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04/24/09
Holy Moses!…The Plagues of Mexico, Influenza - Flu Strikes
Filed under: Cancun Tourism, Cancun Swine Flu/AH1N1
Posted by: Dangers @ 9:13 pm

 Well, here we go again, just when you thought it was safe to go outside again after a mass hysteria of irresponsible reporting by the U.S. and Canadian media regarding the criminal activity of the drug cartels predominantly located on the Mexico-U.S. border comes the new influenza reports complete with a travel advisory from the Canadian Government.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/23/respiratory-illness-flu-mexico.html

 Now influenza outbreaks are not anything to ignore, and here at Living on Isla Time, we highly recommend an ounce of prevention and a pound of cure when necessary (see the link below to the WHO Report) but to say that Mexico hasn’t had it’s share of bad news over the last few years is an understatement.

 Not unlike a series of Biblical Plagues in the time of Moses’ Egypt, Mexico has been taking one shot right after another, and in a country that depends heavily on tourism from the international community, primarily, the United States and Canada, these plagues in the form of bad news and limited perspective from media bases that crave ratings and hyperbole over facts, spins yet another gloom and doom facade in the prospective visitors mind.

 In this year alone, there’s been the Mexican War on Drugs reports, then we had the Conquest Vacations fiasco, and now it’s the Mexican Influenza report. Previously, we had the U.S. Military Joint Chiefs study laying out a worst case scenario of Mexico as a future failed State, xenophobic immigration issues bubbling out during the U.S. Presidential elections, and the fear in the U.S. of a bilingual nation, teeming with one nation under God, with it’s children learning to speak Spanish along with English, like there could be something wrong with bilingual, educated children.

 Throw in a few hurricanes, eroding beaches and good old fashioned stereotypes, fear mongering and hate, and there’s almost a perfect storm of bad perception flowing Mexico’s way these days.

 Forget whether it’s true or not, millions of future travelers perspectives, particularly the one’s that haven’t read past a headline, watched more than a 30 second television blurb or picked up a respectable, well informed travel guide now are being programmed to resist anything Mexico.

 The Mexicans must be thinking what the hell did we do to anyone to deserve this?

 In truth, Mexico has become victim to her own success, no longer seen as just an isolated, stereotyped,  backward nation, even if wrongly pummeled by the nouveau intelligentsia as a Third World Nation, Mexico’s burgeoning expansion into world tourism while successful has also spotlighted her in the world’s eyes. The Mexican economy driven by oil production, NAFTA and Tourism has made Mexico a player on the world stage and her proximity as a neighbor to the U.S. has opened up the media stream over the last twenty years.


(Courtesy of Reuters)

 And, now, she finds herself, in a serious position of being front and center for a new respiratory style influenza outbreak that has the medical academia that tracks these things issuing calm but concerned reports as the world news media carelessly bandies about terms such as “epidemic” and “pandemic” before anyone in the medical research community really knows what we’re dealing with. Of note, Mexico isn’t alone here in this influenza alert, in the U.S., multiple cases of the same strain they’re focusing on have been reported to date in California and Texas, there’s also one press reported case in Canada, though Mexico has been the hardest hit thus far numbers wise with three separate influenza events as the Center for Disease Control and World Health Organization call them.

 Locally, in Quintana Roo, the home state to Cancun, Mexico’s premier tourist destination, local reports indicate that there hasn’t been a confirmed influenza virus in four years. http://www.noticaribe.com.mx/cancun/2009/04/podria_influenza_agravar_males_economicos_de_mexico.html / http://www.noticaribe.com.mx/cancun/2009/04/el_aeropuerto_el_punto_de_entrada_a_qr_mas_vigilado.html

 The current influenza concerns are in areas outside the tourist districts of Mexico with the most worrisome concerns being in Mexico City currently. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_24/en/index.html

 We strongly recommend that everyone with interests follow the reports issued directly by the U.S. Center For Disease Control, the World Health Organization, the Federal Health Officials in Mexico, and the Public Health Agency of Canada while avoiding the media hyperbole used to increase sales and advertising ratings.

 Let’s stick together and futurize our attitudes…

Dangers….

 

6 Responses to “Holy Moses!…The Plagues of Mexico, Influenza - Flu Strikes”

  1. Lovesthesun Says:
    April 25th, 2009 at 1:10 am Are we the only family with travel plans to Mexico this summer? I just watched 1/2 hr of Anderson Cooper and Dr. Gupta scaring me about the Swine Flu. Between the flu and the drug cartels and the Recession, I might as well stay home.
  2. Dangers Says:
    April 25th, 2009 at 1:30 am Lovesthesun~ It only appears that way, millions of folks will visit Mexico this year, having both a wonderful and safe vacation. I know, I was one of them, and plan on returning soon. ;-)
  3. CancunCanuck Says:
    April 25th, 2009 at 3:17 pm Great post Dangers. Well written and very insightful. I “tweeted” it yesterday and it was “retweeted”, so hopefully there were a lot of eyes reading this important opinion piece. Gracias!
  4. Dangers Says:
    April 25th, 2009 at 5:54 pm Thanks CC, just trying to keep it real from both sides of the road. The panic has already started amongst concerned travelers and tourists alike. Thank God for the resilience of folks like yourself and the people in Mexico trying to keep this thing within the bounds. ;-)
  5. Tom Says:
    April 29th, 2009 at 10:29 am We - a group of five - Just wanted to thank everyone creating these posts. The media has cried wolf too often, we’re going! We are scheduled to fly into Cancun, from Seattle, on Friday May 1st and while there is concern, we have concluded that the potential danger dosen’t warrant cancelling our vacation. However, our hope at this point is that the place is operating normally enough to enable us to enjoy the vacation - resturants, clubs, etc. open. Hey, I know… we’ll do a tequilla test. We’ll consume daily varying amounts of tequila to test it’s effectiveness in keeping the swine flu at bay. We’ll report our results! Tom
  6. Dangers Says:
    April 29th, 2009 at 7:48 pm Tom, good luck to you and your group, and we’ll try and keep it real for you and the rest of the folks traveling. Good luck and have a tequila or a few for me. ;-)

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