Killer swine flu outbreak in Mexico, government alarmed

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Akkletepos:

That article only refers to the 20 definite victims then confirmed at that time. What about the other possible victims?

Is there any effort ongoing to test the cadavers for indications of secondary infections which could have weakened them, like HIV and TB?

[Hawkwings]

anyone else think that the WHO pandemic scale is kinda... weak? I mean, if 6 is the highest, how are they going to characterize a truly global pandemic, with millions to hundreds of millions infected? Or is that in "go hide in your bunker!" territory?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

anyone else think that the WHO pandemic scale is kinda... weak? I mean, if 6 is the highest, how are they going to characterize a truly global pandemic, with millions to hundreds of millions infected? Or is that in "go hide in your bunker!" territory?

We're only at five currently. And all preparatory measures possible will be taken at 6, which means if it gets that bad... *le shrug*

[fgalkin]

anyone else think that the WHO pandemic scale is kinda... weak? I mean, if 6 is the highest, how are they going to characterize a truly global pandemic, with millions to hundreds of millions infected? Or is that in "go hide in your bunker!" territory?

There is no functional difference in terms of containment- if the current flu reaches 6, it will be just as impossible to contain.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[weemadando]

anyone else think that the WHO pandemic scale is kinda... weak? I mean, if 6 is the highest, how are they going to characterize a truly global pandemic, with millions to hundreds of millions infected? Or is that in "go hide in your bunker!" territory?

I don't think that it's intended to be a measure of intensity or magnitude, it's there as a preparatory and planning thing.

[Zed Snardbody]

There is a confirmed case in Reno Nevada now.

On a personal note. The TSA has decided to ignore a memo from the director of the Office Of Personnel Management prescribing the issuance of N-95 Respirators despite the fact that we've been given orders to isolate anyone displaying symptoms if they come to an airport checkpoint.

My airport has direct flights to and from Mexico City, I can't wait to go back on duty.

[Knife]

Bluntly, 20 days is completely out of sorts with any kind of pure influenza. That child died of pneumonia which was an opportunitistic secondary infection, probably long after the influenza itself was gone.

Not sure how that counters the over all point, in that most people who die of flu actually die from secondary causes. All those people who've died in Mexico while not one in the US who've realized US healthcare have not, minus the one 23 month old child who actually illustrates the point of death of secondary causes rather than primary. Incubation period of the influenza virus can last days, as does the incubation of bacteria. Now we are past a week and heading to two weeks out of three it took the kid to die. Not counting the possibility of a Nosicomical infection at the hospital like Kleb or Staph.

[Knife]

Akkletepos:

That article only refers to the 20 definite victims then confirmed at that time. What about the other possible victims?

Is there any effort ongoing to test the cadavers for indications of secondary infections which could have weakened them, like HIV and TB?

lol,I find the fact you go straight to myobacterium terbuculosous and HIV laughable with less hysterical choices like Staph A, Strep P, Mycoplasma P, Kleb and other 'normal flora' much more likely. Let alone other Influenze viri.

[Akkleptos]

Akkleptos:
That article only refers to the 20 definite victims then confirmed at that time. What about the other possible victims?

Is there any effort ongoing to test the cadavers for indications of secondary infections which could have weakened them, like HIV and TB?

According to authorities, all cases are being examined carefully and samples are being sent for analysis, precisely to determine if their deaths were caused by H1N1, and in what conditions. This, of course, takes some time and slows down the flow of the information. As of this evening, to the best of my knowledge, only 99 H1N1 cases have been confirmed without a doubt (amongst which, 8 of the people who have died)... Link in Spanish.

However, of course, when people come in with the symptoms and acute respiratory infections, I think it's somewhat safe to assume it would be H1N1 in most cases. Your average garden variety A-type flu doesn't typically cause such severe symptoms except in immuno-suppressed individuals, children and the elderly, or in the presence of other infections. Opportunistic infections may be involved in some cases, sure, but still it can't be all of them.

By the way, the number deaths has increased to 176 (the 8 confirmed by H1N1, plus the rest, which are still to be determined).

[The Yosemite Bear]

I must say that your sig pic adds so much to this thread.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Akkletepos:

That article only refers to the 20 definite victims then confirmed at that time. What about the other possible victims?

Is there any effort ongoing to test the cadavers for indications of secondary infections which could have weakened them, like HIV and TB?

lol,I find the fact you go straight to myobacterium terbuculosous and HIV laughable with less hysterical choices like Staph A, Strep P, Mycoplasma P, Kleb and other 'normal flora' much more likely. Let alone other Influenze viri.

*blinks*

I am not a professional and report things to the limit of my research. The immunosuppressant results of latent TB infection and HIV are very well known, I did not know about the similar influences of other secondary infections like the ones you mentioned. You are a specialist, and you can add to my comments with your specialist knowledge and explain how those two are by far not the only and not even most likely to be factors. I gladly accept this, and have thus learned more--why is it humorous to you that someone who is not a specialist would lack a complete picture of the potential list of secondary infections which could aide in influenza mortality?

I appreciate the clarification on the subject, since it means I've learned something... Why the harshness of the response? I was not even making a wrong assertion, merely an incomplete one, and made no claim toward specialist knowledge in the field which would make that incomplete claim misleading or inexcusable.

[Knife]

Perhaps I was a bit quick to anger. However think I've been consistent in not being real happy at level of hysteria in this thread and adding things like TB and HIV, in my view, didn't help lower the 'OMG the world is ending' vibe.

As an aside, I'm surprised some cases of bacterial and/or viral meningitis haven't popped up yet with the all the nasty bugs we've been talking about.

[Broomstick]

Here ya go, Knife, a little humor for you: plushie germs!

[CaptainChewbacca]

Here ya go, Knife, a little humor for you: plushie germs!

I love those! We used to have Mold at the office, for good luck with inspections.

[Dartzap]

I was talking to my friend who is a healthcare assistant at the main hospital today, she's been seconded to A&E, where apparently every damn hypochondriac in a fifty mile radius has appeared. The situation with the college has seemingly calmed down today - information has filtered through everyones skulls, although sales of DIY masks have soared, surprise surprise

[Knife]

lol, those are pretty funny Broom. My pathophys professor has a stuffed Gamma globulin, I'd love one of those but didn't see one.

[Broomstick]

Granted, some of the following is very US-centric, but the basic information and suggestions for preparation make sense for everyone.

As a public service, here is the Official CDC Swine Flu Page which is considerably less hysterical than the usual media outlets. They are still recommending hygiene methods to prevent this - wash hands, don't touch face, stay home if you're stick, etc.

This is their Pandemic Flu Page

The fact is that, absent a vaccine (which we simply don't have for this yet) the best reaction to a contagious disease is improved hygiene, limiting social contacts, and limiting travel. So while some of the travel shut-downs, school closings, etc. seem to be overreactions they ARE the best response to a new infectious disease. If nothing else, this will be a "fire drill" exercise, a dress rehearsal for a real calamity. More likely, it will limit any outbreak to much less than it would be otherwise. If nothing else, this is prompting me to re-check the household and car emergency supply kits, which one should do on a regular basis. Just because some people are running around all hysterical doesn't mean you can't use the circumstances to your advantage (such as checking emergency supplies).

[Akkleptos]

By the way... No one else here saw this?

Mexican Archeology Museum Director Killed by Pneumonia Entertained Obama At Same Museum

Here’s some terrifying news: While the U.S. media was focused on the very important subject of some fat wingnuts having teabagging protests in America, President Barack Obama was headed to Mexico — and on the night of April 16, he attended a fancy dinner at Mexico City’s famous Museo Nacional de Antropología, where noted archeologist and museum director Felipe Solís Olguín showed the U.S. president around, and they presumably shook hands and talked, without the protection of surgical masks. A few days later, Solís was dead of pneumonia.

There are various news reports from Mexico (and Spain) about this meeting, and due to the eccentricities of Google’s text translator and your editor’s limited Spanish abilities, here’s a relevant paragraph from one of the only English-language articles we’ve found, from Bloomberg:

The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. The newspaper didn’t confirm if Solis had swine flu or not.

Here is the obituary for Felipe Solís, in Spanish.

The famous museum is now closed to the public, like most public attractions in Mexico City.

As for Obama, after meeting Solís on the same night he met and praised the works of Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, he headed off to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. And that’s where, among other things, Obama shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — which was, of course, an OUTRAGE against Democracy, according to U.S. wingnuts. (He was supposed to give Chavez a wedgie.)

But this can now be seen in a whole new crazy light, if you are crazy. Maybe Obama secretly assassinated Chavez with the swine flu! Meanwhile, the actual outbreak is moving to horror mode.

Alarmist version:

OBAMA GREETED IN MEXICO BY MAN WHO DIED NEXT DAY OF FLU

bloomberg.com — Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported.

Or, should you prefer the completely hysterical version:

WTF !! WTF !! WTF !! WTF !! DIRECTOR OF MEXICO NATIONAL MUSEUM WHO RECEIVED OBAMA DIE ON INFLUENZA !! D

Could Obama ..?

NO LINK
PAID subscription
ITS LEGIT !!

Takes care of Obama and dies to the 7 days
(25 April 2009). -
The NORTH/Staff MEXICO.

On Thursday 16 of April, Felipe Solis, director of the National Museum of Anthropology, received President Barack Obama so that he toured the Mexican Room, and admired the Aztec Calendar and he would dine in the place.

Last Thursday, one week after the visit, Solis passed away with a set of symptoms similar to influenza. On Friday 17 at dawn, the director reported to his collaborators that he began to feel discomfort in the throat, pain in the chest and other symptoms similar to those influenza, but thought it to be a cold.

Nevertheless, on Saturday he had to go to a hospital in the city, where the assumed cold evolved into pneumonia, that got worsened due to a preexisting diabetes history.

Solis was even declared to have gone into a comma, but later he showed signs of recovery. The hope lasted little: The glucose levels went off and the pneumonia did not yield, until on Thursday 23rd he passed away, clinically, of cardiac arrest.

Because of his knowledge of the Aztec culture and his position, Solis used to participate in all the diplomatic visits of Chiefs of State or representatives of European monarchies to the museum.

(I had to doctor the original "translation" a bit so it could be a tad more readable.)

Of course, it was later confirmed, like 2 days ago, that it wasn't H1N1 at all, as you may have imagined.

Mexico denies official who received Obama dying of flu

The Mexican embassy in the US denied on monday that the death of the director of the National Museum of Anthropology and Histori, Felipe Solís, who hosted president Barack Obama during his visit to the Mexican capital, had ben due to swine flu.

"Señor Felipe Solís, director of the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia de México, died on April 23rd, a week after entertaining presidents Obama and (Felipe) Calderón at the museum. He died of complications of pre-existing conditions and not of swine flu, a special communique from the White House pointed out, quoting the embassy's spokesperson, Ricardo Alday.
[snip]

Whew... if Obama had got so much as a cough, there would be thousands of voices demanding we be nuked because we killed Obama...

[Samuel]

Relax. The people who "nuke it" is an answer to everything are the same ones who are okay with Obama dying. That and there would be problems with wind borne blow back. Well, Mexico City does hold in its air with an inversion layer...

On a more personal note, Branham High School was closed down. I pass by it every day... so of bizarre. Only one in the district though.

[Master of Ossus]

Whew... if Obama had got so much as a cough, there would be thousands of voices demanding we be nuked because we killed Obama...

... Right.

[erik_t]

Whew... if Obama had got so much as a cough, there would be thousands of voices demanding we be nuked because we killed Obama...

... Right.

Who is this tool and how do we get rid of it?

[Count Chocula]

^ I think he was deriding the Amurrican right wing. Tongue in cheek.

[aerius]

On a personal note. The TSA has decided to ignore a memo from the director of the Office Of Personnel Management prescribing the issuance of N-95 Respirators despite the fact that we've been given orders to isolate anyone displaying symptoms if they come to an airport checkpoint.

My airport has direct flights to and from Mexico City, I can't wait to go back on duty.

It's business as usual over here, we don't get respirators or any other protection but we do have instructions to help screen people with flu or flu-like symptoms. We now have 8 confirmed cases in the Toronto area and they came through my airport while I was on shift. And I'm still on shift, and they're still coming in, so if anyone on this board gets the swine flu it'll most likely be me.

[Count Chocula]

Per The Wall Street Journal, one suspect - Smithfield Farms - is NOT the origin of the outbreak despite its proximity to Case Zero:

By ANA CAMPOY and LAUREN ETTER
Mexico's top government epidemiologist said Wednesday that it is "highly improbable" that a farm in the Mexican state of Veracruz operated by Smithfield Foods Inc. is responsible for the nation's swine-flu outbreak.

Miguel Ángel Lezana, the government's chief epidemiologist, said in an interview that pigs at the farm are from North America, while the genetic material in the virus is from Europe and Asia.

Government health workers plan to re-test the pigs for any sign of swine flu, he said.

Veracruz is home to the illness's earliest known victim so far, though Mr. Lezana on Wednesday said a Bangladeshi street vendor in Mexico City was among the first victims. Locals have been pointing fingers at the pork-processing giant in the nearby village of Perote, run by Smithfield and the Mexican company Agroindustrias Unidas de Mexico S.A, as the source of the flu.

Full article is at the link.

And according to Fox News (corroboration with another source needed), the virus itself is an unlikely mix of viruses from three continents:

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.

Curiouser and curiouser.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Well work we've got a small flu bug going around, no not that stuff as far as we can tell, it's usually done after a week. So thye asked us not to show up....