Mexican Pig Flu!

[LucyDuke]

Mexico flu outbreak kills dozens

Dozens of people have died and hundreds of others have been infected in a viral outbreak in Mexico suspected to have been caused by a strain of swine flu.

The World Health Organization thinks the virus may be behind 60 deaths in Mexico since mid-March.

Mexican authorities have closed schools in affected areas and a vaccination campaign is being launched.

Seven non-fatal cases of a new form of swine flu have also been confirmed in the southern United States.

A WHO spokesman said 12 out of 18 samples taken from the Mexican victims showed they died from a virus with the same genetic structure as the one found in the US.

The WHO would convene an emergency meeting in the "very near future" to determine whether the event constituted a "public health event of international concern", Gregory Hartl told Reuters news agency.

The White House said it was following the US outbreak - in California and Texas - closely.

'Mutated from pigs'

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said "unusual end-of-season influenza activity" was noticed in Mexico starting from the end of March.

Fifty-seven people had died in Mexico City from flu-like symptoms, she said, and another three in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. There are around 800 suspected cases, she said.

Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the virus had "mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans".

The strain of flu had been confirmed in at least 16 deaths, with 44 others being tested, the government said.

It urged people to take preventative measures such as not shaking hands or sharing crockery.

All schools and universities in the capital and in nearby Mexico State have been closed, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs reports from Mexico City.

'No contact'

In the US, experts say the seven people who fell ill across two states were suffering from a new form of swine flu that combined pig, bird and human viruses.

The CDC said none of the seven victims had been in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu.

CDC spokeswoman Anne Schuchat said that officials did not yet know how widely the virus had spread.

But she pointed out that all seven victims had recovered. "So far this is not looking like very very severe influenza," she said.

While the world has been worried over the past few years about the impact of a pandemic originating from avian flu, the WHO say that swine flu has been implicated in the emergence of two of the last century's influenza pandemics, reports BBC science reporter Matt McGrath.

Pigs can serve as a mixing vessel for both human and avian viruses that could combine to create a more virulent strain, our reporter adds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8016909.stm

Are we finally going to get something that lives up to all the bid flu hysteria?

 

[Onionsoilder]

This is why influenza vaccinations are completely useless for anyone who isn't immune compromised. The virus mutates so fast.

 

[Princeps]

Are we finally going to get something that lives up to all the bid flu hysteria?

Last time i checked, swine doesn't fly.

 

[LucyDuke]

This is why influenza vaccinations are completely useless for anyone who isn't immune compromised. The virus mutates so fast.

The vaccines aren't useless if you don't want flu this winter. They're not like smallpox vaccines but not useless either.

Last time i checked, swine doesn't fly.

Yeah but pigs can serve as a mixing vessel for both human and avian viruses that could combine to create a more virulent strain!

 

[Narz]

Easy solution - don't eat pigs. It's no surprise factory farms spawn all sorts of epidemics. What's a marvel is that we don't see this more often.

 

[Ecofarm]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A strain of flu never seen before has killed as many as 61 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where eight people have been infected but recovered, health officials said on Friday.

Mexico's government said at least 16 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 45 other deaths.

The World Health Organization said tests showed the virus in 12 of the Mexican patients had the same genetic structure as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas.

Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.

"Our concern has grown as of yesterday," U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing.

It first looked mostly like a swine virus but closer analysis showed it is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses, according to the CDC.

"We do not have enough information to fully assess the health threat posed by this new swine flu virus," Besser said.

Humans can occasionally catch swine flu from pigs but rarely have they been known to pass it on to other people.

The WHO said it was ready to use rapid containment measures if needed, including antivirals, and that both the United States and Mexico are well equipped to handle the outbreak.

Both the WHO and the CDC said there was no need to alter travel arrangements in Mexico or the United States.

CLOSE TO 1,000 SUSPECTED CASES IN MEXICO

Eight people were infected with the new strain in California and Texas, but all of them have recovered. Mexico said it had close to 1,000 suspected cases there.

The CDC's Besser said scientists were working to understand why there are so many deaths in Mexico when the infections in the United States seem mild.

Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year, but the flu season for North America should have been winding down.

The U.S. government said it was closely following the new cases. "The White House is taking the situation seriously and monitoring for any new developments. The president has been fully briefed," an administration official said.

Mexico's government cautioned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or to share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of infection.

The outbreak jolted residents of the Mexican capital, one of the world's biggest cities and home to some 20 million people.

One pharmacy ran out of surgical face masks after selling 300 in a day.

"We're frightened because they say it's not exactly flu, it's another kind of virus and we're not vaccinated," said Angeles Rivera, 34, a federal government worker who fetched her son from a public kindergarten that was closing.

The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, the CDC has said.

The Geneva-based U.N. agency WHO said it was in daily contact with U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities and had activated its Strategic Health Operations Center (SHOC) -- its command and control center for acute public health events.

The CDC said it will issue daily updates here

Surveillance for and scrutiny of influenza has been stepped up since 2003, when H5N1 bird flu reappeared in Asia. Experts fear that or another strain could spark a pandemic that could kill millions.

In Egypt, a 33-year-old woman died of bird flu, becoming the third such victim there in a week. The H5N1 bird flu, a completely different strain from the swine flu, has infected 421 people in 15 countries and killed 257 since 2003.

An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, killed 44 people in Canada in 2003.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE53N22820090424?sp=true

Using animals for food is bad, m'kay?

Instead of being avian flu, to protect the industry, it should be chicken flu. And instead of swine flu, pork flu. And mad beef/hoof-n-beef. Generalizing perpetuates ignorance and protects the industries.

 

[scherbchen]

uhm, splendid. my niece, nephew, brother and sis-in-law are in Mexico for two weeks as of wednesday. silly me worried about abductions and simple beheadings...

 

[Ecofarm]

Last time i checked, swine doesn't fly.

This pork virus does. It is contagious.

 

[GoodGame]

Using animals for food is bad, m'kay?

Nonsense, the Mexicans died because they were malnurished---not enough protein in their diet to make antibodies.

Bottom line---animals carry diseases that can infect other animals.

 

[Ecofarm]

Nonsense, the Mexicans died because they were malnurished---not enough protein in their diet to make antibodies.

Bottom line---animals carry diseases that can infect other animals.

There's a bit more bottom line here. This one goes from human to human, apparently with decent efficiency.


ps. I reported OP and asked for thread merge to other.

 

[GoodGame]

And we humans are animals too.

The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, the CDC has said.

Influenza evolves all the time, thanks to it's external antigens, even annually. I wouldn't be extra scared just because it's homologous to similiar influenzas.

 

[LucyDuke]

Easy solution - don't eat pigs. It's no surprise factory farms spawn all sorts of epidemics. What's a marvel is that we don't see this more often.

"The CDC said none of the seven victims had been in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu."

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Moderator Action: Threads merged.

 

[Ecofarm]

I wonder if it has been in airports.


Allow me to be the first to say, "the sky is falling".

 

[Elta]

Well at last only the poor in Mexico eat pork

 

[Narz]

"The CDC said none of the seven victims had been in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu."

How did they get it then? (I'm curious)

 

[Shadylookin]

Using animals for food is bad, m'kay?

Instead of being avian flu, to protect the industry, it should be chicken flu. And instead of swine flu, pork flu. And mad beef/hoof-n-beef. Generalizing perpetuates ignorance and protects the industries.

meh if 8 American's have to get sick and make a full recovery so I can enjoy delicious bacon and chicken then so be it

 

[LucyDuke]

From first article:
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the virus had "mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans".

From second article:
Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.

I dunno!

 

[Narz]

So how does it transmit? Breathe alone?

 

[Masada]

It's a plot by Mexico to reclaim the south.