Breaking News - White House Aide with Flu From Obama Trip- Gave It to Family

This news is just being released a White house aide has the Swine Flu and Has given it to his family. He was with Obama in Mexico - but flew back on a commerical flight not on Air Force One.

link to article:
www.politico.com...

The White House has issued a health advisory outlining "protective measures" for anyone who traveled on President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico after a member of the U.S. delegation came down with flu-like symptoms – and tests on his family showed they’re probably infected with the swine flu.

The individual – an advance security staffer for Energy Secretary Steven Chu –appears to have spread the flu to his wife, son and nephew. All three have tested probable for swine flu, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

Gibbs, who did not name the security aide, said he did not work closely with Obama, didn’t fly on Air Force One and is back at work at the Energy Department.

But the staffer was at a working dinner Obama attended with Mexican officials April 16. The aide “was asked specifically if he ever came within six feet of the president, and the answer to that was 'No,' " Gibbs said.

“The president has not experienced any symptoms,” Gibbs said. He said Obama and other aides are “highly, highly, highly unlikely” to develop such symptoms now because of the time that has passed since Obama’s visit on April 16 and 17 and the relatively short incubation period for the flu virus, known as H1N1.

The disclosure of the likely flu case in the president’s entourage was startling because Gibbs said earlier this week that White House physicians believed the flu had posed no risk at all to Obama when he visited Mexico. “The doctors have informed me… that the President's health was never in any danger,” Gibbs said Monday.


Also on Monday, Gibbs had said no one traveling with the president “in either governmental or press capacity has shown any symptoms that would denote cause for any concern."

He flew back to Washington D.C. on a commerical flight so now there is a whole plane load of people who could have been affected.


Also should they contact all the people on that flight and have them tested?

The man flew back to Washington on a commercial United Airlines flight that landed at Dulles International Airport on April 18, Gibbs said.

Also notice he is back at work at the Energy Dept.

Well, uummmm...... I am not a rocket scientist or anything - BUT I can EVEN FIGURE OUT - that is IDIOTIC for him to be working in the Energy Dept. with the Flu!!!

DUH!

So, now will the govt's energy dept be going under from coming in contact with him and getting the flu possibly?



[edit on 30-4-2009 by questioningall]

Update

from link:
www.washingtonpost.com...

Marc S. Griswold, a former Secret Service agent who was serving as the lead advance special agent for Energy Secretary Steven Chu on the mid-April trip, said in an interview that the minor cough he developed in Mexico grew into swine flu. Although he has recovered and is back to work, he and his family have watched in shock as his illness has sparked national security concerns, severely strained his relationship with his brother and put his family at the center of rumors and panic in his Severna Park neighborhood.

I find this amazing - the man is already recovered?

How is that possible? Is there something he was given we haven't been told about? Some vaccine that is a cure for this particular strain of flu?
Was it already at the ready for top people?

I just don't get how this man is back at work and recovered in this short amount of time, isn't everyone else who has it quarrantened?

The White House press office began preparing to make a dramatic reversal. For days, Gibbs had insisted there had been no real danger of infection during Obama's Mexico visit. On Monday, Gibbs shot down repeated questions about health concerns, saying Obama "has not exhibited any symptoms; neither has anybody traveling with him."

Meanwhile, at home, Griswold and his wife tried to help their children get back into school. It was only at the advice of health officials that they kept their two unaffected children at school and sent the sick one back Wednesday, they said.

I guess the news is not relaying how fast people recover from the flu.
So does that mean, they have completely overblown it?

He's ex secret service, probably ex military before that. They get vaccinated for all the secret flu viruses that have been developed. No doubt he only had a mild cough but spread the virus to all his family members.

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
He's ex secret service, probably ex military before that. They get vaccinated for all the secret flu viruses that have been developed. No doubt he only had a mild cough but spread the virus to all his family members.

Guess the kid who started it all ("Patient Zero") had access to the secret vaccinations as well...

www.timesonline.co.uk...

The Mexican Government said it initially thought that the victim, Edgar Hernandez, 4, was suffering from ordinary influenza but laboratory testing has since shown that he had contracted swine flu. The boy went on to make a full recovery, although it is thought that at least 148 others in Mexico have died from the disease, and the number is expected to rise.

Pretty good connections for a 4-year-old kid on a Mexican pig farm.