Mysterious U.S. Swine Flu Probe Widens as Mexico Finds Swine Flu *updated*

reply to post by Cameoii

And in all fairness: Relenza = GlazoSmithKline. Tamiflu = Gilead. Take your pick and check to see what's in the mutual funds you or your loved ones own. These meds work to minimize the damage - they don't cure anything and from the sounds of it are only effective in the early stages of the illness.

Now this is scarry. Why would we not TRY to stop it? Makes one wonder.

Text from Mexico fights swine flu with 'pandemic potential' story today.

Pandemic Potential 4-25-09

The CDC and Canadian health officials were studying samples sent from Mexico, and airports around the world were screening passengers from Mexico for symptoms of the new flu strain, saying they may quarantine passengers.

But CDC officials dismissed the idea of trying that in the United States, and some expert said it's too late to try to contain spread of the virus.

They noted there had been no direct contact between the cases in the San Diego and San Antonio areas, suggesting the virus had already spread from one geographic area through other undiagnosed people.

"Anything that would be about containing it right now would purely be a political move," said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota pandemic expert.

Swine Flu Outbreak Linked to some Food Company ...?

or so some mexicans seem to think. This came in a few minutes ago and the guy reporting it said he can only find mention of it within Mexico at the moment, not any news networks elsewhere.

wow
the RSOE emergency and disaster website has places a big red warning text about the flu on top of the page...
I've been watching this site for a year and never saw them do that with any disaster!
hisz.rsoe.hu...

reply to post by GypsK


I told my mother the exact same thing this morning. I have also watched the site for about a year and never seen a warning at the top like that. I also noticed that the description of this outbreak is catagorized as catastophic. I've never seen that either.

Good find, folks. I love that site...but then I'm an adrenalin junkie and a bit of a paranoid...he, hee! I think perhaps being that they are in Budapest their emergency and disaster reporting is less biased and censored than that originating in the US or UK - just an observation I made while closing watching seismic activity this last year.
It's weird that I didn't think to check in with that site today.

hisz.rsoe.hu...

reply to post by GypsK


That is an alarming banner on that site!

This just hit the news: Mexico has cancelled many event, including no spectators allowed at the soccer game. They are also reporting 24 new cases today.

Alarmed Mexican officials, scrambling to control a swine flu outbreak that has killed as many as 68 people and infected possibly 1,000 more in recent weeks, canceled more public events Saturday in and around the capital and said they were considering keeping schools for millions of students here closed into next week.

Officials also announced that two soccer matches scheduled for Sunday would be played without spectators, and hundreds of cultural events have been canceled.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that 24 new suspected cases of the flu were reported.

www.nytimes.com...

Never waste a good crisis

Barrier to health care vote looks poised to fall
Democrats target likely Republican blocking strategy

Potentially removing a major obstacle to the sweeping health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama, senior Democrats on Capitol Hill have reached broad agreement on a plan to prevent Republicans from blocking such legislation later this year, according to congressional officials.

The plan, which would use special provisions of the budget process to prevent a GOP filibuster in the Senate, threatens to sow outrage among GOP lawmakers and could complicate Democrats' efforts to push through the rest of their agenda.

But the president and his allies on Capitol Hill believe their decision to use the so-called budget reconciliation process will allow passage of the kind of health system overhaul that has eluded Washington policymakers for generations.

More at link

Hmmmmmm.....

Media making a big deal about this, but healthcare workers are not hearing things at work, even in Texas

More and more this is sounding not exactly right

reply to post by annestacey


But...If you're between the age of 19-39? - to boost your immune system could be be a real bad idea against this new unique flu?

I think You could get "Immune System Overdrive" and DROWN in your own fluids.

When the body tries to fight off the unique unknown pathogen, your lungs could get filled and you'll get severe respiratory problems.

'Tamiflu' works against the 'Immune System Overdrive'

Therefore, if you (God forbid!) get the flu - I think Tamiflu would be the best help to fight the Overdrive.



Edit: got confused with words






[edit on 25-4-2009 by Chevalerous]

reply to post by Chevalerous


But the "Immune System Overdrive" you speak of is a cytokine storm, adding more cytokines to your system would only exacerbate the "feedback loop"

you get flu, cytokines are released, they send the body's immune response cell (T-Cells and macroblasts) to the site of infection - in this case, lungs as the flu is an airborne infection - more immune cells in area trigger more cytokines, repeat

this is how the lungs end up filling with fluids

the antivirals are effective at the very beginning of the infection, if you are already so sick as to have to go to the hospital, the care you receive will be much more than just antiviral medication, they will also give you meds to reduce fluid levels and monitor you constantly.

Self administration of tamiflu or any other antiviral may be worse for you than the flu in the first place.

john barry is being interviewed on cnn right now and he said we really dont know how many people in mexico have been infected.
he said it could be 10,000 and even maybe 100,000.
i hope he isnt just trying to sell books, but he is already a best selling author.

johnmbarry.com...

Barry serves on advisory boards at M.I.T’s Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and was the only non-scientist on a federal government Infectious Disease Board of Experts. He has advised federal, state, and World Health Organization officials on influenza, crisis management, and risk communication.

[edit on 25-4-2009 by elitegamer23]

[edit on 25-4-2009 by elitegamer23]

reply to post by elitegamer23


Definitely more than we are being told...I just dug this up...

Texas family quarantined after son contracts swine flu!

Health officials arrived at the Henshaws' house Friday and drew blood from the whole family, then told them to stay inside and away from the public, Henshaw told CNN.

The whole family is quarantined indefinitely, according to CNN-affiliate KABB. Henshaw said his family was shocked when they got the news about their son.

"Stunned. My wife was having a panic attack," Henshaw told the affiliate.

www.cnn.com...




[edit on 25-4-2009 by burntheships]

Baxter International to work with WHO on Swine Flu Vaccine

This is the same company that "accidentally" sent out a live virus in vaccines recently, sent to 13 countries.

Good one to follow on Twitter is @Veratect who is posting realtime updates on news of the virus.

twitter.com...

"Veratect provides the earliest detection of emerging risks worldwide while empowering various organizations with trusted, timely, and actionable information."


Canadian flights to Mexico cancelled :

"Canada: Flights to Mexico canceled due to swine influenza outbreak after Canadian citizen contracts "influenza virus.""


DailyKos has a useful post with lots of outgoing links if you want more information on the outbreak, what a pandemic is, and advice on how to avoid contracting it

www.dailykos.com...

There is also a "Flu Wiki" over here , tracking the latest news
www.newfluwiki2.com...

Here's another one to follow on twitter. this guy is covering the outbreak...

twitter.com...

New possible case of swine flu identified in Texas
© 2009 The Associated Press
April 25, 2009, 2:46PM

Texas health officials say a high school is temporarily closing after a new possible case of swine flu was identified there.

Carrie Williams, a state Department of Health Services spokeswoman in Austin, confirmed Saturday that another student in Guadalupe County near San Antonio is now believed to have the illness.

Williams said lab tests have not confirmed the potential case.

Because of the outbreak, Williams said officials were temporarily closing Byron Steele High School in Cibolo for classes next week.

www.chron.com...

Is anyone scared? I just saw on the press conference that in NYC that it is likely the same flu. Texas, NYC, California coincidence that these are highly populated areas? Is it the beginning of the end? I have thought that the depopulation would happen in many catastophic ways, massive disease being one of them. God help us all.

breaking right now.... two confirmed cases of swine flu in KANSAS.
that makes four states now, ny,cali, texas , and kansas.

damn its getting closer to me.

the only reason I would say that it is not man made is that the corrilation between specific peptide markers within viral protein structures and the aggresivness of viral replication has only been known for a few years(4 I think), with a report being issued early 2008 about an increase in these markers within h1n1(www.medicalnewstoday.com... Read Morewww.medicalnewstoday.com...)... So this is the first real world confirmation of this type of viral profiling... a bio-tech company has trademarked these markers which is some bull#... so I can not find out exactly what changes to the structures they are looking at... I guess that is a good thing though... but yeah... genetic engineered that would require an expertise in protein synthesis and viral genetics(well the entire genome of a typical flu virus is the size of a decent sized novel, so its not that bad I guess if you have an artist) to craft hand tailored self replicating peptide structures, based on a series of very recently discovered markers... I would love to think that there are dark people in the world that are creative enough to see far enough into the future and have the means to produce something like this but I think the world is more balanced than that... Unless the chinese have some crazy biomed advances because of research on h5n1 and what ever else is out over there... Its possible... Best hackers in the world and massive numbers of them to gather all the information they would ever need... :: shrug ::

~LeAto

On CNN right now, NY school is "Probable" Human Swine Flu, tested positive for type A influenza samples off to CDC for subtyping and confirmation. A complete reversal from the report at 3 AM from the NY Public Health official

Also, via Twitter @Veratech:

Canada: Flights to Mexico canceled due to swine influenza outbreak after Canadian citizen contracts "influenza virus."

And also via twitter @mpoppel

Mexicana Airlines is screening passengers and will deny anyone who is sick.. just spoke with them and provide a story with details later

From twitter via @BreakingNews

BULLETIN -- WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DECLARES SWINE FLU EPIDEMIC AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.


Questions in the thread about why it cannot be contained. As a former military medical professional, let me try to explain. Normal flu incubates for about 2-5 days But, a person is contagious for about 2 days before symptoms appear, and continue to be infectious for up to 5 days after symptoms appear.

So in this situation, we have people who RIGHT NOW appear perfectly healthy who are infectious. There is no way to determine who is and who isn't infectious until they are already sick.

scary thought, you could be at the grocery, bookstore, walmart, etc and talk to someone, even the cashier, and IF they are already infectious, but not symptomatic, you are already exposed and you then in a couple days become the healthy person who is infectious.

This has, unfortunately, already gone too far before figuring out what it was to be able to contain it. We have to ride it out now, it's all we can do.

[edit on 4/25/09 by redhatty]