Swine Flu news and updates thread

Originally posted by OutShine

Obama has no flu symptoms after Mexico visit

This article has a follow-up re: Obama's potential exposure to swine flu on his recent trip to Mexico.

(Spoiler) He's OK.

Obama met in Mexico City with the director of the city's Museum of Anthropology, who died a week later from symptoms similar to flu. According to Mexico health officials, he did not have swine flu but had a preexisting condition and died of pneumonia. The swine flu has an incubation period of 24 to 48 hours, Gibbs said, meaning Obama would have shown symptoms long ago if he'd contracted the disease. Because he did not show symptoms, Gibbs added, Obama has not been tested for the flu -- the same restraint that the government advises for all Americans. "In the absence of symptoms, you shouldn't go get tested," Gibbs said. "That's going to crowd any sort of either public health or private health infrastructure. If you are sick or you do have symptoms, then you should take precautions."

www.latimes.com...

well apparently there are some conflicting sources because i've come across several reports that Solis DID die of swine flu.

thehill.com...

"The outbreak of a new strain of the disease has sickened more than 1,000 people and claimed about 80 lives in Mexico in the past two weeks. Those who have succumbed to the disease include Felipe Solis, a well-known archaeologist who welcomed Obama to a Mexico City museum during the president's trip last week."

Why would they hault international travel when the only people to die from this are from Mexico? Wouldn't you wait until either A) More people die from other parts of the world or B) the disease starts spreading at expotential rates before closing borders? We're talking about what? 3,000 (and that's a pretty generous number to the infected) people in the WORLD being affected by this so far.. that's .000000375 percent of the world's population...

Haulting international traven completely during an already massive global recession wouldn't be smart to say the least..

"Medical staff has been dispatched to Auckland Airport and all passengers from the Americas are being screened before entry into the country"

From Twitter...apparently some countries are taking this more seriously?

I am sort of shocked that it's all sooooo "casual" here but time will tell I guess.

Finance chiefs, markets keep wary eye on swine flu

This is a pretty interesting piece considering the economic ramifications that might arise if this thing gets ugly (like 1918 ugly, which is a suspect possibility given medical advancements over the past century and modern quarantine procedures).

What follows is absolute conjecture--and premature at that--but taken with the fallout from the recent (ongoing) financial crisis, the outlook is potentially quite bleak. A $3Tr. hit on top of what has essentially amounted to a $3Tr. hit would be disastrous.

A particularly chilling worst case scenario might include a sort of negative feedback loop whereby the reduction in global productivity initiated by the financial downturn would be exacerbated by pandemic-related downward pressures.

As a result, already depressed global productivity could slip further, especially in the agricultural and food production sectors. This problem would only be made worse if the flu has a high morality rate, which would decrease labor forces and further reduce agricultural productivity.

That in turn would reduce the food supply, which could lead to malnutrition and reduced disease resistance, which would result in further mortality and reductions in global stability...you get the idea.

I would just like to note again--as does the article--that it is too early to really get behind such conjecture. But it's worth thinking about, because the species will be at risk of such a scenario at some point. Forgive the cliche, but it's a question of when, not if.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The swine flu outbreak is not yet severe enough to shake global markets, but finance leaders and investors said on Sunday they were keeping a watchful eye, mindful a pandemic in the midst of a recession could be catastrophic...

"This comes at a bad time for the global economy -- it's exactly what we don't need," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director of Seven Investment Management in London. "It's rubbing salt into an already unpleasant wound."

If the outbreak becomes severe, triggering a clamp-down on trade, the cost to the global economy could climb into the trillions of dollars. The World Bank estimated in 2008 that a flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion and result in a nearly 5 percent drop in world gross domestic product.

uk.reuters.com...

reply to post by TheCoffinman


Do you have a source for this? I live in the DFW area and I work in healthcare.

reply to post by k_sin


Oh yeah, I'm sure there are conflicting sources and stories...I mean, if you're trying to quell public alarm, the first story that you'd probably try to kill is the one reporting that the president just met with a recently deceased victim of the swine flu...

There are no confirmed cases of swine influenza in Indiana. However, two possible cases have been sent to laboratories for testing and results are expected back early this week

i believe what the mayans have been predicing is coming and this flu has been working it mutated because its probably one of the most talked about things now but i think we need this flu to help us with those starving kids in africa who probably take pisses on the flu because they have aids and they will be pretty ticked when the flu hits them but we will understand there pain wen the flu mutates and becomes more deadly

New Zealand health officials said Monday three students in a second group just returned from Mexico have tested positive for Influenza A and likely have swine flu

reply to post by fire cloud


Uhm. What?

And by what, I mean, what are you talking about?

Edit to comply with post length req.

[edit on 26-4-2009 by OutShine]

CDC confirmed a case of a 9 years old in OHIO.

2 suspected cases in Quebec: one in Montreal and one in Mauricie

I have family there... and it's quite close to me...hopefully it will turn out to be nothing.

So new places infected... Ohio for sure, Quebec province not confirmed yet.

US: Sacramento Health Department orders school closed until no influenza-like illness detected for one week.

Can we close Mexico airports please?

Worst case scenario, nuke Mexico City. Joking.

Anyway the simulations made showed that if there was a mass outbreak, panic would kill more people than the virus would. Unless of course it's a zombie outbreak.

[edit on 26-4-2009 by Vitchilo]

Alex Jones is interesting to listen too, i mean the radio show, again live calls from Mexico.. at infowars.com

2 possibly cases in queensland, austrailia...

www.theaustralian.news.com.au...

The two in Australia have just tested Negative

Thought this was interesting. There is a vaccine training exercise planned for this week in TX. Weren't they doing some kind of exercise on 911?

stienster.blogspot.com...

Originally posted by fire cloud
i believe what the mayans have been predicing is coming and this flu has been working it mutated because its probably one of the most talked about things now but i think we need this flu to help us with those starving kids in africa who probably take pisses on the flu because they have aids and they will be pretty ticked when the flu hits them but we will understand there pain wen the flu mutates and becomes more deadly

HUH???? I cannot imagine what the heck you mean by the reference to children in Africa who are suffering from AIDS. I am hoping that you are not implying that the deaths of these children would be a good thing. Your post is very confusing, would you clarify what you are talking about????

reply to post by redhead57


Yeah good luck with that one, Red.

I gave it a shot too, I don't think there's a whole *lot that's gonna come from barking up that tree.

[edit on 26-4-2009 by OutShine]

Originally posted by rubicon
I have a friend in Colorado that says they have a few cases there and it has not been mentioned on any news.....or at least not national.

This whole thing is really, really weird! Best to prepare for the worst and pray for the best amen?

Er.. where did they hear about it then?

Just curious, since I am in Colorado. Not heard a word. Does he work in the health industry or something?

I found this article from a year ago while researching H1N1 strains of the flu virus.

Medical News Today

What I don't know is if this is relevant to what we are seeing now. do different strains with different replication factors have the same name?

There's been lots of talk regarding why the fatality rate in Mexico seems so high, when there has not yet been a case of severe illness or death elsewhere.

One explanation for this is that the total number of infections in Mexico is likely much, much higher than reported. Mexico is a developing country and only the most severe cases would have been noticed or counted by health officials. For each severe case that was counted, there could be 10-30 cases where somebody came down with "regular" flu symptoms including fever and cough, but recovered within a short time and did not require medical care. So, if there really were a total of 10-30k cases in Mexico, ~80 deaths does not give that high of a mortality rate. Definitely nothing approaching that of the Spanish flu, and possibly not high enough to result in a serious pandemic.

On the other hand, this is a novel virus that has never been seen before - so there are many things we cannot yet know about how it sickens people.

The thing that I'm most worried about is that it might mutate in a way that makes it more virulent and deadly. The more humans and swine that are affected by it, the more viruses are "out there" to mutate, and the more likely that such a mutation occurs.

Does anyone know whether it is possible for birds to be infected by this virus, and whether an infected bird could transmit it to humans? Considering that there are bits of avian flu included in the genome of this new virus, it seems to me that this is likely. If this is the case, it seems that quarantining this thing will be particularly tricky, since birds know no borders...