Global flu epidemic fear grows, more U.S. cases

[balantz]

Source: Reuters

Global flu epidemic fear grows, more U.S. cases

By Adriana Barrera


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A new flu virus that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico could start a global epidemic, the World Health Organization warned on Saturday as the disease spread further in the United States.

Mexico's crowded capital of 20 million people, where most of the victims have died, hunkered down in fear of the swine flu and the government said it would isolate sick people if necessary.

It said the flu had probably killed 81 people, raising the likely death toll from 68, and that more than 1,300 people were believed to have been infected.

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While all of the deaths so far have been in Mexico, the flu is spreading in the United States.

Eleven cases have been confirmed in California, Kansas and Texas, and eight schoolchildren in New York City caught a type A influenza virus that was likely to be the swine flu, health officials said on Saturday.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreaks a "public health event of international concern" and said they could cause a pandemic -- a global epidemic of serious disease.

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A new pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already knocked into its worst recession in decades by the crisis in financial markets.

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"I think it's worse than they're telling us," said 35-year-old Lidia Diaz, sniffling and wearing a surgical mask as she headed to a clinic in the capital.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53N22820090426?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

[willing dwarf]

1. I really hate that human event in capitalist society is measured by impact on economy

It's as if money is the only verifiable quantifiable good.

[stillcool]

3. I always thought getting sick..

was good for the economy. Every time a person is diagnosed with cancer the market goes up.

[caseymoz]

11. I can't say exactly in what sense they meant it.

Yes, it sounded callous and stupid to me at first, until I realized that another major hit to the world economy now and more people might die of starvation than from the flu itself.

And then you have the unrest that would result . . .

I'm sorry, I'm on a roll tonight for bad prognostications.

[Delphinus]

17. Didn't you get the memo?

People don't count. It's only corporations that matter. Money is the new god.

[Double T]

2. What do you mean Chicken Little has the bird flu?

Duck; incoming pieces of the sky are falling. I don't want my fear mongering government to protect me from all the ills of the world.

[caseymoz]

12. I don't think you have to worry-- they're not prepared to do anything anyway. nt

[napi21]

4. Media is freaking out the public AGAIN!

I watched several info reports on this Swine Fli today. As far as I can tell, it's no worse than the various flus we endure every winter. Yes, even with those, some sick and/or frail people die. They did the same damn scare tactic with the bird flu! What's with these people?

[MercutioATC]

5. 1) This is an avian/swine/human flu...it's not your everyday bug.

2) It's not killing the old and weak...it's killing healthy young adults.


The big difference between this virus and H5N1 (bird flu from 2 years ago) is that H5N1 never really mutated into a human-human strain.

This has.

[napi21]

6. If that's true, why do I keep hearing that only ONE person in the US was hospitalized?

Swine flu has been around for years. Look it up on google! Listen to the symthoms they describe. I believe it's a BIG over-reaction!

[dgibby]

8. That was a different strain of swine flu.

[MercutioATC]

9. There are an infinite number of strains of "swine flu" virus....or any virus.

Viruses mutate. Your annual flu shot contains a mix of the 3 or 4 (dead) viruses that the CDC thinks are most likely to be the biggest problem that year...and the mix changes every year.

The important thing to realize is that new strains are constantly being created through mutation. This swine flu has never been seen before.

[caseymoz]

14. Swine Flu is really a "class" of flu.

Like a rat and a mouse are both rodents, but their also both mammals.

When health officials see a new strain, they look at previous flu viruses it resembles, they put it into class, and then they check its genetics and see how it might have mutated into this form. From that they could figure out what might work against it.

They have one confirmed case in the hospital. There may be more that they haven't confirmed. Given how quickly this has developed, though, I get the idea that US health officials are playing catch up with this.

Definitely, if they President of Mexico has assumed emergency powers, and the WHO is citing it as a major threat, this is for real. Even if it isn't as bad as it appears now, there's nothing wrong right now with following developments closely. Remember the media people are as scared of this as anybody. If reports seem a little panicked, it's because the media people are, not because they want ratings.

[caseymoz]

13. Never mutated-- yet.

But this flu, by comparison, has a 6-7 percent mortality rate as compared to a 30 percent mortality rate with the Bird Flu.

[Mojorabbit]

20. Bird flu has a case fatality rate

in some places of 60 percent. There are multiple clades and subclades of it circulating. That is what as me worried, first that this one will mutate into a more virulent form like the 1918 one did during the second wave and second that it will start circulating in Indonesia where the most virulent H5N1 is circulating and mix it up a bit. I am hoping this just ends up being a mild annoyance type of a pandemic.

[caseymoz]

21. The reason why it caught attention so early WAS its death rate.

Flu strains are probably seen in critters everywhere. It just occurs to me though that it might evolve into a less virulent strain as well before it spreads to humans, but it has a long way to go starting at 60 percent.

It will definitely evolve toward being less virulent if it becomes contagious among humans, but at sixty percent, it's going to look like the end of the world at first.

Really, given enough time, it will hit the right number and jump to human population.

[depakid]

10. It's a new virus, with assortments from swine and avian strains- so it raises lots of eyebrows

even though as yet, it lacks the cause specific mortality rate one sees in H5N1- which make no mistake, is a very nasty deal, but not very communicable between humans.

So it makes sense to take precautions and begin to implement the preparedness plans in place.

[steven johnson]

18. In terms of preparedness

Preparaton for the expected swine flu cases is detailed in today's Bloomberg:

Swine Flu Emergency Caused By New Variant of Old Bug
By John Lauerman and Jason Gale
April 26 (Bloomberg)


The CDC is conducting studies now that might show whether seasonal vaccination might protect people against swine flu. It’s also possible that people who were vaccinated in the 1976 swine flu outbreak, which many flu experts believed was the beginning of a pandemic at the time, are protected, he said.
Vaccine makers are taking the initial steps toward making shots against swine flu. Baxter International Inc., a maker of both seasonal and pandemic vaccines, has requested samples of the swine virus for laboratory testing, said Christopher Bona, a spokesman for Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter. GlaxoSmithKline Plc, based in London, has had conversations with WHO’s flu division that’s responsible for distributing flu virus samples to drugmakers, said Deborah Alspach, a spokeswoman.
Roche Holding AG, of Basel, has an ample supply of Tamiflu, which can reduce the symptoms of swine flu. Roche has donated a “Rapid Response Stockpile” of 5 million treatment courses to the WHO that’s on 24-hour stand-by to be sent around the world, said Terence Hurley, a spokesman for the company. No request has been made to deploy the stockpile, he said in an email.
Glaxo also has ample supplies of its inhaled Relenza antiviral, which also appears to be effective against the swine flu in CDC tests, Alspach said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aD0VK0_oNmw4&refer=home

[SWr]

19. not your ordinary strain

Actually in Mexico it killed the young and healthy.

"It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, said the CDC, which is already working on a vaccine."

Stick your head in the sand if you like but Id rather have the government exc. a little caution to prevent another
1918 pandemic that may have killed as many as 50 million worldwide.

[madrchsod]

7. if it is bad as the black plague in the 1600`s

it will certainly solve the unemployment and wage problems. it may take a few years but full employment will almost be guaranteed ! hundreds of millions or even billions dead will certainly help solve the global warming problem not to mention other resources of the planet.

humans have to realize the nature has a way to cull the herd.....







:sarcasm:

[winyanstaz]

15. Just in time to wipe the new torture memos off the front page

Amazing how that tends to happen isnt it?

[captainjack08]

16. It is kind of odd how that happens...

Just like it is odd that the Georgia Guidestones monstrosity is about two hours away from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia... I want someone to tell us WHO (no pun intended) created this thing and put the quote on it about reducing world population? It was just recently in Wired Magazine on April 20th so it got me thinking about possible connections:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-05/ff_guidestones?currentPage=all

Makes me wonder if things like this Swine flu, and SARS are manmade and being released into the population on purpose to spread fear. Last time this happened was right around the 2003 Iraq war.