A 59-year-old man unfortunately died in Mexico in late April. Having been bed-bound for weeks and suffering from type-2 diabetes and chronic renal failure, he was at high risk from respiratory virus infection. It became newsworthy, and the World Health Organization thousands of miles distant even released a media statement, because recent advances in genetic sequencing allowed the presence of Type A (H5N2) influenza virus – a type of bird flu – to be reported in a single clinical sample a month later. Refuting WHO’s distant bureaucrats attributing mortality to the virus, Mexico’s health secretary is reported as noting it was chronic illness that caused the death.
Irrespective of cause, deaths are a tragedy for family and friends. This one made global news purely because of advances in diagnostic technology. WHO, the media and a growing pandemic industry had been waiting for this inevitable event, testing and screening, as it is critical to perhaps the largest business scheme in human history. There are hundreds of billions on the table, and the will and means to take it. We all need to understand why, and what is supposed to happen next.
Hellbound and Down 