JAKARTA - A soldier from the Fort Dix post, New Jersey, United States, felt tired and exhausted. To the extent that he could not get out of bed. He had swine flu known as the H1N1 virus or influenza A.
This incident occurred February 5, 44 years ago (1976). Since then, swine flu or swine flu began to become epidemic in Uncle Sam's country. The story was written by Terence Stephenson in his book Swine Flu: What Parents Need to Know (2009).
In his book, it is said that the soldier died the next day after the symptoms appeared. Meanwhile, four fellow soldiers were taken to hospital because of the same symptoms. The soldier who died was only discovered that he died of swine flu two weeks later.
According to records from globalsecurity.org, from the incident, it was recorded that only one person died, while thirteen others were sick. Meanwhile, another report said that 240 people fell ill, but the suspicion is stronger because of the seasonal flu Vincentian virus.
In fact, signs of the spread of the virus were only detected until February 9, 1976, and did not spread outside Fort Dix. However, the US government felt the need to take swift policies to address this. They ordered everyone in the US to be vaccinated. The US government is concerned that the epidemic that originated in swine and spreads from person to person will become a pandemic, a wider spread of disease outbreaks globally.
The vaccine is more lethal
The new vaccine administration took place on October 1, 1976. Those who were immunized were as many as 40 million people, or about 24 percent of the US population who received swine flu immunization.
But bad news comes after immunization. Just a few hours after administering the swine flu vaccine, three elderly people died. Indeed, the death of the three people there is no positive evidence due to the swine flu vaccine. However, the media coverage has been spreading, and not a few reporters have connected their deaths with vaccinations.
Not yet over the US government's worries about the swine flu mass panic, now they fear the swine flu vaccination. This happened because there were reports that the swine flu vaccination caused Guillain-Barre syndrome. Namely a temporary paralysis disorder.
This syndrome is sometimes followed by various other infections, including influenza. The effect caused is arguably unusual. Because, never felt the same thing when people did the seasonal influenza vaccination.
The risk of people developing these symptoms is one to two cases per million vaccines. However, as the 1976 vaccination rolled around, there were about 500 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome (about 10 out of 1 million vaccinated), resulting in 25 deaths.
It seems that the vaccine itself kills more people than swine flu itself. From there, after nearly a third of the US population had been immunized, in late 1976 the US vaccination program was finally discontinued. The reason why Guillain-Barre syndrome develops is because the vaccine is not specifically patented.
Swine flu is on the rise again
After a long period of no longer heard of the spread of swine flu, the disease seemed to have reappeared in Mexico in 2009. According to WHO records, this outbreak spread to 74 countries. Meanwhile, of the total countries affected by the outbreak, 27,737 cases of H1N1 or swine flu were reported, including 141 people who died. Of the total people who died, 990 percent were from Mexico.
Indonesia is a country that did not escape the swine flu outbreak. In the same year, as noted by Tempo.co, there were at least 812 cases with details of 456 men and 356 women. As many as three of them died.
The case of the spread of the swine flu virus has not stopped until now. In several regions in Indonesia, thousands of pigs have died since the end of December 2019.
In Bali, for example, launching CNN Indonesia, the Bali Province Agriculture and Food Security Service recorded that 1,191 pigs had died. The pig's death was said to be due to a virus. However, it is not certain whether it is due to the swine flu virus or not.
Apart from Bali, several areas in North Sumatra also experienced the same thing. As a result of the outbreak, around 27 thousand pigs in North Sumatra had to be destroyed. Meanwhile, thousands of others are vulnerable to contracting the plague.
In Indonesia, there have not been any cases of swine flu in humans. However, it is different in Taiwan. The "storm" of the corona virus has not yet ended, yet another massive swine flu outbreak has emerged.
As reported by CNBC Indonesia, according to the Ministry of Health of Taiwan, the H1N1 virus has killed 56 people. This disease is not new, because swine flu has attacked Taiwan since three months ago.
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