The number of global flu victims is mounting. The World Health Organisation has stopped keeping track of all new patients. Radio Netherlands Worldwide met with flu patients from around the world.

By Willemien Groot*

A survey by RNW shows that treatment and registration of the new flu virus varies greatly around the world. The Mexican flu, which has officially been declared a pandemic, is treated with disdain in some parts of the world, while in others people are in a state of panic.

Most of the patients were immediately examined and admitted to hospital after visiting their GPs. They were surrounded with all possible care and given the proper medication. However, some of the patients did not expect the loneliness they had to face during their treatment. The fear among patients proved just as great as among their nurses and relatives.

Other doctors did not even bother making an official diagnosis and simply prescribed rest and to let the illness run itself out. However, most doctors are aware of the measures which are to prevent a further spread of the disease, including washing one’s hands and avoiding coming into contact with others.

Isolation in Jakarta
Hasan, a student at an Islamic boarding school in Jakarta, came down with symptoms of the flu along with a number of fellow students. However, whereas the others gradually recovered, Hasan’s condition continued to deteriorate. The doctor sent him to the hospital. “They took lung pictures and blood,” he says. Eventually he was put in quarantine and given retroviral drugs. He has since recovered.

Washing hands in Chile
The response in Chile was also adequate. “I was given medicines and instructions for at home,” says Carmen Vinez. “I did not have to be quarantined. At home we wore facemasks and washed our hands a little more often. No one else in our family got infected.”

Matter-of-factness in the United Kingdom
The response Jeroen Jansen got from his GP in the English county of Lincolnshire was quite different. “He made his diagnosis on the basis of the fact that there were no other illnesses doing the rounds. Doctors in the region stopped sending in cultures to the lab long ago.” His symptoms and those of his wife were quite mild: some coughing and tiredness. The doctor told them to stay at home and let the flu run itself out. A prescription for the retroviral drug Tamiflu was though unnecessary. “However, if someone was really seriously ill, they would prescribe it of course," Jeroen Jansen says.

Indifference in Spain
A Spanish doctor in Lloret de Mar was completely indifferent: “Anyone walking into the waiting room was immediately told they did not have the flu,” says Dutch holidaymaker Stephan Hofmans. After several days of lying in the sun, hanging around on the beach, lots of parties and little sleep, he felt really ill. “All the doctor said was that I had a high fever, but could start partying again in a day or two. At the time, that was the most important thing to me. But in hindsight, they were really unconcerned about the Mexican flu.” Only after his return to the Netherlands and a phone call by his worried mother did his own GP say it was probably H1N1.

Panic
Flu patients did not just face nasty symptoms; some of them were confronted with the panicky reactions of nursing staff and shocked relatives. Human contact was reduced to the absolute minimum. “I can understand why,” says Indonesian Dianawati, who fell ill after a trip to Kalimantan. “It turned out I did have the Mexican flu, but even after I got better, friends would still cancel dates. There is a stigma attached to people who could be carriers of the H1N1 virus.”

Lonely in India
Divya Ganta, who works for the New Delhi office of Save the Children felt downright lonely. “I had never been in an environment where everybody was wearing facemasks. I felt treated like a leper. Even people who come to visit me in the hospital were behaving paranoid.”

Panic in Aruba
In Aruba, the brothers Marvin (10) and Sean (3) eventually left for Santo Domingo. Their mother Sharla says: “We stayed calm, because the boys did not look sick, but their school and our neighbours panicked. After Marvin and Sean got better we left for three weeks to get away from the whole situation.”

Education in Surinam
Adequate information has proved essential, not just for the patients, but also for their doctors and relatives. “My parents and I were in a state of shock after the diagnosis,” 19-year-old Roanne Breidel from Surinam says. “People can die from this disease, you know, but we calmed down when we heard that my case was not that serious.”

The Netherlands proved to be not much of an improvement. According to Stephan Hofmans: “I received a lot of phone calls from worried friends and relatives. My brother has been told to stay away from work, even though he is not even feeling sick. People are concerned because they don’t receive enough information.”

Making preparations
Most of the former patients say their country is well prepared for the approaching flu epidemic. There are hospitals which have the necessary drugs in store, doctors are aware of the symptoms and there is great emphasis on education.

Christobal Aibarra (25) says: “The measures taken by the Chilean government are quite clear. They have done everything they can to prevent panic. People are concerned, but not scared.”

Lessons learned from bird flu
Hasan from Jakarta expects the Indonesian government will have learned from the bird flu outbreak which gripped the country several years ago. The influenza variant also claimed human victims. “Hospitals are well prepared for an influx of patients.”

Slow tests
Aruban mother Sharla Kelly is pleased with the Aruban government’s approach. “A special treatment centre has been created and they publish a lot of information.” A possible problem could be the slow processing of the tests which has to prove whether a patient really has the Mexican flu. Treatment with the retroviral drug Tamiflu must start two days after infection. “We had to wait at least four days for the results,” she says.

* In collaboration with the RNW language desks.