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Swine flu fears close schools in NY, Texas, Calif
Associated Press ^ | 4/27/09 | KAREN MATTHEWS

Posted on 04/27/2009 9:41:36 AM PDT by Braak

sti Lamonaca's illness started with a high fever, a cough and achy bones, just a couple of days after she returned from a spring break trip on the beach in Cancun with friends. By the weekend, her voice was hoarse and she was wearing a surgical mask.

The 18-year-old senior was one of a dozen students from several New York City high schools who traveled to Mexico earlier this month, and she thinks she has swine flu. Health officials have confirmed that eight students from her school have been infected with the strain, which has caused a deadly outbreak in Mexico. And they predict the number will grow once additional students, including Lamonaca, are tested.

Authorities in the United States have confirmed 20 cases of swine flu.

(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: California; US: New York; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: chimeraflu; flu; influenza; mexicanflu; mexicanswineflu; mexico; mexiflu; newyork; schools; swineflu
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To: DvdMom
I don't disagree with schools who have had more than one sick child closing down for a week. We don't know where this is going and it might short-circuit the infection cycle.

They'll make up the week at the end.

41 posted on 04/27/2009 11:24:40 AM PDT by Dianna (Obama Barbie: Governing is hard.)
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To: Braak
This is a bunch of nonsense. Cases in this country have been very mild from the sounds of it. This is nothing but a sensationalized story by the MSM that our government has decided to use to deflect interest from things that matter.
42 posted on 04/27/2009 11:24:43 AM PDT by whershey
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To: calex59

Yes, I did read that his daughter had good grades. Parents cannot trust public schools (or any schools). Parents need to make sure kids are where they should be academically.

This is from experience and a warning to all parents with kids in school is that you should not trust the school’s assessments. You need to be aware of what your kids are learning not just their grades.

I look at what books my high school son is reading, and then I ask him questions. He has an online math program that his school also uses for Algebra II, and I make sure he is where he should for that. I ask tons of questions about the courses.

This all came about from my 8 year old not be able to read where she was supposed to even though she had high grades. I was told by the school that there was nothing to be worried about. The school was wrong.


43 posted on 04/27/2009 11:25:06 AM PDT by luckystarmom
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To: wiggen

I understand that. That’s why parents cannot just trust grades.

It’s very sad situation, but parents have to really stay on top of kids even when they have good grades.

My high schooler was telling me about how much cheating went on in his public middle school. He said it was rampant. He’s in a private high school, and he said the teachers there are much smarter about cheating. They have an A/B versions of the tests and kids sitting next to each other do not get the same test.


44 posted on 04/27/2009 11:27:35 AM PDT by luckystarmom
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To: CitizenM

Some of the private Christian schools have mission trips to Mexico. I know ours had one during our winter break in February. My son wanted to go, but I didn’t let him. Nothing happened to that group.


45 posted on 04/27/2009 11:32:05 AM PDT by luckystarmom
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To: George from New England
I understand your points fully, George. My daughter had a 3.8 in HS, but it didn't compare to the 3.6 I had in HS. My senior year consisted of classes that included physics and calculus; hers were the standard fare for seniors. Her extracurriculars were much stronger than mine, though: drill team and other activities.

She's in her 4th year in college (on the five year plan), and doing quite well (3.3).

I have a son who is two years younger than she, and he's never been interested in school. We tried everything to keep him up to speed: carrots, sticks, more carrots, Sylvan, you name it. Even letting him have the use of a car for his senior year wasn't enough motivation for him to crack the books. Up until the week of graduation, I wasn't sure he would graduate with his class.

He's now at a local CC, and the importance of an education hasn't sunk in yet. He's paying the freight this semester, as I refused to pour any additional money down the drain. I've seen only minimal effort towards homework, and I highly doubt he'll attain the necessary GPA to get off probation.

He just turned 20, and I'm giving him a choice (should his grades be deficient): vocational school, or the military.

Based on my life experiences, I no longer judge one's parenting skills based upon their child's GPA. Parents are obviously important influences on their child's upbringing, but there's got to be a fire that burns within the child.

Not a day goes by that I don't ask "what could I have done differently?" I doubt that I'll ever come up with the right answer.

Fortunately, we have been blessed with a third child, who is finishing up first grade. He has the same "fire in the belly" that his sister has, and it shows in his schoolwork. He has had the benefit to directly observe how we have interacted with his older siblings, and it's safe to say he likes the carrots more than the sticks.

46 posted on 04/27/2009 11:38:42 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Don't blame me...I voted for Palin!)
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To: luckystarmom

but thats alot more work and we’re talking union labor


47 posted on 04/27/2009 11:41:27 AM PDT by wiggen
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To: Centurion2000

Do masks work because it prevents you from touching your own mouth and nose? That’s what I always thought.


48 posted on 04/27/2009 11:42:00 AM PDT by olivia3boys
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To: Braak
Found this from AP, Early swine flu victim's widow not told of disease This dude was a brick layer and traveling all over before he succombed to the disease. It sounds like Mexico is dropping the ball in doing much investigation and/or stemming the tide by treating family members of the deceased.

"XONACATLAN, Mexico (AP) — The 39-year-old bricklayer fell ill two weeks ago and became one of the first Mexicans to die of swine flu. But no health worker has come to his home outside Mexico City to offer medicine or ask about the neighbors' pigs.

In fact, Gerardo Leyva Lolis' widow says nobody even told her he died of swine flu until The Associated Press informed her the case had been confirmed by the director of the hospital where he was rushed last week.

The family's experience raises troubling questions about Mexico's response to the epidemic and one of its greatest mysteries: why the disease is killing people in Mexico, but so far nowhere else."..............
49 posted on 04/27/2009 11:55:19 AM PDT by Girlene
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To: Braak
Strange thread.

Half the folks are talking about influenza and half about SAT scores.

I'm doubting that this is going to be a pandemic on the scale of 1918 or even the 1968 outbreak. Yes, it's highly contagious but the virulence of this virus appears to be low. That could change in the coming weeks and months but I think the hybrid nature of the virus means that this is not going to be another 1918 or 1968.

I'm waiting to see the fatality rate outside Mexico. I have a bet with myself that it will be fairly low. Folks are becoming alarmed because of the ages of those who've died. I actually think this is reassuring. The absence of a predominantly very young/very old fatality cohort suggests to me that the virus itself is not particularly destructive but rather that in certain individuals with a particular genetic pre-disposition and of a certain age, there may be an overly strong immune reaction which precipitates tissue destruction and severe illness.

I think this outbreak will lead to many infections but that overall fatalities will be modest.

50 posted on 04/27/2009 11:57:02 AM PDT by marshmallow ("A country which kills its own children has no future" -Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
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To: Centurion2000
Damn, they way the CDC ...are acting .. this really is starting to look like a pandemic in it's early stages.

Or they're just happy for something to break the monotony of handing out condoms to 6th graders.

51 posted on 04/27/2009 12:08:46 PM PDT by Thane_Banquo (President George W. Bush, RINO-in-Chief.)
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To: calex59
...or are you just being obtuse for a reason?

Good point. Personally, I try to always stay perpendicular. But some people say that makes me a square.

/rimshot.

52 posted on 04/27/2009 12:10:33 PM PDT by Thane_Banquo (President George W. Bush, RINO-in-Chief.)
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To: marshmallow
The absence of a predominantly very young/very old fatality cohort suggests to me that the virus itself is not particularly destructive but rather that in certain individuals with a particular genetic pre-disposition and of a certain age, there may be an overly strong immune reaction which precipitates tissue destruction and severe illness.

The concern with the victims primarily being young adults is that, like the 1918 virus, this one may kill via cytokine storms. Not pretty.

53 posted on 04/27/2009 12:11:59 PM PDT by Thane_Banquo (President George W. Bush, RINO-in-Chief.)
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To: EGPWS

Don’t insult Pravda like that.


54 posted on 04/27/2009 12:37:58 PM PDT by Munz ("We're all here for you OK? It's a circle of love" Rham Emanuel)
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To: Thane_Banquo

cytokine storms?

explain please


55 posted on 04/27/2009 12:43:32 PM PDT by Munz ("We're all here for you OK? It's a circle of love" Rham Emanuel)
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To: whershey
Cases in this country have been very mild from the sounds of it.

One of the simple reasons may be that those who do travel to Mexico are at least as healthy as the average person because they actually traveled there. However, those residents exposed in Mexico include people from a range from very sick to very healthy. We may begin to see different results when and if the secondary infections occur in a population that includes sick and healthy people.

56 posted on 04/27/2009 12:44:46 PM PDT by Raycpa
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To: Munz
Cytokine Storms. Very severe immune system over-reaction to a pathogen. Can result in death. Allegedly the cause of deaths in the 1918 flu pandemic. This is supposedly why the preponderance of the victims were young adults - healthier immune systems over-react more powerfully.

Please note, that's just my interpretation of what I read. I am not even remotely a physician.

57 posted on 04/27/2009 12:49:43 PM PDT by Thane_Banquo (President George W. Bush, RINO-in-Chief.)
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To: lainie

http://www.wbbm780.com

Suspected Case In Chicago

Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital are waiting for test results to see if a patient in his 30s has swine flu.

Dr. John Flaherty is the associate chief of infectious diseases at Northwestern University-Feinberg School of Medicine.

“This is somebody that returned from Mexico and essentially got sick on the plane coming back from Mexico and then came right to our hospital.”

WBBM: And when was that?

“That was Saturday.”

Dr. Flaherty says the man is apparently doing all right - and is at home - taking the anti-flu medicine, Tamiflu.


58 posted on 04/27/2009 12:51:47 PM PDT by DvdMom
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To: DvdMom

And what of the rest of the passengers, man, if a serious bug ever comes out we’re doomed with all this airplane travel.


59 posted on 04/27/2009 12:53:17 PM PDT by Scythian
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To: Scythian

I Agree & all of the sick people infecting the hospitals workers etc ....


60 posted on 04/27/2009 12:58:14 PM PDT by DvdMom
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