Deadly New Virus Breaks Out In Mexico

[Decker]

Wasn't sure where to post this so I posted it here:

A new flu virus suspected of killing up to 60 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic, the World Health Organization's chief says.

Margaret Chan said the outbreak was a "serious situation" which needed to be followed closely.

Ms Chan cut short a visit to the US and returned to Geneva for urgent talks.

Health experts say tests so far seem to link the illnesses in Mexico with a new swine flu virus that sickened eight people in the southern US.

The WHO's new emergency committee is now meeting - though health officials say it may be premature to advise against travel to Mexico.

The committee will be discussing whether to declare a public health emergency, and whether to raise the global pandemic alert level.

The WHO says it does not know the full risk yet.

It is advising all member states to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, who seem to be the most affected in Mexico.

Officials said most of those killed so far were young adults - rather than more vulnerable children and the elderly.

Precautions

Schools, museums and libraries have been closed across the capital region and people are being urged to avoid shaking hands or sharing crockery.

All public events have been suspended, an official said. Two previously sold-out soccer matches were played in empty stadiums to avoid potentially spreading the virus.

And in the US, the White House said it was watching the situation.

Dr Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that preliminary tests on seven out of 14 samples from patients in Mexico had matched the virus found in the US.

Eight people have fallen sick in the US - six in California and two in Texas - with a virus the WHO say was the same as the new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1.

All eight have recovered and only one was hospitalised.

The CDC said it planned to send experts to Mexico to help investigate the virus which has infected more than 1,000 people in the country.

Ms Chan confirmed the virus was an animal strain - a mixture of swine, human and avian flu viruses.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease which infects pigs. It does not normally infect humans, although sporadic cases do occur usually in people who have had close contact with pigs.

New Virus in Mexico - BBC

Some more links about the new virus: Some of these might be the same article just posted on different sites FYI
NY Times
World Health Organization
CNN
Associated Press

[tibilicus]

This is all Mexico needs.

Ravaged by the current drug war and now this...

[FactionHeir]

Avian flu was a big scare too but didn't seem to be the great catastrophe is was prophecied to be. So based on that I'm not sure what to think.

One thing to be glad about though is that porcine influenza is not food borne, so happy feasting

Still, I have a feeling PETA might say something to the contrary anyway

[Decker]

Just like here in nothern California where people are "waiting" for the next big quake, it seems some are thinking this is the "super bug" that was/is due to come around again. True about the Avian Flu but I didn't expect it to get far, which it did not. Mexico seems to be doing a decent job of trying to keep it from spreading by closing off any major public gathering places or events, but considering how interconnected our world is, it would be no surprise if it makes it to dozens of other countries. Anyways, a school in NY thinks a bunch of their students caught it:
"Swine Flu" break out in NY school

[||Lz3||]

Yeh... things are getting interesting down here.

"but considering how interconnected our world is"

Just think about México city airport... a plane takes off every minute.

[Marshal Murat]

Decker, I fail to see mention of....
1. The Book of Revelation and the date December 22nd, 2012
2. "It's because of those imperialist Yankee capitalists!"

[Lemur]

You had me worried there, I thought you were talking about a computer virus. Having just nuked my hard drive and re-installed Windows XP after finding I could not beat whatever had infected my C: drive, well, I got all worked up at the mention of a new virus.

A biological virus? Oh, well, carry on.

[Reverend Joe]

It is advising all member states to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, who seem to be the most affected in Mexico.

Oh, great. Another Spanish Flu. Just what we needed.

Edit: I just heard about the symptoms, and I swear, I've already had a flu like this at least 3 times this year. Kinda scary.

[||Lz3||]

A biological virus? Oh, well, carry on.

Not those 20 who died (40 deaths are not confirmed to be caused by the virus, yet)

[Kadagar_AV]

This is all Mexico needs.

Ravaged by the current drug war and now this...

Current?

Also, war on drugs

Is the war on drugs doing as good as the war on terrorism?

*yawn*

"war on drugs means fighting your own population"

Do you know why civilization started? Because people realised it was more nice growing crops to get wasted instead of being out hunting all day.

*it is alcohol I talk about*

ON TOPIC: 60 deaths isnt really an alarming number untill you have a "%"

How many percent of the afflicted died?

I mean, we allready have airborne stuff that kills 90% (Ebola).
How much worse can it get?

[Marshal Murat]

Obama=Antichrist

The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported.

[Kadagar_AV]

Marshal Murat: At the same time, in the real world...

[||Lz3||]

Yeh... i know, 60 deaths in an area with circa 20 millions is not that much... but they are still people.

"the death of one is a loss the death of many is a statistic" or something... nvm

[naut]

At times like these I'm glad I live on a sparsely populated remote island.

[A Very Super Market]

Makes it easier for the Kangaroos to get ya. Now in Canada, its too cold for them.

But the Moose are always watching us.....

[a completely inoffensive name]

"the death of a people is a loss the death of many is a statistic" or something... nvm

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

[Decker]

True that it may be just another virus to come around, and given that it is a type of flu (of which there are many), this strain just seems to have the bad habit of killing people, and apparently quite a few a that! Sadly, it does appear to be small at the moment, but the paranoia being spread by the media (as usual) is never going to help the situation or any for that matter. Right now at WHO's website, they have it at a level "3" alert (WHO's Alert levels).

From the BBC, they have a serious of "letters" describing what's happening in Mexico City. The range of descriptions is interesting.
Letters to the BBC

Oh and here is an article about the flu in Kansas and about the flu in the US in general:
The Flu in the States

[Fragony]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh my fear how I need it

[Sheogorath]

At times like these I'm glad I live on a sparsely populated remote island.

I hear they've quarantined some people in New Zealand.

Thanks to air travel you're not so remote. Just expensive

[FactionHeir]

There was this idle thought I had about how the drug gangs put pig masks on their victims and this flu. Probably unrelated, but just thought I'd share.

[aimlesswanderer]

I must say that I was sure that my ancestral homeland of China would have been the source of the next big pandemic, given that all the other recent worries have originated/been centered there (SARS, bird flu etc). Though given government coverups something could be brewing in the dark....

I suppose that it is good that there aren't too many flights from here to Mexico, though if it loose across the pond...

[Marshal Murat]

Let's not test those on airplanes

The United States is not testing airplane travelers from Mexico for the swine flu virus that has heightened fears of a possible pandemic, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Sunday.

"Right now we don't think the facts warrant more active testing or screening of passengers coming in from Mexico," she said at a White House briefing.

It's not serious enough to test those flying in from Mexico, but serious enough to consider school closures and have a death toll of 86 people?

[FactionHeir]

Someone needs to be sacked

US declares state of emergency and they don't want to screen airplanes from the hotbed origin? Hello? What's all that extra airport/DHS staff doing anyway?

In other news, The BA crew member did not have porcine influenza, but its suspected that a few people in Scotland (returning from Mexico) now do.

[edyzmedieval]

I'm actually scared about this new strain of flu.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I'm not too worried. So far, it appears that we have at least two current antiviral drugs that are effective against it, that it is happening in small clusters of the population even though it is spread widely around the world, and all patients in the United States have recovered. Moreover, the declaration of Public Health Emergency is routine procedure for much less serious events if I recall correctly.

[Sheogorath]

I've heard the varients popping up outside Mexico are much more mild, in line with the standard flu. Apparently the problem with the strain in Mexico is that it causes an immune reaction, where the body attacks the lungs (hence why it affects people with strong immune systems more severely, and why most of the deaths were among healthy young adults.)

[Samurai Waki]

I'm not overly worried about it, one of the big things they mentioned that most of the cases involved was a lack of hygiene. Diseases typically find themselves in the unclean, unfortunately many people in 2nd and 3rd world countries don't have the same access to clean water as we do in the first world, so its more likely to be deadly in those places. Several people have already been hit in the US with the flu, but virtually none of them have died, and as far as it looks, to not be in any critical danger of dieing.

Makes me sad that Mexico isn't just a little more privileged in the clean water/sterile environment factor.

[Strike For The South]

Cull the herd! Cull the herd! Cull the herd!

I'm still not giving up pork. In fact I'm going to eat more. I want the swine flu.

[Hooahguy]

glad i tend to stay away from pigs...

[||Lz3||]

You cant get infected by eating pork... or so I heard at the news.