Developments on Swine Flu Worldwide

[tekisui]

Source: AP

Key developments Sunday on swine flu outbreaks:

_ Deaths: 103, all in Mexico. 22 confirmed as swine flu, 81 suspected.

_ Sickened: 1,614 in Mexico, suspected or confirmed; 20 confirmed in U.S.; 6 confirmed in Canada; 13 suspected in New Zealand; 1 confirmed and 17 suspected in Spain; 1 suspected in France; 1 suspected in Israel; 1 suspected in Brazil.

_ Locations in Mexico: 17 states, including Mexico City, Mexico State, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Baja California and San Luis Potosi. Some, including Oaxaca, Mexico City and Baja California, have tourist areas, but authorities have not said where in these states the outbreaks occurred.

_ Locations in U.S.: 8 in New York, 7 in California, 2 in Kansas, 2 in Texas and 1 in Ohio.

_ Safety measures in Mexico: In Mexico City, surgical masks given to subway passengers, public events canceled, schools and public venues closed and church services postponed. President Felipe Calderon has assumed new powers to isolate infected people. World Bank is providing Mexico with more than $200 million in loans to help with the outbreak.

_ Safety measures in U.S: Roughly 12 million doses of Tamiflu being moved from federal stockpile to be delivered to states. Travelers at border asked about travel to flu-stricken areas. St. Francis Preparatory School in New York City, where eight cases are confirmed, closed Monday and Tuesday. St. Mel's Catholic School in Fair Oaks, Calif., closed until at least Thursday as officials investigate possible infection of seventh-grader. Fourteen schools in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District in Texas, including high school where two cases are confirmed, closed for at least the next week.

more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hZVkRqV2uZVim0TRk5R1ZBfovTCAD97QOF500

[tekisui]

1. Israelis hospitalized with possible swine flu

JERUSALEM (JTA) – A second Israeli who recently returned from a trip to Mexico has been hospitalized with symptoms of swine flu.

The man, 47, checked himself into Kfar Saba's Meir Hospital Monday, where he will remain in quarantine until tests are completed.

Doctors at Laniado Hospital in Netanya on Sunday admitted and isolated another man, 26, and are working to determine if he is suffering from the swine flu virus, which reportedly is responsible for the deaths of up to 103 people in Mexico. He was one of 25 Israeli tourists who recently returned from Mexico to be examined Sunday.

Also Sunday, Israel's Foreign Ministry offered guidelines to Israelis visiting Mexico or planning a visit there in order to reduce the risk of infection with the potentially deadly virus. No Israeli travel advisory has been issued, however.

The infection has spread to the United States, including California, Texas, Ohio, Kansas and New York, according to reports, and cases have been reported in Canada, as well as potential cases in New Zealand and Spain.

more: http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/27/1004649/israeli-hospitalized-with-possible-swine-flu

[Chiquitita]

2. Source may be US Hog Facility in Mexico

It looks like the vector may be flies on untreated swine feces. The community in Mexico around the Smithfield owned Hog farm has been requesting an inquiry...

http://themoderatevoice.com/30074/source-of-swine-flu-m... /

"A publication called Grist is reporting that the swine flu outbreak may have been triggered by poor hygienic practices at the Perote, Vera Cruz, Mexico hog farming facilities of Smithfield Farms. Smithfield Farms is the “world’s largest hog producer and pork packager”:

On Friday, the U.S. disease-tracking blog Biosurveillance published a timeline of the outbreak containing this nugget, dated April 6 (major tip of the hat to Paula Hay, who alerted me to the Smithfield link on the Comfood listserv and has written about it on her blog, Peak Oil Entrepreneur):

Residents believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to “flu.” However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms. It was unclear whether health officials had identified a suspected pathogen responsible for this outbreak."

[Demeter]

3. Boy, that Took Almost No Time At All!

Long live the Internet!

[warrior1]

4. Why isn't

Smithfields located in the US?

[Chiquitita]

5. Good question! Because... (Nafta resources from LANIC)

...the labor is cheaper and the regulations are more relaxed. The "beauty" of NAFTA is that it globalized capital and lowered borders for business, but not workers... Long live Mexico and all it's truly beautiful people.

http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/mexico/nafta/index.html LANIC (Latin American Network Information Center) is an authoritative place to go to read up on why US companies are there.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Smithfield is located in USA and in Mexico.

I posted late late last night about the Mexican hog factory, and later that China plans to buy Smithfield.
( there's a nightmare, huh?)

Here is the link to the late post which contains a nice timeline of the outbreak from a blog that is tracking all of the outbreak reports . Kinda handy to have.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5541912&mesg_id=5541912

[arcadian]

7. Smithfield is already a nightmare.

They were in the news a couple years back when the EPA busted them for their swine cesspools and sewage disposal. Sick. They are a Virginia based company and the term "Smithfield Ham" is synonmous with the "best" that you can buy. There are other companies that do Smithfield ham but Smithfield is the best known. The smaller operations produce a better product of course. The town of Smithfield smells like bacon for miles around.

[Chiquitita]

8. La Gloria residents are being threatened by employees of Carroll Farms (Smithfield)

The Veracruz-based paper La Marcha which has the story today: http://www.marcha.com.mx/resumen.php?id=2128 30% of the population of La Gloria has been affected.


Here's a translation of a sample paragraph:

He said the citizens of the region had already presented the appropriate complaints, but federal authorities have not given the issue attention and, rather than getting federal support, they have been threatened by employees of Carroll Farms.

Dijo que los ciudadanos de la región ya presentaron las denuncias pertinentes, pero las dependencias federales no hacen caso de atender el asunto y en lugar de obtener apoyo de las autoridades, sólo consiguen ser amedrentados por personal de Granjas Carroll.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Damn....no more Smithfield ham for me.

Actually, I am thinking of leaving pork for good.
Wonder about Hormel..

[life_long_dem]

9. From DUer TWiley: Here is a global Swine Flu Map Link.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=36.315125,-45&spn=92.320899,188.085938&z=2&source=embed

OP here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5539766

[conspirator]

11. This looks like the movie 12 monkeys nt