Several theories have emerged as to why all but one of the confirmed deaths from swine flu have occurred in Mexico. Much of it is speculation -- that Mexico City's 7,300-foot elevation exacerbates respiratory illnesses, that there may be a slight variation between the viral strain prevalent in Mexico and swine flu elsewhere, that Mexico is further along in disease transmission and other countries will eventually see severe cases.
Unfortunately, I bet that most people won't pause to think much about the fact that Mexico has taken the brunt of the Swine Flue "pandemic". I bet that to the public, it will just reinforce the image that Mexico is a poor country, where conditions are bad, where people die... where I don't want to be.
However, the truth of the matter is that there are socio-economic forces at work that force people in poverty to make decisions that will hurt their health:
Delaying medical care is a characteristic of poverty. For people living close to the edge, taking off a day to visit a doctor or staying home sick is literally taking food out of their mouths.
- Paul J. Gertler, a professor of economics at the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley, in response to why some in Mexico self-medicated before receiving hospital treatment for swine flu. (Source: The Washington Post)
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