Swine Flu epidemic in Mexico (and possibly US)

[Anonymous]

Comment:

This is NOT the H5N1 "Bird Flu" virus that people have feared may one day cause a pandemic. H5N1 is prevalent in many countries, but (as far as I know) has not been shown to transmit efficiently from human to human. although some cases have occurred.

However, it appears that a new form of seasonal H1N1 flu has emerged, in Mexico at least, and there have been reports of this virus in the US as well. It is spreading in Mexico and has apparently caused deaths there. Mexico City has closed its schools in an attempt to stop the spread.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/world/americas/25mexico.html?_r=1&em

[Anonymous]

The Post has reported today that 5 or 6 people have contracted swine flu in the US, and they are certain it is through person-to-person contact, not through pigs. No one has died and the flu symptoms have been just like regular flu. Not sure why you are posting this as if it's something to be scared of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Post has reported today that 5 or 6 people have contracted swine flu in the US, and they are certain it is through person-to-person contact, not through pigs. No one has died and the flu symptoms have been just like regular flu. Not sure why you are posting this as if it's something to be scared of.

I am posting it because it is something to be aware of. The concern right now is in how serious the disease appears to be in Mexico.

Here's more info:

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE53N4SZ20090424


WHO calls emergency meeting on swine flu
Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:01pm EDT


* 12 of 18 virus samples in Mexico same as California cases

* More epidemiological info needed for pandemic alert change

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Friday it was calling an emergency committee to advise whether outbreaks of swine flu in humans in the United States and Mexico constituted an international public health threat.

A deadly strain of swine flu never seen before has broken out in Mexico, killing as many as 60 people and raising fears of a possible spread across North America.

"WHO will convene, sometime in the very near future, an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations, which will consider whether or not this event constitutes a public health event of international concern," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters in Geneva.

Hartl also said that 12 of 18 samples taken from victims in Mexico showed the virus had a genetic structure identical to that of a swine flu virus found in California.

But more epidemiological information was needed before any change to the WHO's pandemic alert level, currently at '3' on a scale of 1 to 6, he said.

"The technical people in our Organization are saying that before we know how pandemic a virus can be, we need to know how efficiently it is transmitting and how widespread it is," Hartl said

[Anonymous]

Sorry, OP, I hadn't seen the article on Yahoo before I commented. (I had only read the story in the Post, which doesn't sound like a big deal at all.)

[Anonymous]

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE53N5ZZ20090424

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that it was prepared with rapid containment measures including antivirals if needed to combat the swine flu outbreaks in Mexico and the United States.

The Geneva-based agency has been stockpiling doses of Roche Holding's Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, a pill that can both treat flu and prevent infection.

The new virus, not previously detected in pigs or humans, has proved sensitive to the drug, the WHO said in a statement.

The WHO and its regional office in Washington, D.C., are also sending experts to Mexico to help health authorities with disease surveillance, laboratory diagnosis and clinical management of cases.

Mexican health officials have reported more than 850 cases of pneumonia in the capital, Mexico City, including 59 who died. In San Luis Potosi, in central Mexico, 24 cases including 3 deaths have been detected.

They have also informed the WHO about a third suspected outbreak of swine flu in Mexicali, near the U.S. border, with four suspect cases and no deaths so far.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have said there were 8 cases of swine influenza in California and Texas and no deaths.

Health authorities in the two North American countries have the resources required already in place, including Tamiflu, and are "well equipped," according to the WHO.

"WHO is prepared with rapid containment measures should it be necessary to be deployed," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told Reuters.

The United Nations agency saw no need at this point to issue travel advisories warning travelers not to go to parts of Mexico or the United States. "However, the situation may change depending on what the situation in the field is," she said.

[Anonymous]

Deadly Flu From Swine Hits People in Mexico, California, Texas

By Tom Randall
Last Updated: April 24, 2009 16:28 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=aCLt3vGH5BgA&refer=industries

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- The same new strain of deadly swine flu was confirmed in Mexico City, California and Texas, raising the threat of pandemic after it infected hundreds of people.

At least 59 died and 854 were sickened with flu-like symptoms in the Mexico City region in the past month, according to the World Health Organization. Of 14 samples tested from Mexico, half matched the swine flu reported in eight people in California and Texas, the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said today.

U.S. hospitals are being asked to collect samples from patients with flu-like symptoms, said William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. Teams of disease sleuths have been sent to California and Texas to trace how the malady has spread, and the U.S. offered to send scientists to Mexico, the CDC said. President Barack Obama is being briefed, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told reporters today.

“Our concern has grown since yesterday in light of what we’ve learned since then,” said Richard Besser, the acting director of the CDC, said during a conference call today with reporters. “This is something we’re worried about and taking very seriously. We are moving quickly, being very aggressive in our approach.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Randall in New York at [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

What am I doing this Beautiful Weekend? Boarding up my home, stock piling food, getting a huge generator, and preparing for the apocalypse.

Between this and the Measles, I just have to sing out:

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What am I doing this Beautiful Weekend? Boarding up my home, stock piling food, getting a huge generator, and preparing for the apocalypse.

Between this and the Measles, I just have to sing out:

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end

That seems like a bit of an overreaction, especially about the measles.

But -- do you have a trip planned to Mexico in the next few weeks? You might want to at least stay tuned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What am I doing this Beautiful Weekend? Boarding up my home, stock piling food, getting a huge generator, and preparing for the apocalypse.

Between this and the Measles, I just have to sing out:

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end

That seems like a bit of an overreaction, especially about the measles.

But -- do you have a trip planned to Mexico in the next few weeks? You might want to at least stay tuned.

I am hunkering down for the rapture. Mexico is not on my "last things to do before imminent death list"!

[Anonymous]

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/health/diet_fitness/Boy-7-Is-San-Diegos-4th-Case-of-Swine-Flu.html

Boy, 7, Is San Diego's 4th Case of Swine Flu

County health officials say a young boy is recovering from a case of swine flu. The illness has sickened more than 900 in Mexico, killing 60.

Three other cases of swine flu have been diagnosed in San Diego. The other confirmed cases include a 10-year-old boy, a 54-year-old man and his 16-year-old daughter. Two more people got sick in Imperial County, as did two teenagers from the same school near San Antonio, Texas.

The situation is considerably more dire in Mexico. In Mexico City, schools were closed across the metropolis of 20 million people Friday after at least 16 people died and more than 900 others fell ill from what health officials suspect is a new strain of swine flu. Mexico officials put the confirmed toll nationwide at 20 dead, but 40 other fatalities are being probed. World health officials are worried that it could mark the start of a flu pandemic.

(more at link)

[Anonymous]

Not that this should send anyone into a rapture (not even sure what that is) but I found this interesting:

This particular Swine Flu virus is a novel virus. It contains genetic material from four different viruses: part swine flu, part avian flu, and part human flu.

http://www.cdc.gov/media/transcripts/2009/t090423.htm

CDC has conducted testing on all seven samples and we've determined that they are swine influenza A, H1N1. These are human infections with swine influenza viruses. These are viruses that usually infect pigs but in this case we're finding the illness in people.

Preliminary testing of viruses from the first two patients shows that they are very similar. Additional testing is ongoing with the newer isolettes. We know so far that the viruses contain genetic pieces from four different virus sources. This is unusual. The first is our North American swine influenza viruses. North American avian influenza viruses, human influenza viruses and swine influenza viruses found in Asia and Europe.

That particular genetic combination of swine influenza virus segments has not been recognized before in the U.S. or elsewhere. Of course, we are doing more testing now and looking more aggressively for unusual influenza strains. So we haven't seen this strain before but we haven't been looking as intensively as we are these days.

[Anonymous]

rapture: \?rap-ch?r\ 3. The transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven.


Look at the front of drudge report. It is hysterical, and I don't mean hysterical like HaHa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:rapture: \?rap-ch?r\ 3. The transporting of a person from one place to another, especially to heaven.


Look at the front of drudge report. It is hysterical, and I don't mean hysterical like HaHa.

Well, that's Drudge for you. But this is definitely news, and potentially quite serious. The concern is the high number of fatalities in the Mexican cases, particularly those who were young healthy adults. Not the infants, the elderly as make up the usual fatalities with seasonal flu.

As for here in the US it is likely that this virus is already here, and well beyond the 8 cases reported so far, which I understand were only caught by accident, as the people were enrolled in some kind of study. Fortunately so far it does not look as if the virus strain here in the US has been as severe as down in Mexico.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What am I doing this Beautiful Weekend? Boarding up my home, stock piling food, getting a huge generator, and preparing for the apocalypse.

Between this and the Measles, I just have to sing out:

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end

It's not funny.

[Anonymous]

I recommend this diary from DailyKos on the topic:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/24/724231/-What-Does-The-Swine-Flu-Outbreak-Mean