You've got to kill to be kind

The small town of La Gloria, a tiny rural backwater in the state of Veracruz in eastern Mexico, was catapulted into the international spotlight in April of this year when reports surfaced that pigs infected with the H1N1 virus originated from a farm in the village. A couple of locals had died in the spring from unknown and misdiagnosed conditions, later confirmed to be swine flu. Due to the remote position of the village and poor communication and organisation from state health officials, the cases were not investigated properly and the infection was allowed to spread, moving rapidly to neighbouring states and from there to the capital.

As rumours broke of a never-before-seen disease crossing the country, hearsay was blown out of context, and newspapers and television bulletins gave details of contradicting and misleading figures. At one point, a friend contacted me with the absurd suggestion that the authorities were thinking of closing Mexico City. Indeed, it was not until a press conference was held on 27 April 27, in which numbers, cases and deaths were confirmed by Health Secretary José Ángel Córdova, that the population had a clearer idea of what was going on. Córdova gave frequent interviews in which he discussed the problem and outlined that the government had an emergency plan and had implemented different measures aimed at trying to control what was fast becoming uncontrollable.

Yet while it was helpful to have soldiers lining the streets handing out face masks, nobody was taught how to use them properly, and this resulted in them simply becoming further breeding ground for the virus. It took the transport authorities too long to get to grips with the task of cleaning the Metro underground system – another place with a high-risk of infection – although they did eventually post notices stating that 'This carriage is cleaned every 72 hours' on the side of some trains.

News developed at lightning speed and despite governmental reassurances that with calm and pragmatism there was no need to worry, the tourists fled the country in droves. Both national and international columnists turned on the Mexican agricultural and health ministries, and the country became a scapegoat for the fast-spreading disease, despite the fact that H1N1-infected pigs were rumoured to have been found on a Canadian farm before the one in La Gloria. Mexico could not help but suffer a black mark against its record. With drug gangs and earthquakes already scaring tourists off, the last thing Mexico needed at a time of global recession was to suffer a setback in one of its most profitable industries: tourism. Empty beaches and bars abounded and the international restrictions placed on Mexican planes and boats only exacerbated the problem.

Politicians were getting frustrated and the Mexican under-secretary of human rights at the United Nations, Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, speaking at a summit in New York on 4 May complained: "We cannot live in a world of perceptions that are giving rise to xenophobic protests, which affect relations between states"; UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon echoed his comments, saying: "We must avoid exaggerated reactions which do not help contain the virus."

The 5 May national holiday was approaching, a celebration in recognition of a military victory over the French, and usually a time for visiting relatives and enjoying a large meal. But this year, 5 May was turned into a five-day nationwide shutdown. In an admirable and generally successful move, the government shut all public services, from schools and universities to museums and libraries, to try to slow the outbreak. In an address to the nation, President Felipe Calderón advised families to stay at home and to refrain from leaving their local community. He urged the population to use their hand to cover their mouth when coughing and sneezing and to dispose of all used tissues quickly.

Unfortunately, for the majority of the nation, that meant dropping the dirty hankie in the street. And this is where the country really suffered as standards of general public hygiene are low. Litter is widespread and skips overflow with rotting rubbish. In the city, levels of air pollution are shockingly high and, on bad days, the sky is tinged brown. Swine flu can be overcome with simple measures, as David Bailey, chairman of the British Medical Association’s Welsh Committee outlined: "In most cases, it will be a mild illness and the vast majority of people will recover quickly by taking paracetamol or ibuprofen, and drinking plenty of fluids."

Where these guidelines are not followed, swine flu infections can become more serious, and many patients’ cases were complicated in Mexico by the fact that they had already been suffering from respiratory problems or another condition related to personal hygiene. Millions of Mexicans smoke, and fluorescent-coloured soft drinks are preferred to a bottle of mineral water. A Mexican diet contains vast quantities of meat and spices and, although the fruit intake is high, the variety of vegetables eaten is low and salads are almost non-existent. Being a developing country, Mexico is in a transitional state. On one hand, the economy is growing and the financial district of Mexico City is burgeoning. On the other hand, however, million-peso impetuses in the health sector have had little effect, key family drugs like aspirin and cough medicine remain pricey and the daily queues outside the local surgery are only getting longer.

However, efforts to improve general sanitation at the base levels are increasing. Running through the centre of the town where I was living, there was a sludge-filled stream into which a lot of the locals tipped their refuse. Yet what was a scum-covered, stinking brook at the start of the year had been turned into a clean, concrete-sided irrigation channel by the time I left. Last week The Economist reported that in the face of a 1.8 percent cut in public spending, the Mexican government has ring-fenced two areas on which it wants to raise spending, one of which is achieving universal health care. Mexico is leading the cause for progressive politics in Latin America, relations with the USA are picking up and the country is getting back onto its feet.

But while a vaccine for use in the UK has just been approved by the EU, news websites and channels in Mexico have long abandoned reporting swine flu, preferring to focus on exposing corrupt police chiefs. Now that the tourists are coming back, the politicians have also returned to the core issues for voters. In recent elections, the handling of the swine flu outbreak played no part in canvassing and campaigning. Instead, multi-coloured walls were daubed with the usual election promises of ‘more schools’, ‘safer roads’ and ‘financial support for farmers’. Interestingly, the Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, star of films such as Y Tu Mamá También and Babel, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that, in forcing families to spend more time together, strengthening ties and enjoying quality time at home, “swine flu was good for Mexico.”