Mexico flu outbreak kills dozens

[phantom power]

Ummm.... WTF?

Fifty-seven people had died in Mexico City from flu-like symptoms, she said, and another three in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. There are around 800 suspected cases, she said.

The Mexican government said swine flu had been confirmed in at least 16 deaths, and there were dozens of other suspected deaths.

(...)

US experts say they were suffering from a new form of swine flu that combined pig, bird and human viruses.

"This is the first time that we've seen an avian strain, two swine strains and a human strain," Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told AFP.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8016909.stm

[Annces]

1. wow - I wonder how they will handle it n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Step 1:

Start a panic.

[Avalux]

2. Influenza A infects birds, pigs, humans - horses and dogs too.

It's certainly possibly a strain with components of human, avian and swine virus can emerge, especially in agricultural areas where humans are in contact with bird and pig feces.

[phantom power]

3. I've heard that birds -> pigs -> humans is a common adaptation trajectory.

[Avalux]

4. Yes. I'll be interested in what they figure out -

officials are trying to differentiate between how many have been infected by this unique strain vs. plain old human influenza, which on it's own can be deadly. Whether or not these cases are related to the swine flu reported in Texas.

[Mojorabbit]

5. I have been following this for the past week

Here is an article from today.
Swine flu kills 60 in Mexico, moves to US: WHO
A rare outbreak of human swine flu has killed at least 60 people in Mexico and spread to the United States where authorities are on alert, the World Health Organisation said Friday. The WHO has identified swine influenza as a potential source of a human flu pandemic. Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the UN health agency, said hundreds of cases of suspected swine flu -- which regularly hits pigs but rarely affects humans -- have been reported in Mexico.

"To date there have been some 800 suspected cases with flu-like illness, with 57 deaths in the Mexico City area," Chaib added.

Twenty four suspected cases and three deaths were also recorded in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico.
Chaib said there are now seven known cases in the southwestern United States in three clusters -- five in California and two in Texas.

"Meanwhile in Mexico unusual end of season influenza activity began to be noticed at the end of March, peaking in April," the spokeswoman told journalists.

"The virus is being described in the United States as a new subtype of A/H1N1. Mexico so far hasn't said anything about the virus, what type of virus it is," said Chaib. Most of the Mexican cases were found in healthy young adults with no known record of prior illness.

The WHO said it was in constant contact with health authorities in the United States and in Mexico.
http://www.physorg.com/news159778101.html

A friend in Texan says the Mexican news is saying this morning it has spread to seven states.

Other articles say that schools have been closed. Canada is warning citizens that have traveled to Mexico to see a doc if anyone develops flu symptoms. An article from yesterday said that doctors and nurses were catching it too.

[Avalux]

7. Here - this may be of interest to you if you haven't read it yet:

Swine flu cases recall 1976 episode

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/apr2209swine.html

[Mojorabbit]

9. update

http://in.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idINTRE53N4RI20090424
WHO calls emergency meeting on swine flu
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Friday it was calling an emergency committee to advise whether outbreaks of swine flu in humans in the United States and Mexico constituted an international public health threat.

A deadly strain of swine flu never seen before has broken out in Mexico, killing as many as 60 people and raising fears of a possible spread across North America.

"WHO will convene, sometime in the very near future, an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations, which will consider whether or not this event constitutes a public health event of international concern," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters in Geneva.

Hartl also said that 12 of 18 samples taken from victims in Mexico showed the virus had a genetic structure identical to that of a swine flu virus found in California.
more at link

[phantom power]

8. Sounds a bit ominous. Guess we'll just have to keep an eye on it.