Why is China so agrressive about swine flu

The World Health Organisation has asked China to justify its quarantine of travellers from Mexico, as international criticism grew of the aggressive measures adopted by countries that go beyond official scientific advice in responding to swine flu.

The WHO said on Tuesday it had begun “verifying what measures are being taken” by China, as part of a procedure defined in international health rules to ensure countries explain their actions in the face of an infectious disease outbreak.

Why would China be so aggressive? Here are 4 or 5 reasons that may never surface in an official report.

1 They have a lot of industrial style pig farming close to cities. They don’t need another flu pathogen in the mix

2 They have a lethal mix of small farms raising chickens and pigs close to humans as well as a massive trade in exotic animals and a tradition of open air animal markets – all are flu breeding grounds

3 Their MRSA issues are perhaps under reported and may include the fairly vicous ST398 strain which has a larger farming population to infect than in Europe and the USA. SA and MRSA are often the secondary infections that precipitate the pneumonia related flu deaths.

4 A flu that hits the young will hit China harder than most and could have a devastating impact on one child families. The social and economic impact will roll on for decades.

5 The SARS episodes revealed a great deal of secrecy surrounding infection issues. The current authorities will not want to be seen to be doing nothing.

6 The epicentres of SARS in the major cities were often hotels. The authorities will want to contain the flu before it spreads a cross a city.

There are no doubt more but these should get you thinking

via FT.com / Global Economy – WHO tackles China on swine flu measures.