Swine Flu: Look Hard Enough, and You’ll See Strange Things -- WSJ blog

[nashville_brook]

Swine Flu: Look Hard Enough, and You’ll See Strange Things


http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/04/23/swine-flu-look-hard-enough-and-youll-see-strange-things/

By Jacob Goldstein

(snip)

People do occasionally get infected with strains of flu that mainly infect pigs. But the strain in these cases appears to be spreading from person to person, which is the kind of thing that catches the attention of public-health officials.

None of the people who were infected had contact with pigs, as far as officials know. And there are two pairs of cases where the human-to-human transmission seems clear: a father-daughter pair and two boys in Texas who attended the same school.

(snip)

The fact that five more cases have now been confirmed isn’t an indication of the rate at which the flu is spreading; rather, it’s the result of intensive surveillance by the CDC and state health officials to try to figure out exactly what’s going on. And that surveillance is likely to lead to more confirmed cases in the coming days, Anne Schuchat, a CDC respiratory diseases expert, said on a press call this afternoon.

Indeed, the very fact that this strain was identified in the first place is likely the result of the way flu surveillance has increased in the past few years. The first two cases were both detected by special programs — one at a Navy facility that was studying a new kind of flu testing, and another at a project set up to do intensive surveillance around the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We haven’t seen this strain before, but we haven’t been looking as intensively as we are these days,” Schuchat said.

[DJ13]

1. One of the comments posted seems on point

* 11:07 am April 24, 2009
* watchdogonscience wrote:

You need to title your articles better. I almost skipped this one over. Perhaps…new emerging swine-human flu disease discovered in children

The findings of these new emerging illnesses and reporting to the public are important. Why are new diseases emerging at a higher rate than usual?

Recombinant DNA laboratories all over the country which are especially concentrated in CA are developing genetically engineered viruses and synthetic genetic technologies without regulations or reporting requirements. Release of these agents no doubt could cause new emerging disease. Maybe the CDC should do an epidemiology study and see where all these new emerging diseases are clustering around. They might be surprised to find them popping up around biotechnology centers.

It is time to convince the public of the dire need for health and safety protections for the public. We need regulations on these BL2 labs that are performing dangerous technologies. This is too dangerous to ignore.

[nashville_brook]

2. i saw that too -- have you seen the Toronto article about live bird flu contamination?

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html

[sam sarrha]

7. i like this part.. "

People familiar with biosecurity rules are dismayed by evidence that human H3N2 and avian H5N1 viruses somehow co-mingled in the Orth-Donau facility. That is a dangerous practice that should not be allowed to happen, a number of experts insist.. "

not to worry.. its only "Dismay".. not... :wtf:

[DJ13]

10. Sounds suspiciously like a similar strain to the one in Mexico

yikes!

[Avalux]

3. Odd this 'swine' flu has components of avian influenza A and human influenza A.

A unique combination not seen before. Seems a whole lot of mixing is going on....

[sam sarrha]

5. poverty like Mexico's with chicken shit/pig shit/human shit everywhere cooks it up..

[Warpy]

11. Flu bugs don't live in shit

but they do live in all 3 animals and those animals live in close proximity in rural areas all over the third world, swapping bugs back and forth all the time.

The good news is that this one isn't any nastier than the rest of them, it's just unusual in its basic components. Since flu is a fast mutator, this isn't unheard of.

[FedUpWithIt All]

19. I think in some cases it can be transmitted by feces.

WHO reports that avian flu can survive in bird excrement for up to 35 days and the CDC says...

>>>Birds that are infected with avian influenza viruses can shed virus in saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Contact with feces or respiratory secretions is important in the transmission of infection among poultry. <<<

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/professional/protect-guid.htm

[sam sarrha]

22. i used to be a biologist.. did taxonomy on bacteria

[MercutioATC]

8. This combination is probably natural, but mistakes do happen:

"Baxter Pharma, of heparin fame, screws up again; this time mixing H5N1 bird flu virus with a human-to-human transmissible but less lethal flu variant and then cheerfully shipping it out to labs across Europe for experimentation. They had to have their error pointed out by the recipients. If this had gotten out into the public, there would have been a distinct chance of spawning the doomsday virus outbreak prematurely. What they shipped out was a monstrous bioweapon. That the ‘milder’ virus allegedly could not replicate is a poor excuse.

H9N2 is circulating in the same Asian population as the very deadly H5N1. A mix of the two would likely result in an easily transmissible flu. H5N1 alone so far has shown poor human-to-human transmission. If the two viruses mix it up in a single organism, the probability of a highly transmissible, highly fatal flu is increased significantly."

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/03/monstrous-bioweapon-inadvertently-shipped-could-have-triggered-a-human-pandemic.html

[Avalux]

9. I read that last night. How the hell does something like that get screwed up?

I try to stay clear-headed about this stuff and think like a scientist but I wonder how an outbreak of such a unique virus could happen in Mexico, with no exposure to pigs when it isn't even human flu season anymore.

[MercutioATC]

14. Pigs and humans harbor many of the same viruses.

Pigs are potential mixing pots for human superbugs. That's why avian-only viruses don't worry me nearly as much as swine viruses.

No real pandemic threat exists until transmission is human-human and avian viruses have more steps (mutations) to go through before they go H/H. Swine viruses transmit H/H very easily.

[Avalux]

16. Yeah, I know all that.

Usually there's a patient zero; transmission from animal to human is identified. So far there isn't one here.

[MercutioATC]

18. Too soon to have identified one.

Really, ANY poor rural area makes it problematic.

Sounds like they have the cluster(s) pretty well identified, though, and they caught it early. It also sounds like its lethality is pretty tame with adequate medical care, which is both a good and bad thing.

[Avalux]

20. Mortality from reports is around 7% so far.

And even though they caught it early, containment won't be possible. We'll wait to see if suspected cases in NY and Canada test positive and so on.

The fact that healthy young adults are becoming infected is bothering me - you?

[MercutioATC]

21. As a relatively young, healthy adult...yes!

:)

7% is pretty tame, but it also means the virus will spread more easily...so total fatalities could be significant.

We'll have to see if the Canada and NY strains are identical to the Mexican strain before I get too worked up.

[sam sarrha]

23. the pigs in the ReThuglican party should be forced to be vacinated,,

if it's an "Air Borne" disease ..vacinate everybody on Faux..!!:rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

25. "Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans."

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

[FedUpWithIt All]

26. Swine flu usually requires contact with pigs. Exposure is limited as a result.

The human to human quality of this virus is rare.

[sam sarrha]

4. Swine flu kills 60 in Mexico; 6 cases in state>> links>>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8018356.stm
"The WHO's new emergency committee is now meeting - though health officials say it may be premature to advise against travel to Mexico.
The committee will be discussing whether to declare a public health emergency, and whether to raise the global pandemic alert level."

.....hell no.! lets not stop the tourists from bring'n up their money..!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090424/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mexico+flu&btnG=Search

[Avalux]

6. BULLETIN: NY City Health Department Calls Unscheduled News Conference

All there is, reported 8 minutes ago:

http://twitter.com/BreakingNews/statuses/1613765978

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. Link to NYC unscheduled news conference story

http://adjix.com/45vu

[Avalux]

17. Thanks. n/t

[roamer65]

13. Sounds a lot like the 1918 flu virus.

I remember reading or seeing a program where it was traced back as early as 1916 to swine kept near soldiers fighting in Europe. When the war ended and they started returning home...whammo.

[roamer65]

15. I would also avoid airports right now in addition to the Mexican recommendations.

Prime area for spreading of the virus, including the closed air systems of the planes.

[sam sarrha]

24. this will make it hard on illegals, and amnisty

[Hannah Bell]

27. The title of that article is strangely unrelated to its content.