Malaysia now has 2 H1N1 victims undergoing treatment. 2 students who had just returned from the USA. It was unfortunate for them to contract it while in the USA and thereafter to bring the virus with them in the plane but I hardly think them irresponsible for being victims.
Its like saying a rape victim is irresponsible for getting raped through no fault of their own.
As a friend said, if these students had held the plane door open for the H1N1 virus to walk in with neon lights flashing, that is irresponsible. If they went and consorted with known victims of H1N1 prior to boarding the plane and failed to disclose this fact to anyone, that’s irresponsible.
But when someone picks up a virus unknowingly (its like the flu – do you know when you pick it up? No, you don’t. You only know a few days later after you start sneezing and getting the chills) I will not call them irresponsible. As reported, the student did not display any symptoms when entering the country – the virus has a 2-3 day incubation period during which none of the symptoms are present. (source)
Might he even have picked it up from the airport? Perhaps from a airport cleaning staff or a fellow traveller heading to a different destination? The permutations and possibilities are endless.
So don’t blame these students for contracting the virus and if it cramps your lifestyle a little not to be out in open spaces or crowds, live with it in your healthy state of being but please do not blame the victim – no one asks to be infected with H1N1 influenza.
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hear hear!! the problem is when people are just hell bent on blaming their problems on other people – human nature at its saddest point.
@beetrice: Ya you said it!
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