Posted on 05/04/2009 9:45:20 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
BROWNSVILLE -- The H1N1 flu knows no boundaries and doesn't recognize borders. It ignores socioeconomic confines and strikes the rich and the poor.
The number of confirmed cases in Texas as of Sunday was 40, with one of those in Cameron County and two in Starr County, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those cases include the first casualty of the new flu strain, toddler Miguel Tejeda Vazquez of Mexico City, who died in Houston Monday.
"He was not like my kid or your kid," said a pensive Gregory Compean of Compean Funeral Home in Houston who handled the funeral arrangements for the toddler, who is nearly two years old.
"This disease has no boundaries," Compean said, noting that the child came from a very powerful and wealthy family in Mexico City.
"It is your atypical family," he said.
It is the type of family of private schools, of private planes; a family whose children live very sheltered lives, protected by security details under the fear of kidnappings.
"This is not a little kid running around or selling chicles on a street corner," said Compean, countering the mindset that such a disease could only strike the middle classes, the old, the vulnerable or underprivileged.
The toddler is the son of Jose Manuel Tejeda Serrato and Miriam Vasquez Ramos.
Compean identified the child's parents in an interview with The Brownsville Herald Friday.
"When these families are here (in the U.S.), their kids can be kids. They are just regular kids. Nobody knows who they are here," Compean said.
"His family is a very high-profile family in Mexico," Compean said, wanting people to realize just how vulnerable everyone is to the virus.
It would seem that the toddler who died from H1N1 would have been the most unlikely victim.
In Mexico City, senators from the Partido de la Revolución Democratica through the Milenio newspaper extended their condolences to the child's grandfather, media mogul Mario Vazquez Raña.
Vazquez Raña, former owner of United Press International, leads the Organización Editorial Mexicana newspaper empire, publishers of El Sol throughout the country of Mexico. Vazquez Raña also is on the executive board of the International Olympic Committee.
The child's mother and father also are named as members of El Sol's administration in Mexico government court records involving labor issues and the El Universal newspaper.
In early April, the child, his mother and several other family members came to Brownsville to spend time with acquaintances. As has been reported, the family flew from Mexico City to Matamoros on April 3 and crossed into Brownsville that day. The boy's aunt, who has not been identified, told Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos that the child had no flu symptoms at that point, but he had a chronic respiratory condition diagnosed at birth.
About three days later, the child developed a high fever. At 1:30 a.m. on April 13, the child was seen at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville and was diagnosed with pneumonia. He was transferred to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston the following day when his condition worsened. He died April 27.
Cascos said that it is not known where the child contracted the virus.
Compean said that the child was cremated two days later.
"Your heart breaks for the family. It is a wonderful family that is going through a great loss," Compean said. "It is so devastating."
The child was one of six children, with the oldest being 18 years old.
"They told me that ‘this was their baby,' " Compean said the parents told him.
"He was not only their baby, but also the ‘baby' of his older siblings."
Sounds like those dying already have previous health issues. Would like to see the stats on that.
[Mexico City]Toddler who died from swine flu came from prestigious family
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That might explain why the family went shopping at the Galleria before moseying on over to the hospital.
So...after we admit millions of illegals, we, too, will become a hyper-stratified, class-based society, right? Like England, but brown and with lots of gunshots?
That’s what is concerning to me. I have daughters who almost died of a respiratory virus (RSV) when they were babies.
I’ve been keeping them home from school since Wednesday and they found a case locally.
I have a call out to our asthma doctor and to my daughter’s cardiologist. Ughhh!!!
I don’t know what to do about school.
That’s what is concerning to me. I have daughters who almost died of a respiratory virus (RSV) when they were babies.
I’ve been keeping them home from school since Wednesday and they found a case locally.
I have a call out to our asthma doctor and to my daughter’s cardiologist. Ughhh!!!
I don’t know what to do about school.
He had no symptoms when they crossed from Matamoros to Brownsville. He had no symptoms while shopping in Houston. When they returned to Brownsville, he fell ill, was hospitalized locally, then transferred to a Houston hospital.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Homeschool?
Really?
I was lead to believe otherwise.
I thought he was sick while in Mexico and ....
Oh well. If I’m wrong (usually the case) then I apologize.
The phrase "tallest midget in the circus" comes to mind.
I believe I was the first on Free Repubublic to state that the family was probably well to do.
Where does "sick" come in?
They are a bit more than “well-to-do” so it seems.
LOL
May have been a somebody in Meh-hico, but not here bro...
This would explain why his parents were at the Galleria with him shortly before his death.
“”His family is a very high-profile family in Mexico,” Compean said, wanting people to realize just how vulnerable everyone is to the virus. “
If I remember correctly -—— the first reported ‘Swine Flu’ death in Mexico was the day after Obama’s trip to Mexico City. The person that died was a ‘high up’ or wealthy person and had met with Obama.
And now this story. And Obama went right on traveling with his cold and cough ..........Something smells
There are lots of mental midgets on this site.
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