Mexico Respiratory Illness

[Granny]

Atypical influenza in Mexico raising concerns. Large number illness. One report says ten deaths one day.

 

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthrea...0811#post220811

 

Doesn’t sound good. This one written in Spanish so you'll need to use google translator if can’t read it.

 

http://www.exonline.com.mx:80/diario/notic...n_un_dia/578187

 

Canada health officials put on alert six days ago.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/23/...flu-mexico.html

 

Last I knew U.S. was between the two countries. As far as I know, nothing in our media.

 

 

- - - - - - - - - -

google translator link

http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#

[sassenach]

Thanks for the heads up. It definitely is something that should be covered on our news !

[Purdy Bear]

Thanks for that. Im in the Uk, but with the flying these days its always best to be forwarned.

 

We had a really nasty flu like virus here in December, it lasted well over a month (I was in bed most of that time). I had, had my flu jab as well.

[debi]

It's being reported on, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...9042304116.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/us/24flu.html?ref=us

 

It seems they are trying to relate the outbreak in Mexico to the cases of Swine flu reported in the last months here. They've asked the Mexican govt. for testing samples.

Great. If the strain there is different than the one here, why not just bring thiers over here for testing. That way we can merge the two! Sorry, having a bad attitude this morning. Going to put on my tin foil hat.

[Granny]

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/24/...24.html?ref=rss

 

World Health Organization report.

 

WHO voices 'heightened concern' over 800 flu-like cases in Mexico

 

Most cases occurring in healthy young adults, world health agency spokesman says WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl says most of the cases of flu-like symptoms in Mexico have been reported among healthy adults. (CBC)The World Health Organization expressed "heightened concern" on Friday over more than 800 "influenza-like" cases reported in Mexico, after seven cases of a severe respiratory illness were confirmed in two U.S. border states.

 

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told CBC News on Friday that health officials are dealing with three separate events in Mexico, with most of the 828 cases in and around the capital, Mexico City.

 

At least 24 cases have been reported in the central region, while four have been reported in the north. The mystery illness has led to at least 20 deaths in the country.

 

Most of the cases have occurred in healthy young adults, Hartl said.

 

"Because these cases are not happening in the very old or the very young, which is normal with seasonal influenza, this is an unusual event and a cause for heightened concern," Hartl said in an interview from WHO headquarters in Geneva.

 

It is also rare to see such high flu activity so late in the season, he said.

 

"The end of April, especially in a place like Mexico, you would think that we would see quite a steep decline," said Hartl.

 

All classes cancelled in Mexico City

A Mexican Health Ministry statement issued on Thursday afternoon said the country "was in the presence of a new influenza virus that constitutes a respiratory epidemic which is controllable, so far."

 

But laboratory tests on the 828 Mexican cases have yet to confirm the patients are suffering from influenza, or what strain it might be, Hartl said.

 

The Mexican government ordered that all classes in Mexico City and the surrounding state be cancelled on Friday, from pre-schools to universities. It also has warned the public to avoid gathering places and major events.

 

On Thursday, Canadian health officials issued a travel advisory warning travellers who have recently returned from Mexico to be on alert for flu-like symptoms that could be connected to the illness.

 

In the U.S., health officials were scrambling this week to deal with a new strain of swine flu, which has been diagnosed in seven people in Texas and California.

 

The states share a border with Mexico not far from a town where two deaths were reported.

 

The U.S. cases are unusual, because it appears none of the patients had contact with pigs, and the virus is one that health officials have never seen before.

 

No cases of this swine flu have been found in Canada.

 

Samples positive for influenza A and B

The cause of the illness has not been confirmed. Mexican health officials said samples so far have tested positive for influenza A and B.

 

People infected with the virus initially suffer flu-like symptoms that include:

 

Fever.

Cough.

Sore throat.

Muscle and joint pain.

Shortness of breath.

The illness may elevate to a severe respiratory illness within about five days.

 

In Canada, the travel advisory includes the same advice given to all travellers: Get a flu shot and take precautions such as covering coughs and staying home when sick. But it also adds locations in Mexico where cases of a severe respiratory illness have occurred.

 

[JCK88]

Deadly new flu breaks out in Mexico, U.S.

24 Apr 2009 19:43:50 GMT

Source: Reuters

 

* New mixture of viruses in flu never seen before

* Eight cases found in California and Texas

* WHO says Mexico, U.S. well-equipped to handle outbreak

* No need to change travel plans, say WHO and CDC (Adds eighth case in United States; details)

By Alistair Bell and Noel Randewich

 

MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) -

 

A strain of flu never seen before has killed as many as 61 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where eight people have been infected but recovered, health officials said on friday.

 

Mexico's government said at least 16 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 45 other deaths. The World Health Organization said tests showed the virus in 12 of the Mexican patients had the same genetic structure as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas. [nLO274836]

 

Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.

 

"Our concern has grown as of yesterday," U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing.

 

It first looked mostly like a swine virus but closer analysis showed it is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses, according to the CDC. [nN24420522].

 

"We do not have enough information to fully assess the health threat posed by this new swine flu virus," Besser said.

 

Humans can occasionally catch swine flu from pigs but rarely have they been known to pass it on to other people.

 

The WHO said it was ready to use rapid containment measures if needed, including antivirals, and that both the United States and Mexico are well equipped to handle the outbreak.

 

Both the WHO and the CDC said there was no need to alter travel arrangements in Mexico or the United States.

 

CLOSE TO 1,000 SUSPECTED CASES IN MEXICO

 

Eight people were infected with the new strain in California and Texas, but all of them have recovered. Mexico said it had close to 1,000 suspected cases there.

 

The CDC's Besser said scientists were working to understand why there are so many deaths in Mexico when the infections in the United States seem mild.

 

Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year, but the flu season for North America should have been winding down.

 

The U.S. government said it was closely following the new cases. "The White House is taking the situation seriously and monitoring for any new developments. The president has been fully briefed," an administration official said.

 

Mexico's government cautioned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or to share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of infection.

 

The outbreak jolted residents of the Mexican capital, one of the world's biggest cities and home to some 20 million people.

 

One pharmacy ran out of surgical face masks after selling 300 in a day.

 

"We're frightened because they say it's not exactly flu, it's another kind of virus and we're not vaccinated," said Angeles Rivera, 34, a federal government worker who fetched her son from a public kindergarten that was closing.

 

The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, the CDC has said. [nN23355101]

 

The Geneva-based U.N. agency WHO said it was in daily contact with U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities and had activated its Strategic Health Operations Center (SHOC) -- its command and control center for acute public health events.

 

The CDC said it will issue daily updates at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/investigation.htm.

 

Surveillance for and scrutiny of influenza has been stepped up since 2003, when H5N1 bird flu reappeared in Asia. Experts fear that or another strain could spark a pandemic that could kill millions. [nN24440477]

 

In Egypt, a 33-year-old woman died of bird flu, becoming the third such victim there in a week. The H5N1 bird flu, a completely different strain from the swine flu, has infected 421 people in 15 countries and killed 257 since 2003.

 

An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, killed 44 people in Canada in 2003.

 

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Maggie Fox in Washington; Writing by Kieran Murray; Editing by Eric Walsh

 

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24524032.htm

[ANewMe]

MSNBC.com

 

 

WHO calls emergency meeting on swine flu

Reuters

updated 12:01 p.m. CT, Fri., April 24, 2009

GENEVA - * WHO convening emergency committee to advise on swine flu* 12 of 18 virus samples in Mexico same as California cases

 

* More epidemiological info needed for pandemic alert change

 

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.

 

Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30389150/

 

[ANewMe]

White House closely following U.S. swine flu outbreak

Reuters

updated 12:18 p.m. CT, Fri., April 24, 2009

 

WASHINGTON - The White House is closely following the outbreak of a new strain of swine flu in the United States and President Barack Obama has been informed, an administration official said Friday.

 

"The White House is taking the situation seriously and monitoring for any new developments. The president has been fully briefed," the official said.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus in the United States was a never-before-seen mixture of viruses typical among pigs, birds and humans. All seven American patients have recovered. But swine flu has also broken out in Mexico, killing at least 16 people.

 

Copyright 2009 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30388170/

 

 

 

[ANewMe]

WHO ready with antivirals to combat swine flu

Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:11pm EDT

By Stephanie Nebehay

 

GENEVA (Reuters) - 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.

 

The WHO will convene a meeting of its Emergency Committee on international health regulations, probably on Saturday afternoon, she added.

 

WHO director-general Margaret Chan was flying back to Geneva overnight from Washington, D.C., for the emergency discussions which would link public health authorities and experts in various parts of world in a virtual meeting, she said.

 

The emergency committee could make recommendations including whether to change the pandemic alert level, she added.

 

"Because there are human cases associated with an animal influenza virus, and because of the geographical spread of multiple community outbreaks, plus the somewhat unusual age groups affected, these events are of high concern," the WHO said in a statement.

 

(For the WHO statement go to:

 

http:/www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_24/en/index.html )

 

 

[Cat]

Yahoo news:

 

Mexico shuts schools, museums to stop flu outbreak

 

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer

10 mins ago

 

MEXICO CITY – Mexico shut down schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across its overcrowded capital Friday in hopes of containing a swine flu outbreak that authorities say killed at least 20 people — and perhaps dozens more. World health authorities worried openly that the strange new virus could become a global epidemic.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tests show some of the Mexico victims died from the same new strain of swine flu that sickened eight people in Texas and California.

 

Mexico put the confirmed toll at 20 dead, but 40 other fatalities were being probed, and at least 943 nationwide were sick from the suspected flu, the health department said.

 

Scientists said the virus combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before.

 

"We are very, very concerned," spokesman Thomas Abraham said.

 

"We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human," he said. "It's all hands on deck at the moment."

 

President Felipe Calderon cancelled a trip and met with his Cabinet to coordinate Mexico's response. The government has 500,000 flu vaccines and planned to administer them to health workers, the highest risk group.

 

There are no vaccines available for the general public in Mexico, and authorities urged people to avoid hospitals unless they had a medical emergency, since hospitals are centers of infection.

 

They also said Mexicans should refrain from customary greetings such as shaking hands or kissing cheeks, and authorities at Mexico City's international airport were questioning passengers to try to prevent anybody with possible influenza from boarding airplanes and spreading the disease.

 

But the CDC said Americans need not avoid traveling to Mexico, as long as they take the usual precautions, such as frequent handwashing.

 

"We certainly have 60 deaths that we can't be sure are from the same virus, but it is probable," said Health Secretary Jose Cordova. He called it a "new, different strain ... that originally came from pigs."

 

Epidemiologists are particularly concerned because the only people killed so far were normally less-vulnerable young people and adults. It's possible that more vulnerable populations — infants and the aged — had been vaccinated against other strains, and that those vaccines may be providing some protection.

 

Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said "at this point, we do not have any confirmations of swine influenza in Mexico" of the kind that sickened seven California and Texas residents. All seven recovered from symptoms that were like those of the regular flu, mostly involving fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the seven also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.

 

Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a pandemic, a worldwide spread of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.

 

The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968.

 

Nobody can predict when pandemics will happen. Scientists had been concerned about swine flu in 1976, for example, and some 40 million Americans were vaccinated. No flu pandemic ever appeared, but thousands of vaccinated people filed claims saying they'd suffered a paralyzing condition andother side effects from the shots.

 

In recent years, scientists have been particularly concerned about birds. There have been deaths from bird flu, mostly in Asia, but the virus has so far been unable to spread from person to person easily enough to touch off a pandemic.

 

Closing the schools across the metropolis of 20 million kept 6.1 million students home from day care centers through high schools, and thousands more were affected as colleges and universities closed down. Parents scrambled to juggle work and family concerns due to what local media said was the first citywide schools closure since Mexico City's devastating 1985 earthquake.

 

Authorities also advised capital residents not to go to work if they felt ill, and to wear surgical masks if they had to move through crowds. A wider shutdown — perhaps including shutting down government offices — was being considered.

 

"It is very likely that classes will be suspended for several days," Cordova said. "We will have to evaluate, and let's hope this doesn't happen, the need to restrict activity at workplaces."

 

Mexico's initial response in its overcrowded capital brought to mind other major outbreaks — such as when SARS hit Asia. At its peak in 2003, Beijing was the hardest-hit city in the world. Schools, cinemas and restaurants were shuttered to prevent the spread the deadly respiratory virus, and thousands of people were quarantined at home.

 

In March 2008, Hong Kong ordered more than a half million young students to stay home for two weeks because of a flu outbreak. It was the first such closure in Hong Kong since the outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.

 

Lillian Molina and other teachers at the Montessori's World preschool scrubbed down their empty classrooms with Clorox, soap and Lysol on Friday between fielding calls from worried parents. While the school has had no known cases among its students, Molina supported the government's decision to shutter classes, especially in preschools.

 

"It's great they are taking precautions," she said. "I think it's a really good idea."

 

Still, U.S. health officials said it's not yet a reason for alarm in the United States. The five in California and two in Texas have all recovered, and testing indicates some common antiviral medications seem to work against the virus.

 

Schuchat of the CDC said officials believe the new strain can spread human-to-human, which is unusual for a swine flu virus. The CDC is checking people who have been in contact with the seven confirmed U.S. cases, who all became ill between late March and mid-April.

 

The U.S. cases are a growing medical mystery because it's unclear how they caught the virus. The CDC said none of the seven people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.

 

CDC officials described the virus as having a unique combination of gene segments not seen in people or pigs before. The bug contains human virus, avian virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.

 

Health officials have seen mixes of bird, pig and human virus before, but never such an intercontinental combination with more than one pig virus in the mix.

 

Scientists keep a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu, said Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

 

The virus may be something completely new, or it may have been around for a while but was only detected now because of improved lab testing and disease surveillance, CDC officials said.

 

The virus was first detected in two children in southern California — a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County and a 9-year-old girl in neighboring Imperial County.

 

It's not known if the seasonal flu vaccine Americans got this winter protects against this type of virus. People should wash their hands and take other precautions, CDC officials said.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090424/ap_on_...e/med_swine_flu

 

 

 

[ANewMe]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/24443479.htm

 

CDC says too late to contain U.S. flu outbreak 24 Apr 2009 19:31:20 GMT

Source: Reuters

 

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it was too late to contain the swine flu outbreak in the United States.

 

CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people.

 

"There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely," he said.

 

He said the U.S. cases and Mexican cases are likely the same virus. "So far the genetic elements that we have looked at are the same." But Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States.

[ANewMe]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...efer=worldwide#

 

Swine Flu, Mexico Lung Illness Heighten Pandemic Risk (Update2)

By Jason Gale and Tom Randall

 

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Disease trackers are asking U.S. hospitals to help follow a new strain of swine flu and are trying to determine whether it’s related to hundreds of illnesses and 57 deaths in Mexico.

 

A previously unseen variant of H1N1 swine influenza has sickened at least seven people in California and Texas, the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday. The World Health Organization said 57 people died among more than 800 in the Mexico City region who developed flu-like symptoms in the past month.

 

Global health experts are studying whether the U.S. and Mexico illnesses pose a threat of pandemic, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. U.S. hospitals today were 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.

 

“This has a sense of urgency about it,” Schaffner, chief of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt, said in a telephone interview today. “They are asking us who work in hospitals to go to our emergency rooms and our pediatric wards to gather specimens and start testing them.”

 

Investigators haven’t found a link between the California and Texas cases, indicating the virus may be circulating elsewhere, Schaffner said. CDC disease experts will continue investigating whether the outbreaks have a common source, he said. The agency also will host a conference call today with experts, he said.

 

Threat of Pandemic

 

Flu can spread quickly when a new strain emerges, because no one has natural immunity. The so-called 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, which may have killed as many as 50 million people, began when an avian flu virus jumped to people, experts said.

 

“We are taking this very seriously,” Gregory Hartl, spokesman for WHO, the Geneva-based United Nations agency, said in a telephone interview today. “We have to get laboratory confirmation of what it is. We need to know how widespread it is.” The Mexico illnesses are affecting “otherwise healthy adults,” Hartl said.

 

Pandemic Potential

 

“The infection of humans with a novel influenza-A virus infection of animal origins, as has happened here, is of concern because of the risk, albeit small, that this could represent the appearance of viruses with pandemic potential,” the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, based in Stockholm, said in a statement.

 

There’s no evidence a pandemic strain is evolving in the U.S., the European agency said. The CDC reached the same conclusion.

 

“We don’t think this is a time for major concern,” Anne Schuchat, CDC’s director of respiratory diseases, told reporters on a conference call yesterday.

 

Authorities in Mexico asked the Public Health Agency of Canada to help identify what’s causing the lung infection that has also spread to five health-care workers, the Ottawa-based agency said in an e-mail yesterday. Mexico Health Minister Jose Cordova canceled classes in Mexico City today and recommended citizens avoid public places.

 

Canada’s National Microbiology Lab received 51 specimens from Mexico on April 22 and will test them for pathogens. Tests in Mexico found patients had the H1N1 and type-B influenza strains and the parainfluenza virus, the agency said.

 

Pigs Susceptible

 

Three main human flu strains -- H3N2, H1N1 and type-B -- cause 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year globally, according to the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency. Pigs also are susceptible to flu, including the H1N1 subtype.

 

“It will be critical to determine whether the strains of H1N1 isolated from patients in Mexico are also swine flu,” Donald Low, an infectious diseases specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, told the Canadian Press.

 

The CDC is discussing its cases and viruses with Mexico and the Pan American Health Organization, Schuchat said.

 

“At this point, we do not have any confirmation of swine influenza in Mexico,” Schuchat said.

 

Symptoms of the illnesses in Mexico include high fever, headache, eye pain, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue with rapid progression of symptoms to severe respiratory distress in about five days, the Canadian agency said. A “high proportion” of cases require mechanical respiration, it said.

 

U.S. Sickness

 

The four males and three females in San Diego County and Imperial County, California, and in San Antonio, diagnosed with swine flu had mild flu-like symptoms. The patients, 9 to 54 years old, included a father-daughter pair and two boys attending the same Texas school.

 

The virus is contagious and spreading from human to human, the CDC said in a statement on its Web site. The patients began feeling sick from March 28 to April 19. All have recovered and only one was hospitalized, according to the CDC. None had direct contact with pigs.

 

“That’s unusual,” Schuchat said. “We don’t know yet how widely it’s spreading and we certainly don’t know the extent of the problem.”

 

As precaution, CDC is preparing the virus as a vaccine seed strain that could be used to make immunizations, she said.

 

The swine flu virus contains four different gene segments representing both North American swine and avian influenza, human flu and a Eurasian swine flu, CDC said.

 

Not Seen Before

 

“We haven’t seen this strain before, but we haven’t been looking as intensively as we are these days,” Schuchat said. “It’s very possible that this is something new that hasn’t been happening before.”

 

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type-A influenza that regularly causes outbreaks among the animals, according to the CDC. Swine flu doesn’t normally infect people, though human infections do occur and cases of human-to- human spread of swine flu viruses have been documented.

 

Infection in pigs is regarded as especially problematic because of the risk of “reassortment” to produce a new virus, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said.

 

“These mild U.S. cases infected with a novel influenza are not reflecting the emergence of a pandemic strain, but they at least raise the possibility that there has been limited human- to-human transmission,” the health agency said.

 

 

[ANewMe]

Could this be related????

 

 

Fort Detrick disease samples may be missing

 

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/...m?StoryID=89293

 

Fort Detrick disease samples may be missing

Originally published April 22, 2009

 

By Justin M. Palk

News-Post Staff

 

 

Complete Bruce Ivins coverage — Bruce Ivins, a Fort Detrick scientist and leading anthrax researcher, was named the sole suspect in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people and 17 others.

fredericknewspost.com/ivins

 

Beyond the Breach —The News-Post's three-part series detailed the April 2002 breach in containment at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick.

fredericknewspost.com/breach

 

Army criminal investigators are looking into the possibility that disease samples are missing from biolabs at Fort Detrick.

As first reported in today's edition of The Frederick News-Post by columnist Katherine Heerbrandt, the investigators are from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division unit at Fort Meade.

 

Chad Jones, spokesman for Fort Meade, said CID is investigating the possibility of missing virus samples from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

 

He said the only other detail he could provide is that the investigation is ongoing.

 

Fort Detrick does not have its own CID office, Jones said, which is why Fort Meade's CID was brought in.

 

Jones said he could not comment on when the investigation started.

 

CID is responsible for investigating crimes where the Army is, or may be, a party of interest, according to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command website.

 

USAMRIID is the Army's top biodefense lab, where researchers study pathogens including Ebola, anthrax and plague.

 

In February, USAMRIID halted all its research into these and other diseases, known as "select agents" following the discovery of virus samples that weren't listed in its inventory.

 

The institute's commander, Col. John Skvorak, ordered research halted while workers conducted a complete inventory of the institute's select agents.

 

That inventory is nearly completed, though the exact end date isn't known yet, said Caree Vander Linden, USAMRIID spokeswoman.

 

Vander Linden said she didn't know about the CID investigation and referred questions to the CID's head public affairs office.

 

There is no indication whether the CID investigation is connected to USAMRIID's re-inventorying of its select agent stocks.

 

 

[ANewMe]

http://www.avianflutalk.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=3

 

This is a forum that has a lot of info and breaking news on this.....I'm going to be there doing a lot of checking!!!

[Ambergris]

A week ago, I was practically flattened by an unidentified bug. I hurt vaguely all over, felt like I weighed five hundred pounds, and couldn't breathe easily. I kept telling my husband that if I were coughing or fevered, I'd be sure I had the flu.

 

I wonder ?

[Cat]

http://www.avianflutalk.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=3

 

This is a forum that has a lot of info and breaking news on this.....I'm going to be there doing a lot of checking!!!

 

 

ANewMe, be *VERY CAREFUL* at avianflutalk. See my post near the bottom of this thread...

http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11097

 

The owner has shown himself to be a very strange and controlling guy, possibly hacking, too.

 

 

Plan for Pandemic has proven to be a better site in every way.

http://planforpandemic.com/index.php

 

 

 

[HippyChick]

I'm a nurse and quite frankly, this virus scares me. It's not right and I'm in agreement that it has possibly been engineered.

 

I'm ordering some N95 respirators tonight while I can still get them before the masses completely panic because that's what their going to do if this thing really takes off.

 

The world is over due for a worldwide flu pandemic. I saw an interesting speech a few years ago and I wish now I'd saved my source.

[The MacKinnon]

HippieChick,

 

I went in search of these masks and there are several versions. Any advice on which one to choose? I know I've seen these at Wal-Mart (well, ok, I think I have!)

 

 

By the way, we happened upon Michael Savage's program at 8 pm central time and he was absolutely ballistic over this development. He is pretty much convinced that this virus is engineered.

[ANewMe]

Thanks Cat!!!! I'm glad that I read this before joining. I don't join groups on the net....but thought of joining that one with flu problems. I've been just reading through what post they have that are public. I definatley will steer clear of that place.

[ANewMe]

Source: http://wcco.com/health/swine.flu.nyc.2.994094.html

 

Possible Swine Flu Outbreak At NYC Prep School

Department Of Health Officials Testing 75 Students At St. Francis Preparatory School In Queens

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

 

New York City health officials say that about 75 students at a Queens high school have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms and testing is under way to rule out the strain of swine flu that has killed dozens in Mexico, CBS station WCBS-TV reports.

 

The Health Department's Dr. Don Weiss said Friday that a team of agency doctors and investigators were dispatched to the private St. Francis Preparatory School the previous day after students reported fever, sore throat, cough, aches and pains. No one has been hospitalized.

 

The handful of sick students who remained at the school were tested for a variety of flu strains. If they're found to have a known human strain that would rule out swine flu.

 

Results could take several days. In the meantime, the school says it's postponing an evening event and sanitizing the building over the weekend.

 

Mexican authorities said 60 people may have died from a swine flu virus in Mexico, and world health officials worry it could unleash a global flu epidemic.

 

Mexico City closed schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across the metropolis Friday in hopes of containing the outbreak that has sickened more than 900.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tests show some of the Mexico victims died from the same new strain of swine flu that sickened eight people in Texas and California. It's a frightening new strain that combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans.

 

The World Health Organization was looking closely at the 60 deaths - most of them in or near Mexico's capital. It wasn't yet clear what flu they died from, but spokesman Thomas Abraham said "We are very, very concerned."

 

"We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human," he said. "It's all hands on deck at the moment."

 

WHO raised its internal alert system Friday, preparing to divert more money and personnel to dealing with the outbreak.

 

President Felipe Calderon cancelled a trip and met with his Cabinet to coordinate Mexico's response. The government has 500,000 flu vaccines and planned to administer them to health workers, the highest risk group.

 

There are no vaccines available for the general public in Mexico, and authorities urged people to avoid hospitals unless they had a medical emergency, since hospitals are centers of infection.

 

Some Mexican residents have started wearing blue surgical masks for extra protection, reports CBS News correspondent Adrienne Bard. The federal health minister has warned people not to go near anyone with a respiratory infection and to avoid kissing - traditional Mexican greeting.

 

[ANewMe]

 

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthrea...9824&page=3

 

Commentary

 

Sixty Swine Flu Fatalities In Mexico Confirm Pandemic Start

Recombinomics Commentary 13:30

April 24, 2009

 

 

A rare outbreak of human swine flu has killed at least 60 people in Mexico and spread to the United States where authorities are on alert, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.

 

"To date there have been some 800 suspected cases with flu-like illness, with 57 deaths in the Mexico City area," Chaib added.

 

Twenty four suspected cases and three deaths were also recorded in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico.

 

The above comment confirm that the swine H1N1 in southwestern United States (see updated map) is the leading edge of a H1N1 pandemic that appears to be centered in Mexico.

 

These deaths should increase the pandemic phase to 6.

 

Release of sequences from fatal cases in Mexico would be useful.

 

[Jayceef]

I don't know how everyone else is, but I have kind of freaked out about this swine flu. I upped my preps that I was going to buy a week from now and just got them. A bunch of over the counter meds at WallyWorld and Feminine products. Then I went to Mendards, because they are open at 6:30 am (went after I got off work) and bought thirty N95 masks. Then it was off to Sam's Cub where I got:

 

Bread Fliour

AP Flour

Sugar

Garlic Salt

Five pack of canned diced chicken

Box of instant mashed potatoes

Bag of Krusteaz pancake mix

Bag of baking soda

2 boxed of fiber candy bars (DH really likes them)

2 cans pam spray

2 boxed nitrile gloves

rubbing alcohol and peroxide

2 bags water softner salt

 

So see what I mean, I just went to Sam's to stock up on some things like two weeks ago. I just freaked, the thing was I was going to get these things this next weeked and just couldn't wait. No one I talk to at work seems concerned about this issue. Maybe I am overreacting.

[westbrook]

 

How swine flu spreads in humans

Reuters

April 24, 2009

A new strain of influenza is infecting people in Mexico and the United States and may have killed up to 60 people in Mexico, global health officials said today.

 

The CDC has analyzed samples of the H1N1 virus from some of the U.S. patients, all of whom have recovered, and said it is a never-before-seen mixture of viruses from swine, birds and humans.

 

 

 

* Swine flu found in 8 people in U.S.

Swine flu found in 8 people in U.S.

* Booster Shots: The Times health blog

Booster Shots: The Times health blog

 

*

Mexico City suspends schools over flu epidemic

 

Here are some facts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about how swine flu spreads in humans:

 

• Swine flu viruses typically sicken pigs, not humans. Most cases occur when people come in contact with infected pigs or contaminated objects moving from people to pigs.

 

• Pigs can catch human and avian or bird flu. When flu viruses from different species infect pigs, they can mix inside the pig and new, mixed viruses can emerge.

 

• Pigs can pass mutated viruses back to humans and they can be passed from human to human. Transmission among humans is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu - by touching something with flu viruses and then touching their mouth or nose, and through coughing or sneezing.

 

• Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to those of seasonal influenza - sudden fever, coughing, muscle aches and extreme fatigue. This new strain also appears to cause more diarrhea and vomiting than normal flu.

 

• Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu although the CDC is formulating one. The seasonal influenza vaccine may help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses, like the one circulating now.

 

• People cannot catch swine flu from eating pork or pork products. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,5114253.story

[westbrook]

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45777

 

there is a couple of great links to this information.

 

swine x avian flu!

 

it is here in Los Angeles! be the first on your block to get it!

 

I had the swine flu in the mid 80's. High temp of 104 for several days, saw things that weren't there, it took me 6 weeks to get over it. For me it happened really fast. I was flying to Hawaii to see my sister for 2 weeks, no problems, stepped off the plane and suddenly didn't feel so well. The next day high temp and really sick. good think my sister is a Nurse and bil a Doc. but no matter the pills they gave me it didn't help.

 

I can't imagine what it would be like with a cross of swine and avian!

 

It is time to gather all the information posted on how to isolate a patient!

[Mother]

Westie, some of that info is stickied up above but I'm not sure if your info is there or not. I seem to remember that you had some excelent info for that.

 

We DO need it put up again. This is a bit too close for comfort. I always knew we wouldn't have to worry about getting a pandemic on the wings of a bird but on the wings of an airplane. The way people travel now it could be in Illinois within hours and in the rest of the US as fast or faster.

 

Also, if I remember right we had a thread on what triggers (is it in the country, in your state, in your neighborhood?) we would depend on to start our isolation. That might be a good one to either uncover or restart as well.