Posted on 04/24/2009 2:42:42 PM PDT by Crazieman
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it was too late to contain the swine flu outbreak in the United States.
CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people.
"There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely," he said.
He said the U.S. cases and Mexican cases are likely the same virus. "So far the genetic elements that we have looked at are the same." But Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
CDC Podcast RE: Swine Flu:
http://www2a.cdc.gov/podcasts/player.asp?f=11226
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu.family/
Texas family quarantined after son contracts swine flu
Health officials arrived at the Henshaws’ house Friday and drew blood from the whole family, then told them to stay inside and away from the public, Henshaw told CNN.
The whole family is quarantined indefinitely, according to CNN-affiliate KABB.
Mexico cancels more events
Scary article.....
“Stunned. My wife was having a panic attack,” Henshaw told the affiliate.
Asian Flu was sent. The samples were lost in Mexico and
another country.
At the time they said anyone born after 1968 had were likely
NOT immune.
Guess we found out who played with this deadly H2N2 virus.
These samples were sent in Sept 2003 and ordered destroyed in April 2004. They were sent by mistake in testing kits.
The White House says President Barack Obama, who traveled to Mexico last week, was not at risk of contracting the swine flu that has killed at least 68 people in the country.
I remember threads on that here.
Since he seems to be out to destroy our country, maybe he would be proud to be named the vector!
Texas Town Closes High School:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Health_officials_close_Cibolos_Steele_High.html
The greater the number of crisis’ the better a Democrat can dictate.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/mexico/090425/flu-has-pandemic-potential-who-official-warns
.....With up to 68 people dead from a new lethal strain of swine flu hitting Mexico, fear, panic and downright paranoia are spreading through the streets of the Mexican capital as fast as the disease itself.
The horror stories only got bigger as the World Health Organization said Saturday that those who perished in Mexico’s hospitals could be the first victims of a global pandemic with the potential to wipe out millions.
“It has pandemic potential because it is infecting people (instead of pigs),” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said at an emergency meeting in Geneva. “We are seriously concerned.”
Notorious pandemics such as the Spanish Flu — which wiped out about 50 million people worldwide between 1918 and 1919 — started when viruses jumped from animals to humans, creating a new mutant strain which no one was resistant to.
Also akin to these pandemics, most of the victims have been men and women in their prime — from 25 to 45 years old — rather than the very old and very young, who tend to be struck by seasonal flu.
The brutal symptoms described by medical workers are also adding to the shockwaves of fear.
While starting like a normal flu, victims soon have temperatures that shoot to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, and muscle aches so painful they are almost paralyzing.
“It’s so intense it can be debilitating. It is also characterized by extremely painful headaches and eventually diarrhea and vomiting,” said Mexico City Health Secretary Armando Ahued. “We are urging everyone with symptoms to go to a hospital. Above all they should not self-medicate.”
Tests have confirmed that the swine flu — known medically as H1N1 influenza — is responsible for at least 20 deaths in such cases in Mexico in recent weeks. Another 48 similar deaths are still being examined.
More than 1,000 people have also been admitted to hospitals across the country suffering from the same symptoms.
Patients confirmed to have the sickness are being kept in isolation and given anti-viral drugs known in Mexico as oseltamivir and zanamivir. These methods have prompted fears that you can be incarcerated for having the plague.
“Have you heard the latest news?” asked Hector Cruz, a 21-year-old shop worker. “They have got them all locked up in the East Prison.....
BUMP
That’s about 100 miles away
Do you think the CDC would have quarantined even if they had time? Not a chance. The CDC’s just a bunch of statisticians who tally up body counts.
When was the last time the CDC did a presser on a Saturday?
That statement applies to ordinary seasonal flu. It most certainly DOES NOT apply to an influenza capable of evoking a cytokine storm such as the 1918 Spanish Flu (zero or minor symptoms to dead in 6 to 8 hours). Your concern about numbers of hospital beds in spot on. Even fewer available ventilators than ICU beds.
P.S. For anyone interested in ways of dealing with the unwanted hyper immune system response which is the cytokine storm, refer to an earlier comment of mine with a link to a good article. The cytokine storm is essentially an auto-immune system disorder compressed into a few hours, instead of a lifetime, in which your body attacks its own tissue in an exaggerated response. This is one case where a strong immune system is detrimental.
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