The Deadly Swine Flu Outbreak in Mexico

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 07:04:47 PM EST
Tags: swine flu (all tags)

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The swine flu outbreak in Mexico may have killed 60 people so far.

Mexico City has closed universities and schools until further notice, suspended all major public events and advised people feeling flu-like symptoms to stay home from work. Mexico City's busiest subway stations are handing out face masks to passengers to use on crowded train carriages. The city government has closed museums, including the popular Anthropology Museum.

It is believed to have spread to the U.S. where 8 cases have been reported (Thankfully, no deaths among them.) This is a strain of flu that is quite dangerous and never been seen before.

The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1 and is spreading from person to person. It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

How do you get it? [More...]

The virus is being passed on by sneezing, coughing or physical contact. Though a link to swine flu was originally suspected, the Mexican government has now ruled out any risk of infection from eating pork.

How can you avoid it?

Authorities recommend people avoid crowded places and have cautioned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or to share food, glasses or cutlery.

The Center for Disease control is working on a vaccine.

Travel to Mexico is not yet restricted. The WHO is taking it seriously:

The WHO says it is ready to use rapid containment measures if needed, including antivirals, and said Mexico is well-equipped to handle the outbreak.

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The Deadly Swine Flu Outbreak in Mexico | 32 comments (32 topical)

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I'm contacting my parents (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by nycstray on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:03:16 PM EST

and giving them a gentle reminder to be careful when they are at medical facilities. They live in CA and my Mom is frequently at medical facilities with my Dad. This concerns me greatly as his health is not good. My niece also works in medical facilities, and lives with them. I'm not usually too over the top, but the fact that it has shown up there and they do have a lot of border crossing activity, along with my dad's health, well, concerned daughter is calling home. I've been debating since I first saw the news earlier today, but since it bumped up to the top of the news by the end of the day . . . . . and my dad is right there in a classification that needs to be cautious with the flu, any flu.

: But make sure (5.00 / 1) (#20)
by gyrfalcon on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 12:36:53 AM EST

they understand that if they feel at all sick, they should get to a hospital right away. This flu apparently overwhelms people very quickly.
That said, one of the scariest things about this to me is that it's apparently not the elderly or infirm or infants that are dying from it in Mexico, it's primarily young and healthy people with robust immune systems.
This was the hallmark of the 1918 pandemic. Healthy immune systems reacted so violently to the new and unfamiliar nature of the virus that people died from the effects. Sicker or more infirm people with less robust immune systems are the ones who survived.
So your parents are likely safe from this than you and I are.

Plastic and duct tape (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by SOS on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:27:59 PM EST

Remain inside. Obey the authorities. Stay tuned in to your TV for updates. Prepare for vaccination when ordered. . .

: Wasn't this a recent terrifying movie? (none / 0) (#21)
by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 07:21:49 AM EST

Thanks for posting this (1.00 / 1) (#1)
by Catch 22 on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 07:58:49 PM EST

Living in SoCal we have our share of immigrants crossing back and forth at the border. Many of who have no health insurance or any way of knowing what they may have. Now I will be sure to steer clear of those people in the market aisles so as not to be sneezed on. Spring time here brings lots of allergies and spring time colds that one tends to ignore. I won't be ignoring sneezes now.

And what about all those Americans (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by nycstray on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:11:16 PM EST

crossing back and forth? Wasn't it just spring break?

As a former CA gal, I know how busy that border is, and it's not just immigrants . . . Many may have come across the border WITH health insurance and were just diagnosed with "the flu". If you look at recent food "problems" you will see that they give "known" cases and then up the number by 3x because they are trying to account for all the undocumented (no, not people, but diagnosis) cases.


And even 'way up here near Canada (5.00 / 2) (#4)
by Cream City on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:12:18 PM EST

. . . this is the season when we get a lot of migrant workers from the (other) borderlands, as well as many others coming to visit former migrants who have settled here by the millions. (For that reason, this flu probably is already across a lot of states across the Midwest, too.)

But the migrant workers, who already face such difficult living conditions and can lack medical care, may need us most.


the phrase "those people" (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by coigue on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 12:14:11 AM EST

makes you sound racist, even if you aren't.


Outside of the blatant racism (1.00 / 1) (#23)
by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 09:10:32 AM EST

in your comment is something I find amusing....do you really think you can run and hide from a flu that the bad people could sneeze onto you for the rest of your life? It will find you. It may have mutated into something less severe, it may not have.....Human beings are social creatures though. We go a bit mad without social contact. We are all in this together whether we want to be or not.


I've never read anything more racist (none / 0) (#7)
by mexboy on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:31:30 PM EST

than your post on TL.

Living in SoCal we have our share of immigrants crossing back and forth at the border. Many of who have no health insurance or any way of knowing what they may have. Now I will be sure to steer clear of those people in the market aisles so as not to be sneezed on.

It was not meant as racist at all (none / 0) (#12)
by Catch 22 on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 09:31:57 PM EST

No matter how I would have addressed the migrant workers it would have been racist to you.

Let me tell you something I had a small furniture factory with about 100 factory workers. Every single one including the foreman was Mexican. I have great respect for them as people and as hard workers. I stood in solidarity with them when they were protesting immigration not because I agreed with everything each individual wanted, but because I respected them.

I have first hand experience how often they travel back home for a weekend, a week, or two weeks. Not once did I ever fire a good worker because he wanted to go back home to his famil1a. And I'll tell you what. If I had that factory today I would steer clear of those who even looked like they wanted to sneeze especially if they had just been to Mexico. Being careful about ones personal health especially in regards to epidemics is not racist my friend.


Why would it have been racist to me? (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by mexboy on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 12:14:19 AM EST

I thought this was about the flu.

What I found racist is the fact that you can't tell who is a migrant and who is not.

If you run away from me at the grocery store (like you stated you would) because of the way I look, even when I am a citizen, and don't have any symptoms of the flu, then you are doing it based solely on my race and the assumptions you made about me because of it.

I will stay away from anyone who has the flue, as I think you should. And I take you at your word that you are not a racist, but I still say your statement was.


Whay would it be racist to you? (none / 0) (#28)
by Catch 22 on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 12:48:31 PM EST

You tell me, you are the one who brought up racism genius - not me. Why would it be racist to you! LOL. That was kind of a silly question when you are the one who brought it up and should know why you did.

How do you know that? You are reading into my post things I did not even say. You have no idea what I can do although you should as my last post said I employed immigrant workers in the past. For years I did. I also said in my original post that I live in SoCal. So you think I can't tell Mexican-Americans from immigrants? Are you friggin kidding me? Do you even read a post and think about what the person said?

If you run away from me at the grocery store (like you stated you would)

I didn't say a word about you in my initial post. I didn't even know you existed until you replied to my post. Again you are reading into my post things I did not even say. Get rid of the attitude man.

You can think whatever you want about my statement but that doesn't make it so. I know what I meant is not what you re trying to make it mean, that is what matters here. I don't let people with a chip on their shoulder define who I am or what I say.

And for the record I am of olive complexion myself. So you have no idea who you are talking to or what my experiences have been. You are here just to release whatever angers you have inside of you and I doubt that they have anything to do with you being of Mexican decent.

And oh yeah, I'm glad you can tell who has flu systems and who doesn't without getting near them. I can't. Most people I know can't unless the person is sneezing/coughing etc at the time. If they aren't then it is hard to tell. So feel safe buddy. You can go stand right next to someone feeling assured they do not have this flu and won't sneeze all over you. Funny how I never read that you can tell who has the flu and who doesn't from a distance in any of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention advisories. You ought to contact them and tell them your secret.


I'm not a mind reader (none / 0) (#30)
by mexboy on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 01:47:11 PM EST

And I don't know how yours functions. So I was asking you to clarify what you were basing your statement about me on on. You said I would call racist anything you said about migrants. So, explain what you're basing that on. You stated you did not know I existed, so explain it.

You just keep adding to the perception that your statements are based on racist stereotypes. I live in SoCal myself, so yes your post applies to me, as well.

I live in SoCal. So you think I can't tell Mexican-Americans from immigrants? Are you friggin kidding me?

You are here just to release whatever angers you have inside of you and I doubt that they have anything to do with you being of Mexican decent.

You seem to be very good at psychoanalyzing someone based on a post. Maybe you should use those skills to look into your psyche and see why you are so defensive about it.


Explain it? (none / 0) (#31)
by Catch 22 on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 03:41:18 PM EST

Easy. After so many years on earth one meets every kind of personality there is. Therefore it is easy to recognize who you are talking to. Different body, but same words, same personality.

Last post on the subject.


: I couldn't disagree more, (none / 0) (#32)
by mexboy on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 09:20:41 PM EST

But let's leave it at that.

I see what you mean (none / 0) (#13)
by Cream City on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 09:45:25 PM EST

even if it didn't quite read that way to someone else.

I have been madly attempting to avoid sneezers for weeks -- a nasty, nasty bug has been going around that seemed like a cold, but I never have seen my spouse so knocked out by a bug. And then my kids. And then my students by the scads -- numbers that have emptied classes in near-epidemic levels.

As we all are workers or students on campuses, I am wondering if the bug going around might have come back with some from spring break in Cancun.


: When people are dying (none / 0) (#14)
by Catch 22 on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 09:51:50 PM EST

things can get very scary. You can't be too careful. You are right about Cancun. A college teen picks it up there and brings it home to his parents and younger siblings and they go to school and sneeze in the class room and then those kids take it home and then to their multi-school dance class or multi-school city soccer league and so on and so on. One teen coming from Cancun can literally spread something like that through an entire school district in a matter of a week or two.

: Maybe you get some early immunity (none / 0) (#24)
by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 09:15:52 AM EST

Whereas the rest of us must evade or overcome a full blow. We were all sick here too two weeks ago, it was pretty evil.......and then my husband got sick last night and still is, my son's sleepover friend had to go home at midnight because he became ill as well. Maybe I'm getting some early immunity too to a weaker strain sneaking around the Southern region of the U.S. I can only hope.

Should I jusr skip (none / 0) (#5)
by oculus on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:18:40 PM EST

Pads game? Did see a boy w/a Gators shirt on. Rest of his little league team was in more subtle attire.

Deadly Flu Virus Shipments Missing (none / 0) (#8)
by SOS on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:32:08 PM EST

Specimen Samples Bound For Lebanon, Mexico Unaccounted For. GENEVA, April 15, 2005

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/15/health/main688473.shtml

Not the same virus subtype (none / 0) (#10)
by c b h on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:58:38 PM EST

The influenza A virus under current discussion is subtype H1N1 whereas the virus referred to in the 2005 cbs news story is H2N2.


You sure of that? (none / 0) (#19)
by gyrfalcon on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 12:31:03 AM EST

Because I just read somewhere that the Mexican government has just ordered up as much Tamiflu as they can get. Is that mistaken reporting or is the Mexican government wrong or panicking or what?


: I read that Tamiflu is showing affectiveness (none / 0) (#22)
by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 07:25:51 AM EST

in treating the flu strain showing up in Mexico right now. Which is a good thing

Doesn't Donald Rumsfeld still own (none / 0) (#9)
by SOS on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 08:46:35 PM EST

major stock in the firm that made the Tamiflu?

: H1N1 is near 100% resistant to tamiflu (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by c b h on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 09:05:18 PM EST

No disagreement about Rumsfeld's evil nature, but H1N1 is nearly 100% resistant to Tamiflu. According to the CDC, 49 out of 50 samples were resistant. Canada and Europe also report almost 100% resistance of H1N1 to Tamiflu.
CDC Advises Against Tamiflu Treatment of Seasonal Flu (they suggest Relenza/rimantadine).

: The worry over the past flus (5.00 / 1) (#18)
by coigue on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 12:18:13 AM EST

were that they would mutate to either become more virulent or transmit to humans....this one is both.
It's very troubling.

oink oink (none / 0) (#15)
by mudlark on Fri Apr 24, 2009 at 11:22:15 PM EST

Seasonal flu is resistent to Tamiflu, however the CDC says two flu drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, seem effective against the new strain of swine flu. Seasonal flu and swine flu are two different things.
More here:
http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure

: Well (none / 0) (#25)
by eric on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 09:42:52 AM EST

both are H1N1 although it sounds like this new "swine" flu has some strange genetics.

Great. My preschooler (none / 0) (#26)
by Fabian on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 10:09:58 AM EST

just came down with fever and lethargy this morning. He literally tried to lay down on the floor and sleep in the store. He's resting now, but he's running a temp.

I'm doing the pragmatic mommy thing - apply fluids, make sure he's urinating, watch the fever. And praying he doesn't develop respiratory anything.

Oh boy (none / 0) (#27)
by Jen M on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 12:10:09 PM EST

my mom came back from Mexico a month or so ago and was horribly ill, as was my stepfather. They have both had their flu shots (not that that matters now)

The best protection is good hygiene. Wash hands frequently. Avoid sneezers and coughers. Keep up on the vitamins. Then wash your hands again. Preferably soap and water and not that alcohol shtuff.

THIS IS QUITE INTERESTING.. (none / 0) (#29)
by fly on Sat Apr 25, 2009 at 01:19:01 PM EST

THIS IS QUITE INTERESTING..

AND I AM NOT SAYING IT MEANS ANYTHING, BUT IT IS INTERESTING..I remembered Rumsfeld having something to do with TamiFlu meds..so I checked it on Snopes..

Rumsfeld holds alot of stock holdings in the company that developed Tamiflu ...interesting..I heard on my local news last night that Tamiflu may help in this swine flu epidemic in Mexico..I am Not saying it means anything nefarious and I am certainly not intimating that it does, I just remembered Rumsfeld having something to do with tamiflu and looked it up after hearing this report last night on my local news.. it is interesting..

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tamiflu.asp

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090424/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu

Mexico swine flu deaths spur global epidemic fears

The CDC says two flu drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, seem effective against the new strain. Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, said the company is prepared to immediately deploy a stockpile of the drug if requested.

Both drugs must be taken early, within a few days of the onset of symptoms, to be most effective.

Cordoba said Mexico has enough Tamiflu to treat 1 million people, but the medicine will be strictly controlled and handed out only by doctors.