Gone Viral

When I was in school, I was taught the phrase-news spreads like wildfire. We all know that wildfires are uncontrolled, unplanned, and unwanted forest fires. They cause great harm to the flora and fauna in the jungle and can’t be brought under control easily. One can be started by human carelessness like discarding lit cigarettes or campfires or maybe intentional arson due to intense heat from the Sun or a strike of lightning.

We were told through stories that the news especially a rumor spreads like wildfire within no time. It always meant that the story in question was disseminated through word of mouth. Which was probably the fastest means of communication then. As means of communication advanced, telephones were invented and many households proudly boasted of having them. But their use was restricted to important essential conversations. So, the use of telephones for gossiping and spreading rumors was a strict no-no.

With the advent of social media, all and sundry could write, react to, or share (be it written content, a photograph, or a video) whatever they felt like. Thus, with a click of a few buttons or the touch of a screen here and there. You could create a story, share it and it would spread like wildfire within a few seconds. Nobody would bother to test the veracity of such content and it could go “viral” in no time. Yes! Now the correct terminology for describing such content is “going viral” rather than “spreading like wildfire” which is antiquated.

Whenever a child had a common cold or fever, more often than not it was termed a viral infection. And the pediatrician would warn against giving the child any antibiotics. Which are meant to act against bacterial infections and would be of no use in viral infections. The child would be cured within a week, owing to the immune system. But these viral infections are surely contagious i.e. could go viral and would infect one child after another if the child were sent to school.

Then came the most dreadful virus of all. It should be “coronated” as the king of all viruses until another deadlier one comes to displace it. It has all the features of the simple flu but the symptoms are more lethal. This too spread like wildfire -in today’s parlance, went viral spreading across the globe and affecting one nation after the other. Hence, the virus had gone viral but unfortunately. That was in the real sense of the term affecting the citizens physically, knocking them down, incapacitating them, and causing a huge loss of man-hours and precious lives.

It was no longer restricted to the virtual world where only tempers flared and wars of words raged on Twitter. But let me reiterate that the infection going viral had the same prerequisites (as those of wildfire). It was unplanned, uncontrolled, and transmitted by human carelessness- namely not following social distancing norms, crowding, and scant regard for the proper wearing of a mask. Although the viral wave has subsided, for now, it can be a lull before another storm. So, let’s not let our guard down and do our bit in preventing the infection from going viral.

Dr. Manisha Shembekar
MD, DA
Joint Managing Director
Omega Hospital, Nagpur