US has first death from swine flu [according to] govt official

rooooters ^ | 04/29/09 | Rooters

[TornadoAlley3]

WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - A government official confirmed the first U.S. death from the new H1N1 swine flu on Wednesday, a 23-month-old child who died in Texas.

[Republic of Texas]

I’d like to know more about the circumstances of the “visit”.

[beaversmom]

I read the article after I posted—says she was up here for freebie treatment for the flu.

[Republic of Texas]

I only asked because if the family were here illegally, you would never find out from the media. It is a tragedy, but every US headline is wrong. The death should be attributed to Mexico.

[beaversmom]

The death should be attributed to Mexico.

Exactly. I read the headline as posted and thought American child.

[beaversmom]

This is the headline at the link:

Mexican child is first swine flu death in U.S

[Republic of Texas]

That would be the first headline I’ve seen with the words, “Mexican Child”. The media seems to be correcting this now, but the vast majority of headlines, including the one on this thread, make no mention of the fact the child is a Mexican National.

[2harddrive]

I heard he was an illegal alien, just brought over from Mexico, though. So does that really count as a US death???

[floralamiss]

If by “overreaction” you mean an overbearing immune response in those age 25-45, you might be right.

If I’ve understood correctly, during the 1918 pandemic, younger adults, with more robust immune systems, were actually more likely to die than the very young and very old because their powerful immune responses so overwhelmed and devastated their respiratory systems.

Too soon to know about the H1N1.

[CottonBall]

Don’t you just love the apologists who claim to be fiscal conservatives but don’t mind spending your money for illegals to invade our country?

I have a brother-in-law like that. He hires illegals around his ranch, paying them a pittance and forcing taxpayers to foot their medical bills, education for children, and probably even welfare and foodstamps. The word for this is 'hypocrit'. I'd also add 'traitor' as well.

[RJS1950]

You are sure good at making statements that have no bearing on what was said. I simply stated that this is not the first american death, but the death of a mexican citizen on U.S. soil. That has nothing to do with the tragedy for the family, here legally or otherwise. It was a comment on whether it is a valid statistic or not. Kindly keep your baseless conclusions to yourself.

[CottonBall]

No less a tragedy, but it’s a Mexican’s death on USA soil - it’s more accurately part of the Mexican death toll.

I don't know how they tally these stats, but to be relevant, I'd say it should only count as a US death if the person got the disease here. Getting it elsewhere and coming here and dying shouldn't add to our number - although it will certain increase the number of case we have. OR an American getting the disease in another country and dying there should be added to that country's number. We need to see what numbers are relevant to how fast the disease is spreading locally.

[Netizen]

So what does that bring the death rate to? Compared with other flus?

Considering that flu season is generally 8 months long, i'd say a week into this one is a bit early to make comparisons. jmo

[Ted Grant]

I agree 100%.

[codercpc]

The child is Mexican and came here for treatment of the flu

Wrong. The child (who had underlying health problems, which could include any number of different chronic conditions that are NOT contagious) came here from Mexico to visit relatives. After he was here several days he got sick. He was then admitted to a hospital, and subsequently died.

THE PARENTS DID NOT BRING A CHILD THAT THEY KNEW HAD THE FLU INTO THE US TO BE TREATED!!!!! Big difference. If you travel from your house, to New York on vacation, and get sick while you are there, did you go to New York to get medical treatment, or did you get sick and happen to get medical treatment while on vacation?

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Around me I have folks who hire "American" companies to do their yard work, but they know good and well the guys doing it are illegals - they don't speak a word of English - yet they justify it by saying "how was I supposed to know?"

My brother in law has a great job, but he and a friend decided to do some lawns in the evenings for the exercise and to earn a little extra money - they are barely charging enough and I wish they lived near me because I'd pass of that horrible job to them in an instant - but my family and I will continue to do our own yard work for as long as we can, then we'll hopefully find an American who wants the job.

[dougherty]

We visited near Natchez, MS a few weeks ago and of course I had to stop and see the old cemetery. There were lots of children buried there, five children from one family died of the flu epidemic in 1918. It was very depressing and sad.

[CottonBall]

but my family and I will continue to do our own yard work for as long as we can, then we'll hopefully find an American who wants the job.

We're doing our own as well, since we can't find Americans that can afford to work for so little. We did have one guy last summer, but he ended up quitting.

First, they came for the gardening jobs, then construction, then......kinda like Pastor Martin's poem.

[Smokin' Joe]

ping

[Netizen]

We are sick of being taxed to death to pay for ILLEGALS!

BINGO!

[stevem]

By the time a potential problem is detected in the age of international travel it would already have spread.

That's pretty lame. Any government that employs the best and the brigtest certainly had to see this coming.

And we can’t shut down international commerce completely.

I don't know about that. When we are talking about saving humanity, measures need to be taken.