Swine flu raises fear of pandemic - Adults and Children

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I am glad you posted this, oramar. I was sleeping and missed the CDC Update this afternoon.

Here is another link about this.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=220847&postcount=1

I have been following this since yesterday, and had been wondering if it was related to the mysterious outbreak of respiratory illness in Mexico that has caused the Canadians to put out travel alerts for their people returning from that country. Don't know why the US has not done the same but the Canadian concern may be connected to the case in the link below. The link above says our CDC does not have confirmation that it is swine flu causing the cases in Mexico, which is not exactly saying that it is definitely not the same. It would be kind of odd since the Mexican cases are so much sicker than the US swine flu cases so it is likely not the same organism, but is rather coincidental that they are occurring at the same time.

http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1502582&auth=

Here is the info on what is going on in Mexico. They are vaccinating their HCW with flu vax which I find kind of curious if they don't even know what is causing the disease outbreak.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/pandemic-awareness-preparation-361932-page11.html#post3584585

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/pandemic-awareness-preparation-361932-page11.html#post3584628

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OR, it could be that for every sever case they are seeing there are many mild cases. In these children, they could have came upon two kids that had a mild case. Apparently, CDC people are watching and testing for just this sort of thing, I highly approve. The only thing that makes me go "YIKES" is that they are already preparing this falls flu shots and this is NOT in them. Maybe a whole bunch of people are going to wish they had not laid off so many nurses.

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Good point, as it is a different strain though it is still H1N1. They will still say that there is some protection, and hopefully there is.

They are vaccinating HCW frantically in Mexico with our current vaccine, and they don't even know what is causing the outbreak.

The cases are occurring in south and central Mexico.

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Maybe this is a "Herald" event. We talked about them once here. They occur in late winter and early spring, the next year you get a full fledge pandemic.

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The CDC sounds pretty calm about it, but you never know. We do not have enough information right now to know what is going on, and have to assume that our public health system is on the ball about this stuff.

Of course, we all think about the mild flu that preceded the 1918 event in the fall before the virulent spring outbreak. And, the WHO has been sent into Egypt to investigate the startlingly mild new cases of bird flu that are now occurring in Egypt, all in toddlers which is a new demographic group for this disease. Meanwhile the adults still end up on ventilators and die. No one knows why. It is still a mystery at this time. And literally thousands of symptomatic Egyptian suspected cases have been treated with Tamiflu which would cause them to test negative on PCR. The WHO is getting worried and so is the Egyptian government.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30376054#30376054

Here you go, oramar. The US media is now talking about the swine flu cases here as well as what is happening in Mexico. They were way behind the Canadians on this one.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/apr2309swineflu.html

Walter Dowdle, PhD, who worked in the CDC's virology unit during the 1976 swine flu outbreak, told CIDRAP News that it's interesting but not greatly alarming that the 2009 swine flu strain contains such an unusual mix of gene segments.

"It's a real mutt," said Dowdle, who now works with the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, based in Atlanta "When you have an evolving RNA mechanism, it's hard to be surprised by anything."

The H1N1 component of the seasonal flu vaccine might provide some degree of protection, he said. And if the swine flu virus persists, federal officials could consider adding an additional H1N1 strain to next year's vaccine.

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Deadly outbreak of swine flu in US, Mexico

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hqvUky7Db4m9TlO-2L8Z4q2vDJbw

If you have not had a flu shot this year, you might want to think about it. It may offer some kind of protection although it is not the same strain of H1N1. Mexico has been vaccinating their HCWs. As you can see, they are also using mitigation strategies such as closing schools to help limit the spread of the virus, a very good idea.

I see no statement that it is the same virus in both countries, but it would be quite the coincidence if it was not especially considering that attorney in Canada that ended up on a vent after returning from Mexico.

Whatever this is, it appears to be quite transmissible.

World health authorities on Friday rushed to tackle flu outbreaks in the United States and Mexico that have killed at least 60 people and have pandemic potential.

Hundreds of people in Mexico have been infected and 60 have died from suspected swine flu, while seven human cases have been confirmed in the United States, a World Health Organisation spokeswoman said.

The WHO, which has identified swine influenza as a potential source of a human flu pandemic, activated its global epidemic operations centre while Mexican authorities closed schools in Mexico City and the centre of the country.

Mexico's Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova urged people to avoid large crowds, shaking hands, kissing people as a greeting, or using the subway.

"This afternoon the epidemic was confirmed by Canadian and US labs to be a new influenza virus," Cordova said in a televised statement late Thursday.

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Deadly outbreak of swine flu in US, Mexico

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hqvUky7Db4m9TlO-2L8Z4q2vDJbw

If you have not had a flu shot this year, you might want to think about it. It may offer some kind of protection although it is not the same strain of H1N1. Mexico has been vaccinating their HCWs. As you can see, they are also using mitigation strategies such as closing schools to help limit the spread of the virus, a very good idea.

I see no statement that it is the same virus in both countries, but it would be quite the coincidence if it was not especially considering that attorney in Canada that ended up on a vent after returning from Mexico.

Whatever this is, it appears to be quite transmissible.

Oh my gosh, in one morning this has gone from being worthy of interest to darn scary.

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It's Official - It's Swine Flu in Mexico as Well

The CDC Media Conference Call just ended. It was a somber call. Few questions if any from anyone in the room. Most were via reporters on the telephone. Questions were answered by Dr. Richard Besser, the Acting Director of CDC, I think they said. The following comments are from my notes, and are based on his responses to the questions of the media which included NPR, WebMd, Reuters, CBC, Associated Press, Washington Post and others I forgot to write down.

He said that the Swine Flu is present in Mexico as well as in the US, but the disease is presenting differently so far. There have been 8 cases in the US, all mild but one. One US case traveled to Mexico.

Seven out of 14 viral samples from Mexico tested positive for Swine Flu, and these were from people with virulent cases. It is unknown if they survived or not.

There is no restriction on travel to Texas, California or Mexico at this time, but a disease outbreak notification is posted.

The CDC's concern has grown since yesterday, and there is much uncertainty. They have some interim guidelines. They have a website up: cdc.gov/flu/swine and a phone # 1 800 CDC INFO for questions.

Guidelines are interim and fluid as they learn more about the situation. Recommendations will likely change with what they learn.

There will be local approaches made to try to halt the virus that we may learn from. Trying to contain the virus is "not likely" as there are already unconnected cases in two different states meaning cycles of human to human transmission.

You should not travel if you are sick. Don't get on a plane if you have the flu.

People outside of the affected areas should be paying attention as well. As the situation continues, the CDC expects people to begin thinking about their own preparedness. "This is a teachable moment. We are moving quickly on this and we are very aggressive in our approach as is the WHO."

In response to questions about the WHO changing their pandemic threat level. For a virus to have pandemic potential, it must meet three conditions: it must be new, it must cause severe disease, and it must be transmissible. The WHO is going to meet to decide if they need to change their threat level. CDC has been in touch with Dr. Margaret Chan of the WHO.

The CDC labs are working on analysis of the viral sequences. This may tell us why some people have severe disease. The epidemiologists will also be looking for other things like co-factors.

The CDC will be sending teams into Mexico, and to Texas and California as well to assist in the investigation.

The clinical picture can include vomiting and diarrhea as well as respiratory symptoms.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517820,00.html
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The flu deaths in Mexico raise fears of global pandemic. This is a new flu virus that is not covered by the flu shot of this year and could take months to develop a vaccine for. This is very frightening. Mexico has shut down their museums,schools,libraries and theatres.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30386163/

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