Cover Up in Rangoon

RANGOON—It is somewhat surreal to see people walking around the streets of Rangoon wearing surgical masks on a Monday morning.

But ever since the Burmese military government announced the first case of A(H1N1) virus in the country on June 27, residents of Rangoon have been quietly panicking.

Although the Health Ministry has offered advice through the media on containing the A(H1N1) pandemic—widely known as “swine flu”—little is truly known about the nature of the virus among the general public.

"Don’t eat steamed pork (Wet-Thar-Toke-Htoo)!” a 30-year-old mother warned her children. “You could get flu. Don’t eat any pork!”

Other residents have no idea what swine flu is or what they should do. They just see others wearing masks and start to worry.

Swine flu has officially spread to 113 countries and the World Health Organization has declared the strain a “pandemic.” Current data says that some 90,000 people have been infected worldwide and at least 382 people have died.

Swine flu is an airborne disease which is generally spread from human contact—not from eating pork or being in contact with pigs. Symptoms are similar to regular influenza, with most sufferers experiencing fever, coughing, headaches, diarrhea and sore throats.

Although only a minute percentage of people die from exposure to the virus the sense of distrust with official announcements and a lack of faith in the health facilities in the country have prompted many Burmese to pre-empt the risk of infection by rushing to the local pharmacies to buy surgical masks.

Unlike other Southeast Asian countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan where people wearing surgical masks are common sights on the city subways, in Burma the custom is almost unknown until now.

Pharmacies are not well stocked with surgical masks. Most chemists report selling no more than one or two masks a month. However, since the news broke about the A(H1N1) virus hitting Burma, pharmacies have all but sold out of what few masks they had.

Mingla market, one of the main markets for buying and selling drugs and medical supplies in Rangoon, is crowded with people asking for surgical masks.

"Ten boxes of masks, you say?” responds a medical shop vendor when I phone to enquire about buying supplies of masks. “Sorry, that’s not possible. I have only one box left."

Surgical masks were until recently selling for just 50 kyat (US $0.05) each. This week, one mask can sell for up to 700 kyat ($0.70) depending on supply.

“The more severely sick the patient, the more earnings for the healer," goes an old Burmese proverb. And so it appears in Rangoon with the black market ever alert to public demand.

Unsubstantiated rumors about swine flu are spreading among the population, among them exaggerated doomsday predictions.

"It is said that two people from Thanlyin are hospitalized in Rangoon General Hospital,” some people whisper at a tea shop. “I saw security forces arriving there.”

“I heard there are 16 swine flu patients,” another resident asserts. “North Okkalapa Hospital has also taken in the victims.”

State-run television has shown Deputy Health Minister Dr Mya Oo walking around the wards at Rangoon General Hospital wearing a surgical mask over his face.

Under the tight restrictions of Burmese regime censorship, many of the so-called newspapers have remained tightlipped about the scare. Whenever officials from the Ministry of Health are questioned by reporters for updates on the pandemic, they are more often than not told: “I can't answer you without approval from my superiors.”

"If you respond slowly to an infectious disease, it could spread widely and rapidly,” said an information officer from the Myanmar Red Cross Society. “You must organize a mechanism to update the public about the disease.

You must feed the population the correct information; otherwise, you can't control the rumor mills."

Meanwhile, the Burmese Health Ministry has decided to call the new virus "World human influenza" in Burmese.

Whether an underdeveloped country like Burma has enough anti-viral drugs to combat the disease or has taken steps to acquire vaccines for fighting swine flu remains to be seen.

irrawaddy