Mexico City in LOCKDOWN from Deadly Flu Outbreak

[GoldGoldGold]

Mexico City in LOCKDOWN from Deadly Flu Outbreak
from AP
Saturday, Apr 25, 2009

http://fnitimes.com/2009/04/25/mexico-city-in-lockdown-from-deadly-flu-outbreak

A deadly new swine flu strain that has killed at least 20 people in Mexico City and sickened more than 1,000 has "pandemic potential," the World Health Organization chief said Saturday — but some fear it may be too late to contain the outbreak.

With 24 new suspected cases of the swine flu reported Saturday, Mexico City said schools would remain closed and all public events suspended until further notice — including more than 500 concerts, sporting events and other gatherings including the popular weekly bicycle rides on streets closed to traffic.

A hotline set up the previous day fielded 2,366 calls from frightened city residents who suspected they might have the disease. City Health Secretary Armando Ahued said 10 new possible cases of infection have been discovered in the metropolis of 20 million people.

Officials say more than 1,000 people have been infected nationwide. Tests show 20 people have died of the swine flu, and 48 other deaths were probably due to the same strain.

This virus is a mix of human, pig and bird strains that has epidemiologists around the world deeply concerned. The World Health Organization convened in Geneva Saturday to consider whether to declare an international public health emergency — a step that could lead to travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures.

The agency's director-general, Margaret Chan, said the outbreak involves "an animal strain of the H1N1 virus, and it has pandemic potential" — but it is too early to say whether a pandemic will actually occur.

The CDC and Canadian health officials were studying samples sent from Mexico, and some governments in Asia and Latin America began monitoring passengers arriving on flights from Mexico.

But it may be too late to contain the outbreak, given how widespread the known cases are. If the confirmed deaths are the first signs of a pandemic, then cases are probably incubating around the world by now, said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a pandemic flu expert at the University of Minnesota.

The same virus also sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths north of the border, puzzling experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No vaccine specifically protects against swine flu, and it is unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer.

[Jonas Parker]

From CNN 1 hour ago:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

(CNN) -- The presence of swine flu in Mexico and the United States is "a serious situation" that could develop into a pandemic, the World Health Organization's director-general said Saturday.
"This is an animal strain of the H1N1 virus and it has pandemic potential because it is infecting people," Dr. Margaret Chan said Saturday speaking to reporters by phone.
In Mexico, 68 people have died from swine flu, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
Eight people were confirmed to have swine flu in the United States; six in California and two in Texas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All eight have recovered, according to CDC's acting Director Richard Besser.
CDC has tested 14 samples of the virus from Mexico and found seven were identical to the virus found in the U.S. cases, Besser said. "This situation has been developing quickly," he said. "This is something we are worried about."
Chan said the World Health Organization was convening an emergency committee Saturday to advise her on appropriate action.
Asked whether the committee would address raising the agency's alert concerning the virus to 6, a pandemic alert and the highest level on WHO's scale, Chan said, "Yes, indeed."
The alert stands at 3, meaning "No or very limited human-to-human transmission."
Chan said Saturday that WHO does not have indications of similar outbreaks elsewhere.
However, she said, "The situation is evolving quickly. A new disease is by definition poorly understood."
Mexico City has closed all of its schools and universities until further notice because of the virus, and on Saturday, the country's National Health Council said all soccer games would be played Saturday without public audiences.
More than 1,000 people have been sickened in the country, and officials are trying to determine how many of those patients had swine flu, the country's health minister, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, said.
In the United States, New York health officials announced Friday they are testing about 75 students at a Queens school for swine flu after the students exhibited flu-like symptoms this week.
A team of state health department doctors and staff went to the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens on Thursday after the students reported cough, fever, sore throat, aches and pains.
No cases of swine flu were confirmed there. The test results are expected as early as Saturday.
None of the U.S. patients had direct contact with pigs, though a patient who lives in San Diego had traveled to Mexico (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/mexico), the CDC said.
Besser said officials had not found common exposure or behavior among the eight U.S. patients.
"We have not seen any linkage at all between the cases in Texas and California," he said.
The new virus has genes from North American swine influenza (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/influenza), avian influenza, human influenza and a form of swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe, said Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC's Influenza Division.
Swine flu is caused by a virus similar to a type of flu virus that infects people every year but is a strain typically found only in pigs -- or in people who have direct contact with pigs.
There have, however, been cases of person-to-person transmission of swine flu, the CDC said. Officials found evidence, for example, that a patient transmitted the disease to health care workers during a 1988 apparent swine flu infection among pigs in Wisconsin.

Health Library
MayoClinic.com: Influenza (flu) (http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/influenza/DS00081.html)
Experts think coughing, sneezing and contaminated surfaces spread the infection among people.
The new strain of swine flu has resisted some antiviral drugs, officials said.
The human influenza vaccine's ability to protect against the new swine flu strain is unknown, and studies are ongoing, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for science and public health program. There is no danger of contracting the virus from eating pork products, she said.
Canada is also testing samples from Mexico "and has placed a travel alert for travel to Mexico," CDC spokesman David Daigle told CNN by e-mail.
The United States had not issued any travel alerts or advisories by late Friday, but some private companies issued their own warnings.

[Is45]

Mexico City in LOCKDOWN
from Deadly Flu Outbreak

from AP
Saturday, Apr 25, 2009


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090425/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/med_swine_flu




Was that the original title of the article ?
If so, they have now changed it.


~

[GoldGoldGold]

Was that the original title of the article ?
If so, they have now changed it.


~

Yup, sure enough they changed it.

It was a C & P of the original, Must have thought it was too scary. :shock:

ETA:

Duh, My bad, I posted the wrong link

Here it is:

http://fnitimes.com/2009/04/25/mexico-city-in-lockdown-from-deadly-flu-outbreak

[Is45]

Yup, sure enough they changed it.

It was a C & P of the original, Must have thought it was too scary. :shock:




The MSM changing their title to be less scary says more than the article.


~

[kelee877]

The MSM changing their title to be less scary says more than the article.


~


ok so what was more scarey then LOCKDOWN...humm..??? kelee,s need to know...:mrgreen:

[GoldGoldGold]

The MSM changing their title to be less scary says more than the article.


~

Nope, I posted the wrong link originally :oops:

[KuernoDeChivo]

I was just chatting with my wife's friend down in Mexico City. People are really freaked. Her husband had to go out to work and she is hunkered down with her young son. She said down across the street a family is trying to have a party and they have secured tarps over part of the house and garage area like you would for fumigation! Doesn't sound fun.

[kelee877]

Nope, I posted the wrong link originally :oops:

you got overload of swine brain like me....:shock:....:mrgreen:

I posted something to a wrong thread...just left it there...lol

and my spelling is getting worse as these days wear on

[GoldGoldGold]

you got overload of swine brain like me....:shock:....:mrgreen:

I posted something to a wrong thread...just left it there...lol

and my spelling is getting worse as these days wear on

:lol:

I'm actually at work right now and my posting is usually sloppy when I'm here.

:-D

[Texaslil]

ok so what was more scarey then LOCKDOWN...humm..??? kelee,s need to know...:mrgreen:
What's really scary, Kelee is that thousands of Mexicans go to mexico for Holy week. Many thousands have just come back. Anyone know the incubation period for this bug? It may be all over by now.

[kelee877]

What's really scary, Kelee is that thousands of Mexicans go to mexico for Holy week. Many thousands have just come back. Anyone know the incubation period for this bug? It may be all over by now.

5-7 days

[hunybee]

cinco de mayo in 10 days, and all the preparations that go into it are under way. that should interesting

[ShakinSouth]

cinco de mayo in 10 days, and all the preparations that go into it are under way. that should interesting

Will look more like Dia de Muertos.

[hunybee]

yah, no kidding

[Primary Edict]

Will look more like Dia de Muertos.

Careful that could cause a run on gold coins for the eyes.

Fell very badly for those people down there. Many here may not desire them coming illegally to our country but they are still people.

They have families and children just as many of us here do.

[hunybee]

that's right primary edict. they are scared down there. some of the message boards sound like here. they are frustrated at the lack of info they are being given. they are worried for their kids and families. they are worried for their jobs, and now with everything being closed, that means lots of people with no money.

[kelee877]

that's right primary edict. they are scared down there. some of the message boards sound like here. they are frustrated at the lack of info they are being given. they are worried for their kids and families. they are worried for their jobs, and now with everything being closed, that means lots of people with no money.

Plus they are running out of masks...

what is the JIT system like are they running out of persihable foods, canned goods...what are grocery stores like....have families started stocking up on food...and water

This is the type of news we need to hear....

How come why for...They can put a man on the moon, but they have not fugured out a few simple things about virus'

[Texaslil]

5-7 days

thanks, Kelee. This is very scary to my family. both my ggrandmothers died in the 1918 flu epidemic. five family members in all. My grandfather's mother and sister died three weeks apart. His mother was 36 and his sister Lilly was just fifteen. My grandfather was only 10 at the time. he told me when he was 86 that he still hadn't gotten over the loss of his mother. GGrand mother on the other side died of it and her daughter Maude, as well. Maude was 35 and pregnant with her first child. her husband had just left for WWI. This was a terrible time for my family.

[bambipei]

I was just chatting with my wife's friend down in Mexico City. People are really freaked. Her husband had to go out to work and she is hunkered down with her young son. She said down across the street a family is trying to have a party and they have secured tarps over part of the house and garage area like you would for fumigation! Doesn't sound fun.

Hmmm... I wonder if stress would HELP? I mean, it would suppress the immune system, right?

[Primary Edict]

that's right primary edict. they are scared down there. some of the message boards sound like here. they are frustrated at the lack of info they are being given. they are worried for their kids and families. they are worried for their jobs, and now with everything being closed, that means lots of people with no money.

Yes each of these items is a concern for those poor people.

We need to keep an eye on this for our own systems and how they operate.

JIT is heavily relied upon by every industry in our country as well as theirs.
Very few companies keep inventory on hand sufficiently to keep operating in a crunch and this includes food producers. Even the local municipality that purifies your water and sewage runs on JIT. :shock: