CNN BREAKING NEWS: 68 dead in Mexico from Swine Flu..

[ddeclue]

They are covering this live now.

6 U.S. cases in California, 2 in Texas. No US deaths yet.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/

Swine Influenza (Flu)
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans, however, human infections with swine flu do occur, and cases of human-to-human spread of swine flu viruses has been documented. See General Information about Swine Flu.

From December 2005 through February 2009, a total of 12 human infections with swine influenza were reported from 10 states in the United States. Since March 2009, a number of confirmed human cases of a new strain of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in California, Texas, and Mexico have been identified. An investigation into these cases is ongoing. For more information see Human Swine Flu Investigation.

General Information about Swine Flu
Questions and answers and guidance for treatment and infection control

Human Swine Flu Investigation
Information about the investigation of human swine flu in California

[aquart]

1. not. good. news.

[madrchsod]

2. with the deteriorating economic conditions in the usa and mexico

it`s no surprise that this has happened. TB has been a on going problem in southern california and now swine flu virus. 40 million and counting with out medical insurance is going to lead to very nasty diseases spreading across the country like a plague.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. This has nothing to do with the economy and all to do with

the pandemics that hit the fat every two generations or so....

The WHO has been warning of this for oh since '96

I just hope the public health measures will add this to the list of duds that people love to cite

[NC_Nurse]

3. Meh. The pandemic thing is overblown. Mexicans do not have as much access

to healthcare, sanitary work conditions, and probably can't afford to stay home from work when they're sick (or go to the doc unless they get
REALLY sick).

I don't think this will be a big deal, sort of like SARS never materialized as the threat they built it up to be.

With any flu, you need to pay close attention if you have a compromised immune system or are elderly or have young children and the illness is in your area or you travel a lot. Otherwise, relax.

[FedUpWithIt All]

4. Except this is not a typical type of flu and seems to be affecting healthy young adults.

It seems that this virus is causing a hyper immune reaction. cytokine storms are prevalent in many pandemic situations and in probably why the CDC and WHO seem so nervous this time.

The evidence is clearly leaning toward this scenario.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm

Swine flu is very rarely contagious without contact with an infected animal. This flu is human to human. There has never been a strain combination of this sort. Different clusters are showing extremely variable rates of severity. There are still a lot of unknowns.

[NC_Nurse]

5. The people in the U.S. aren't dying, at least not yet.

We'll see. I just think the media tends to jump on this shit with both feet and needlessly freak people out.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. They actually haven't this time

it is not leading news stories

You have to work at it.

To me that tells me this is serious.

[FedUpWithIt All]

9. I have kept an eye on H5N1 for years. The CDC and WHO have always held back a little.

They are not doing that this time. They are VERY CLEAR that they are worried.

[Mojorabbit]

14. The CDC said in their conference call today

they expect more cases here and are concerned we may see worse outcomes as the number increases. The also said it is too late to contain it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. You do realize this is affecting the same population that was affected in

1918, don't you?

As to the health plan, I dare say they have more of a plan to deal with this than my city

Oh and as to access to healthcare... I'd not go there, when 50 million americans don't have access either, and for many NOT going to work can result in termination

If you don't believe me, check the WHO statistics on things like outcomes and cost. They even have better stats for stupid shit like oh vaccination and rate off

They have particular problems, such as the belief in a wide swath of the population that a doctor is almost magical and you DO NOT go see him, mostly him, until you are really sick.

[catnhatnh]

10. I'll take a swat at this one...

This bad boy seems to have a mortality rate of about 6-7% (900 case x 68 deaths). For comparison the 1918 flu epidemic had a mortality of around 2.5%. The 1918 run had a population penetration of about 28% in the USA with 500-675K deaths. This was a type H1N1 and affected the young and healthy. Given equal virulence and a population of 300 million, a penetration of 20%, and a mortality rate of 6% you could expect 60 million infections and 3.6 million deaths. This comes damn near a real possible problem...

[FedUpWithIt All]

12. Those numbers would quickly inundate resources. Improved med. technology...

is only as good as it's availability.

Hopefully this bug will not be allowed to get out of hand.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. One cheerful day, in 1996 we got a brief from those

folks who are always getting the bad name for pushing this....

We were told, the WHO calculated that worst case we could see 1B dead world wide

Of course they have pulled back from that number a while ago... and that was kind of... well you know... off the damn record

Of course this youngish guy also made the following gallows humor joke that went well with the medics

On the bright side it will relief some of the pressure on the biosphere.

Outside of the front line medics, ER docs and WHO, I guess that joke would not go off that well

But we are known to be some sick puppies

woof

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. imagine my surprise, Lou Dobbs manning the Headlines News Desk

and doing.... news...

No Nancy Grace tonight