1976 swine flu story swung from fear to farce

Let's keep things in perspective. Yes, there is a potentially deadly strain of swine flu spreading around the globe. No, it's not necessarily the end of the world.

First, the facts: So far, only 13 people are confirmed dead from swine flu according to the World Health Organization – 12 in Mexico and one in the U.S. Around the world, 497 cases of the flu have been confirmed, including 34 in Canada.

Mexico suspects the virus may have already killed 168 people. Others there (the reported numbers range from 2,500 to 6,000) are showing flu-like symptoms.

But even if these numbers stand up, they, too, should be seen in context. All forms of influenza are potentially deadly. In a normal year, between 6,500 and 7,500 Mexicans die from pneumonia-like diseases. According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the flu kills up to 2,500 Canadians and about 36,000 Americans annually. Worldwide, the number of deaths attributed to the flu each year is between 250,000 and 500,000.

So, yes, there have been deaths from this flu variant. There will almost certainly be more. But, relatively speaking, we're still in the realm of low numbers. What's more telling – so far, at least – is that most who contracted this strain of the virus have recovered quickly.

Flu outbreaks always raise memories of the epidemic of 1918. That year, the so-called Spanish flu killed somewhere up to 50 million people worldwide. In Canada, an estimated 45,000 died.

But history provides other examples as well. One favourite is the great swine flu panic of 1976.

That one, too, began with fear and fanfare when, in February, a 19-year-old U.S. army recruit at Fort Dix, N.J., died after contracting a mysterious strain of swine flu.

Politicians swung into action. Faced with the spectre of another 1918-style pandemic, then-U.S. president Gerald Ford promised to inoculate every American citizen with vaccine. The Canadian government followed suit, with the proviso that – because of the cost involved – it would be able to inoculate only some.

Throughout 1976, the swine flu story swung between fear and farce. In August, Ontario's health minister announced the province's first swine flu death, a Goderich man. This, as it turned out, was untrue. A coroner later determined that the victim, who choked on his on vomit, had never been infected.

At Queen's Park, politicians debated who would get the scarce vaccine. All agreed on police officers and doctors. But should bank tellers be vaccinated? And what about bus drivers?

In the U.S., Nobel Prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling argued that Vitamin C would fight swine flu better than any vaccine. Here at home, the Toronto Star helpfully suggested that those inoculated against the virus should be required to give up the right to strike.

Ontario's government hemmed and hawed until, in the end, it decided to offer the vaccine to anyone who wanted it.

Alas, few did. By December, the Star reported that municipal clinics set up in Toronto to offer free flu shots were shutting down for lack of customers. Which perhaps was just as well. For when several Americans developed a mysterious and deadly paralysis after being inoculated, swine flu shots were abruptly suspended in both countries.

In the end, the only known death from the 1976 swine flu pandemic was the original army recruit. Outside of Fort Dix, only two other people caught the bug. They both recovered.

Rare sickness kills child; officials urge vaccination

A childhood illness that has mostly been curbed through vaccinations has killed one child and sickened four others in Minnesota, USA health officials said Friday.

The five children were infected with a bacterial infection known as Hib: Haemophilus influenzae type b.

Three of the affected children had not received any vaccinations, including the 7-month-old who died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The situation is of concern," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the CDC. "It could be happening elsewhere, and of course it's tragic that one of the children actually died from a preventable disease."

Hib primarily affects infants and children under 5 years of age. The vaccine prevents pneumonia, epiglottis (severe throat infection) and meningitis, which is an infection of the covering of the brain and spinal cord, caused by the bacteria.

One in 20 children infected with Hib dies, according to the CDC. Survivors of the disease can become deaf; 10 to 30 percent have permanent brain damage.

"Parents may not realize the importance of this vaccine," Schuchat said. "The disease is still around."

People tend to "think it's gone because it has not been seen for a while. Clearly, the bacteria is in the community in Minnesota, and babies that haven't gotten their vaccines are at risk," she said.

Before vaccines became widely used, about 20,000 Hib cases were reported each year in the country. After children began receiving the vaccinations in the early 1990s, CDC officials said, there was a 99 percent drop in cases.

A shortage of the Hib vaccine is also causing concern, officials said.

One of the two companies that produce the vaccine, Merck Inc., recalled more than a million doses in December 2007 because of contamination. The recall left a unit of Sanofi Aventis as the only vaccine supplier, creating a shortage.

Under normal circumstances, the first series of the Hib vaccine is administered to children when they are 2, 4 and 6 months old. A booster shot is administered between a child's 12th and 15th month.

Because of the vaccine shortage, the CDC recommended that the primary series for infants should get priority and that older children, who have stronger immune systems, should defer the booster shot until the supply situation improved. Officials said the supply should be back to normal by this summer.

The vaccine shortage did not cause the infection of the five Minnesota children, federal and state health officials said. Three of the children had not received any vaccination because of their parents' decisions, not because of a vaccine shortage, officials said.

One of the infected children, a 5-month old, had not completed the three-dose series of the vaccination, and a 15-month old child had received all doses but had an immune deficiency.

The cases are not related and were in different counties, said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, Minnesota state epidemiologist.

But the shortage may be having an effect in the community.

"When there are high immunization rates, there is herd immunity," Lynfield said. "It may be that because of the shortage, that herd immunity has dropped. That first manifests in unimmunized children."

Some parents don't vaccinate their children because of claims that childhood vaccinations cause autism. Health agencies say there is no evidence linking vaccines to autism.

"For parents that are wavering about whether they need the vaccine, they need to know it's an important vaccine to protect their child from serious infection," Schuchat said.

The Minnesota cases have alarmed health officials because "this is the highest number of cases that we have had since 1992, when vaccines became widely used," Lynfield said.

In 1987, the national rate of Hib meningitis was 41 cases per 100,000 children under the age of 5. After the Hib vaccine was introduced, the rate had fallen to 0.11 per 100,000 in 2007, according to the CDC.