Killer swine flu outbreak in Mexico, government alarmed

[Zed Snardbody]

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.

Not if I beat you too it!

We've isolated an undisclosed number of passengers but because of a lack of clear orders from headquarters or even the local FSD no one was notified properly. They did however advise us that we can only refer to it as H1N1 in a public setting..

[open_sketchbook]

I was rooting around Japan's NHK website practicing my moonspeak until my classes start again, and it looks like two people all the way over there may already have it. While I'm personally laughing at the people freaking out over in First World countries, it is interesting that it's spread so far, so fast. The important part is to prevent it's spread in 3rd World countries; here in the land(s) of nutrition and good hospitals it seems it's not really much different from regular flu except you might want to set up a quarantine room at the hospital.

[ray245]

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.

I know that Knife has mentioned this, but I think you should understand that there are many people who will not notice the fact that you are not a professional. Anything that sounds too hard for them to understand will make it sound like you have real understanding of the situation, and send them panicking. Why else do you think that it makes it so easy for a sizable amount of people buy into Fox News analysis? All they need to do is to sound like an expert.

An simple assertion without any proper understanding can send a wrong message to a large amount of people. Sending people panicking for the wrong reason is hardly beneficial. Hell, who knows how many people would start to run around telling others to close the borders due to some guy saying he knows how serious the situation is because he heard it from an expert.

Anyway, back to topic. I am rather surprised that the H1N1 influenza did not managed to spread like crazy to South America.

[open_sketchbook]

I'm not surprised it hasn't spread south. Few people in Central America want to go further south; in fact, most movement in the area is people from South America moving up through Mexico to enter the United States.

[Dartzap]

And now for something different: Goodish news..sorta

What scientists know about swine flu

Emma Wilkinson
Health reporter, BBC News

Preliminary analysis of the swine flu virus suggests it is a fairly mild strain, scientists say.

It is believed that a further mutation would be needed in order for the H1N1 virus to cause the mass deaths that have been estimated by some.

But at this point, it is impossible to predict with any accuracy how the virus will continue to evolve.

UK experts at the National Institute for Medical Research will outline on Friday the work they are due to start on samples of the virus sent from the US.

The research, being done at the World Influenza Centre in Mill Hill, will be vital for working out the structure of the virus, where it came from, how quickly it is capable of spreading and its potential to cause illness.

Structure

Analysis done so far suggests what they are dealing with is a mild virus and nowhere near as dangerous as the H5N1 avian flu strain that has caused scientists so much concern over the past decade.

Influenza A viruses are classified according to two proteins on the outer surface of the virus - hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N).

# H1N1 (seasonal flu/swine flu) Spreads easily through coughing and sneezing
# Less severe symptoms, but can be deadly H5N1 (avian flu)
# Can mutate rapidly
# Causes severe illness and can trigger pneumonia
# Spreads easily between birds but human transmission rare

The swine flu strain is a H1N1 virus, the same type as seasonal flu which circulates throughout the world every year, and kills roughly 0.1% of those infected or higher in an epidemic year.

Professor Wendy Barclay, chair in influenza virology at Imperial College London says initial indications suggest there is nothing about the genetic make-up of the new virus which is a cause for particular concern.

The key to its potential lies largely in the H1 protein.

"There are two aspects - one is which receptors the virus tends to bind to and what we see is that it is binding to the upper respiratory tract rather than deep in the lungs."

When a flu virus binds to the upper respiratory tract, it tends to cause mild illness but can be easily spread as people cough and sneeze, Professor Barclay explains.

If a virus binds further down in the lungs, it tends to cause much more severe illness, as in the case of the H5N1 avian flu virus which has caused concern in recent years.

"With the H1 gene we also look at the cleavage site," she adds.

"The virus has to be cut into two pieces to be active and it uses an enzyme in the host to do that.

"Most influenza viruses are restricted to the respiratory tract because they use enzymes in the lungs.

"But some, like H5 viruses can evolve to cut into two pieces outside the lungs, so they can replicate outside the respiratory tract."

Analysis

These initial indications are largely guesswork from looking at the genetic sequence of the virus and comparing that to what is known from work on other influenza viruses.

It will take weeks and months of biological analysis to properly get a handle on the potential of the H1N1 virus.

The team at Mill Hill, one of four World Health Organisation's centres for influenza research will be working in close collaboration with the Health Protection Agency who are carrying out testing in the UK, and their findings will also feed into the development of a potential vaccine.

Almost sounds like an headline on Newswipe "Mutant Virus turns out to be cuddly bear..."

[Qwerty 42]

That's reassuring, at least.

I just spoke to an acquaintance at the University of Delaware, where they have had four cases. They're strongly considering ending the semester a month in advance.

[PainRack]

lol. I love my health minister press conference.
Essentially, he says, it is important not to over-react, and to use a military analogy(his own words), we have stepped up guards, increased patrols and etc, but we are holding troops in reserve and we want them to be as fresh and fit as possible....

So someone please explain why the MOH latest directive is that all leave has been cancelled:D
I'm sure asking everyone to keep working until we ARE in an epidemic will keep everyone fresh and fit, raring to go.

I also loved one of my patient response back in the good old days when we were in phase 4(condition yellow).
Me:"you know, you're not supposed to go down to the kopitiam(food court) anymore, and where is your mask?"
Patient:"Aiyo, relax, there's no case in Singapore yet. If you ask me, we should be more anxious and doing more things when someone gets it."
Two nurses at the same time:"No. That's not the reason. You're neutropenic, remember?"
Patient:"Oh...."

[Darth Wong]

Not to resurrect an old tangent, but ...

Sorry, but when you say "we're not a third world country, we're a developing country!", that comes off as quasi-comical hair-splitting rather than an important correction.

Only because first worlders tend to be ignorant of such things. If you´ve ever had the chance to compare a real third world country like Mozambique to a developing country like Mexico (by actually going there) you´ll have a completely different perspective of the whole thing. He´s not splitting hairs at all.

Who ever said I was actually unaware that there's a difference between Somalia and Mexico? The point is that they're both below the threshold of "first-world", where you can drink the water, the high-tech industrial expertise is home-grown, and law and order is generally maintained throughout the country. How far they are below that threshold is immaterial for the purpose of saying that they're outside my preferred travel destination list.

[PainRack]

Why the fuck WHO is going Def Con 6 is beyond me unless they are precautionary measures people are interpreting as reactionary measurese

Just like to expand on why WHO is going to phase 5 here. Swine flu isn't SARs but influenza, and it doesn't have a specific definitive symptom. There isn't something like the onset of a high temperature, or sudden inexplicable SOB that would elicit cause for alarm. It is for this reason that WHO has stated that containment as a strategy is pointless, because using thermographic sensors to detect possible carriers won't work. You can be a carrier and not have any fever.

Therefore, you do need to start telling countries and organisations to get ready to treat and migitate the disease, and that involves a whole series of procedures and measures. You need to start implementing security measures for one so you could control traffic movement in and out of hospitals, you need to start training vendors in wearing masks and other infection control measures so that they won't spread the disease outside of the treatment areas, you need to start preparing isolation and quarantine centres, you need to start decantment and/or delay elective treatment, you need to start preparing your infection control teams.
Then there's also other logistic concerns such as stocking up on gloves, masks, disinfectant, drugs and scrub scruits(Err, no, I don't know my size. No, I haven't been mask fit for dragner. Kimberly? You mean this panty is actually a mask?So, in other words, instead of giving me a nice, comfortable N-95, you're asking me to prepare myself to wear either a bra(dragner) or a panty instead?)

Fuck. My ward just took measures to recheck the PAPR and teach the new staff how to wear it...... and to re-update us "older" staff on how to use the damn thing.

[Elfdart]

Fort Worth schools are canceled until next Monday, so my nephews get a week off. Aside from hand sanitizer flying off the shelves, people are surprisingly calm.

[HamsterViking]

Yesterday my son's school sent home a flyer about the swine flue. It recomended that if anyone in the household was sick, we all stay home for a week to avoid spreading it. This was the same day they sent home a note telling us that our son had missed too much school already and was not allowed to stay home anymore

I'm getting really annoyed at a great deal of the advice we're getting on how to deal with this disease. In addition to being told our son can't to miss anymore school and can't come to school if he's sick, we're also told to avoid social contact and not go anywhere if we're sick. This isn't really a possibility for some people. My family has no car, so we have to rely on public transportation, a great way to increase risk of getting sick. And then my fiance is getting help from TANF right now, so they're helping pay our bills and whatnot, but requiring that she spend some 20 something hours a week working on finding a job. In order to pay our bills and rent, she must go out riding the bus all day or we'll be kicked out of our apartment. Wonderful.

We're also being told to seek immediate medical attention if we get fluish. How? Where? We have no money or insurence. All we could possibly do is go to the ER up at University Hospital. Thill will almost certainly result in waiting up to two full days or more for attention in a densely crowded waiting room where we could easily spread the disease to others to catch something ourselves.

EDIT: My keyboard sticks, had to fox some typos.

[Akkleptos]

Now these are good neighbours:

Obama marks Mexico's Cinco de Mayo holiday

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama observed Mexico's Cinco de Mayo holiday a day early by hailing the close cooperation between the two countries in the face of swine flu, economic crisis and a drug war.

"Even as we mark this joyous and festive occasion, we do so mindful of the fact that this is a difficult time for Mexico," Obama said on Monday at a White House event.

"The pain our global economic downturn has inflicted has only been deepened by the outbreak of the H1N1 flu, as well as the drug-related violence that has robbed so many of their future," he said.

Obama noted that festivities have been curtailed in Mexico and the United States to avoid the spread of the flu, and praised the Mexican government's handling of the crisis.

"One thing we know: good neighbors work together when faced with common challenge. And that's why we're working closely with the Mexican government to identify and treat illnesses that are caused by this new flu strain," he said.
<snip - historical notes on 5 de Mayo, relevance in the US...>

... and our so-called "friends":

Mexico tries to restart economy after flu shutdown

<snip - 5 de Mayo stuff, economic cost for Mexico, &c>
Still, the U.N. health agency urged governments to avoid unproven actions to contain the disease, including group quarantines of travelers from Mexico and bans on pork imports.

China, Argentina and Cuba are among the nations banning regular flights to and from Mexico, marooning passengers at both ends. Mexico and China both sent chartered flights to each other's countries to collect their citizens, with the chartered Mexican plane hopscotching China Tuesday to retrieve stranded residents. Argentina also chartered a flight to bring Argentines home.

Chinese authorities quarantined Mexicans and other passengers who came in close contact with them, even those who didn't show symptoms. China also changed its visa rules for U.S. citizens, lengthening the processing time to six business days.

The American Embassy in Beijing said Tuesday that four U.S. citizens were quarantined in China. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said two of the Americans were in Beijing and the other pair were in the southern province of Guangdong. She said two of them were released.

[emphasis mine, both articles]

Here we are, grinding our whole economy to a halt for a week to prevent the spread of the disease, and this is the support the bastards show. China, I understand... we're not all that cozy with them, but fucking Argentina and Cuba?

I'm sorry for my sister-in-law and her husband, who is from Argentina (oh, and his parents, very nice people, who flew all the way here for the wedding), since they won't be able to get there at least for a few more days, I guess.

On another note, it seems I didn't die of the flu, or anything, and I had plenty of opportunities to get it, what with some of my girl's family coming from *gasp* Mexico City...

[aerius]

Last count is 20 or so cases in the Toronto area, so far I'm not one of them and no one else at the airport has come down with a case yet. I'm not sure how much longer that'll last.

[The Yosemite Bear]

We now have cooks and waitstaff being quarentined for FLU possible H1N1.