particularly vivid example of the public feeling). At our school, each class now has its own hand sanitizer, signs have been posted in the bathrooms for how to wash your hands, and parents have been told that if their child show any signs of the flu they will be restricted from coming to school for one week. At Julie's early years campus, teachers who show serious flu symptoms have also been asked to stay home for at least a week.

In a place where the virus was once treated at an arms length, now everyone is screened at the airport and people with a minor cold are flocking to hospitals to ensure that they haven't come down with the dreaded sickness. Women using their scarves to cover their faces have become part of the landscape in malls. Travel agents have noted a major reluctance to go abroad. It's been odd coming back to all of these symptoms of the public fear of a swine flu outbreak. Coming back after being gone for the summer and seeing these symptoms of the public fear of the H1N1 virus, it's a big change from joking last spring that my claim to fame might be the first case of swine flu in the UAE.