Unusual strain of flu from Mexico

[Yrys]

Queens's cases : How Queens Flu Outbreak Was Quickly Reported, 27 april

The authorities’ quick and determined response to a swine flu outbreak in Queens began with
a diligent school nurse and was amplified by a computerized early warning system made robust
after the 9/11 attacks.

A nurse at St. Francis Preparatory School called the city’s school nurse on Thursday to report that
about 75 students had symptoms including upset stomach, nausea and fever. Because of reports
from other parts of the country, officials immediately thought swine flu could be a culprit. By the
time officials arrived on Friday afternoon, the number of sick students rose to 150. The New York
Post reports that one student started feeling symptoms on Tuesday.

The Daily News reports that a 50-person private cleaning crew was working a 12-hour shift with
sponges and buckets Sunday to sanitize St. Francis, which will be closed Monday and Tuesday.
Among those who attend the school: the daughter of the Senate majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith.

Susan Dominus reassures everyone in her Big City column that while the government may be
spending its last dime on the bailout package, it is apparently filthy rich with stockpiles of Tamiflu.
Also we have the calm, collected city health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, in charge.

See a slide show on the global response to swine flu and an informational graphic on symptoms,
vaccines and confirmed cases.

 

[medicineman]

Guess I'd better get out that  "Pandemic Influenza and Martial Law" pamphlet I tossed into the recycle bin awhile back  .

MM

 

[muskrat89]

I'm responsible for Emergency Planning where I work. We're reviewing our pandemic plans

 

[CBH99]

I was employed as a paramedic with the City of Calgary for 4yrs before being accepted into my current profession - so I don't mean to sound naive when I ask this.  But, isn't this being blown out of proportion & made out to be a bigger deal than it really is?

Sure, it is a new strain of flu.  But the symptoms are rather similar to other strains of flu, its just the source that is different.  Isn't this being blown just a tad bit out of context?

 

[bdave]

I was employed as a paramedic with the City of Calgary for 4yrs before being accepted into my current profession - so I don't mean to sound naive when I ask this.  But, isn't this being blown out of proportion & made out to be a bigger deal than it really is?

Sure, it is a new strain of flu.  But the symptoms are rather similar to other strains of flu, its just the source that is different.  Isn't this being blown just a tad bit out of context?

You are being naive in believing the media wouldn't use this to blow it out of proportion and use that fear factor to get more folks to tune in.
I know the "common" flu kills several hundred people a year.
I agree that this is basically all very ridiculous.

 

[PMedMoe]

Read up on the 1918 Spanish Flu and tell me if you still think being prepared for a possible pandemic is "ridiculous".

This is a flu that people will not have any immunity to.  In the 1918 pandemic, it wasn't so much the flu that killed people, but their own immune system's overreaction to it.

 

[40below]

 

[jmbest]

Only 7 swine flu deaths, not 152, says World Health Organisation
- interesting read

A member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dismissed claims that more than 150 people have died from swine flu, saying it has officially recorded only seven deaths around the world.

Vivienne Allan, from WHO's patient safety program, said the body had confirmed that worldwide there had been just seven deaths - all in Mexico - and 79 confirmed cases of the disease.

"Unfortunately that [150-plus deaths] is incorrect information and it does happen, but that's not information that's come from the World Health Organisation," Ms Allan told ABC Radio today.

"That figure is not a figure that's come from the World Health Organisation and, I repeat, the death toll is seven and they are all from Mexico."

Ms Allan said WHO had confirmed 40 cases of swine flu in the Americas, 26 in Mexico, six in Canada, two in Spain, two in Britain and three in New Zealand.

Ms Allan said it was difficult to measure how fast the virus was spreading.

She said a real concern would be if the flu virus manifested in a country where a person had had no contact with Mexico, and authorities were watching all countries for signs of that.

"There is no pattern that has emerged at this stage to be able to say that it is spreading in a particular way or it is spreading into a particular country ... the situation is continuing to evolve," she said.

She said the WHO was not recommending against overseas travel, but urged those who felt sick to stay home and others to ensure they kept their hands clean.

No decision had yet been made about vaccinations.

"This virus is not airborne, it's caused by droplets ... so it's not a time for worry. It's a time to be prepared," Ms Allan said.

Crude oil price drops

Oil prices dipped in Asia today as concern that a swine flu outbreak could undermine crude demand overrode optimism about an eventual recovery from a global slump.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was down 39 cents to $49.53 a barrel by midday in Singapore, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract Tuesday fell 22 cents to settle at $49.92.

 

[tomahawk6]

The US loses on average 36,000 people during flu season,so this virus needs to pick up alot of steam before I would get concerned.

 

[PMedMoe]

"This virus is not airborne, it's caused by droplets"

Say what?    And droplets can't/won't be airborne when someone sneezes or coughs?

Definition of airborne from Merriam-Webster:

1: done or being in the air : being off the ground: as a: carried through the air (as by an aircraft) b: supported especially by aerodynamic forces or propelled through the air by force

Although, I agree with her statement regarding the amount of deaths.  People seem to like to skim over the word "suspected".

 

[Yrys]

"This virus is not airborne, it's caused by droplets"

Say what?    And droplets can't/won't be airborne when someone sneezes or coughs?

I wonder in what "Vivienne Allan, from WHO's patient safety program" has studied (ies?)...

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Information, about swine flu, from Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care website:

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/updates/archives/hu_09/swine_flu.html

 

[Snakedoc]

Looks like the WHO has just raised the pandemic alert level to 5 now, 6 being the highest level and considered a pandemic.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090429/swine_cases_090429/20090429?hub=TopStories

 

[PMedMoe]

Looks like the WHO has just raised the pandemic alert level to 5 now, 6 being the highest level and considered a pandemic.

I'm actually kind of surprised at that.  I thought the definition of level 5 was when there was a confirmed transmission of a case to someone who hadn't been in the country of origin.

Edit to add:  Here it is, emphasis mine:

Phase 5: The same identified virus has caused sustained community-level outbreaks in two or more countries in one WHO region. A pandemic is officially under way.

 

[CougarKing]

Yikes! Hong Kong has reported its first confirmed case!

Agence France-Presse - 5/1/2009 11:17 PM GMT
Swine flu spreads to Asia as Hong Kong reports case
The first confirmed case of swine flu in Asia was recorded in Hong Kong Friday after a Mexican man who arrived via Shanghai tested positive, Chief Executive Donald Tsang announced.

More than 300 guests and staff at the hotel where the patient had briefly stayed were placed under quarantine for seven days as officials announced "draconian" measures in a bid to contain the A(H1N1) flu virus.

"We have our first confirmed swine flu case in Hong Kong. He is Mexican," Tsang told reporters.

The 25-year-old Mexican arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday from Mexico via Shanghai on China Eastern Airlines flight MU 505, Tsang said.

China on Saturday announced it had suspended flights from Mexico to Shanghai following confirmation of the case and said their resumption would depend "on the situation of the pandemic control," the Xinhua news agency said.

It said China had informed the Mexican government and airlines, and was considering sending a charter plane to Mexico to collect "Chinese passengers who had planned to fly to Shanghai from the city of Mexico on May 3."

The Mexican man was admitted to hospital in Hong Kong on Thursday night suffering from a fever and tested positive on Friday for the flu virus. He was in a stable condition, Tsang said.

The Metropark Hotel in Wanchai district where he had been staying had been isolated, he said.

"I will raise the alert level from serious to emergency," the chief executive said.

Despite putting Hong Kong on its highest level of alert, Tsang said all social activities and exhibitions would go ahead as normal and schools would remain open in the city, which is still scarred by memories of the SARS epidemic in 2003 in which close to 300 died.

"I stress we don't need to panic," he said.

Police wearing face masks cordoned off the Metropark Hotel and a group of blue-gowned and masked health workers was seen entering the hotel in the bustling bar and nightclub district on Hong Kong island.

Health Secretary York Chow said guests and staff at the hotel would be quarantined for seven days.

"We have also exercised the authority... so that we will first isolate the hotel and also... ensure the relevant people are quarantined for seven days," Chow told reporters.

"Since this is the first case in Hong Kong we must be very careful as the chance of controlling and containing this infection is limited, we will try to be more draconian in our policy," he said.

However, he dismissed the idea of an entry bar to Hong Kong for people flying from Mexico.

He said around 200 guests and 100 staff would be affected by the quarantine order at the hotel, issued under the control and prevention of disease ordinance.

"We will also prescribe Tamiflu for them, which is proven to be an effective prophylactic for this disease."

In a statement early Saturday, the government added that 12 guests who refused to remain at the hotel had been moved to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village, a newly "designated isolation camp" in a country park for a seven-day quarantine.

Meanwhile authorities have placed the Mexican man's two travelling companions and his Hong Kong friend in quarantine at Princess Margaret Hospital.

They were also trying to find the two taxi drivers who were in contact with the man and the 142 passengers on the flight from Shanghai.

"We are also tracing the passengers who were on the same flight as this patient, particularly the three rows in front and three rows behind," Chow said.

"We're prepared to have them sent to hospital for inspection and also for quarantine," he said.

He appealed for other passengers and cabin crew to come forward for health checks.

"With this I hope that we can minimise the spread of this possible virus to our community," the health secretary said.

Yuen Kwok-yung, who heads the team of researchers studying the flu at the University of Hong Kong, said there is currently no gold standard for the disease as each country is trying to develop its own tests.

Hong Kong, at the forefront of the SARS epidemic in 2003 and already on alert for bird flu, had previously announced a series of tough measures to combat any threat from swine flu.

The southern Chinese city has stepped up its protection measures, including the use of temperature screening machines at airports and other entry points.

Authorities have said they would detain anyone showing symptoms of the virus after arriving from an infected area.

Health officials have advised against all non-essential travel to worst-hit Mexico.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

8)

 

[mariomike]

I am NOT trying to minimize the threat of influenza but, we know a lot about influenza. We know how people catch it, and we know how to minimize the risks.
SARS was a totally new disease that we knew nothing about and it caught us completely unprepared.
SARS had a fatality rate of 20%.

 

[CougarKing]

Spain leads the number of confirmed cases in Europe with 60. Meanwhile, Mexico announces the swine flu in their country seems to be coming under control, though officals advise caution.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090503/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/med_swine_flu/

Spain leads Europe in swine flu cases with 40
By MARGIE MASON, AP Medical Writer Margie Mason, Ap Medical Writer
2 hrs 12 mins ago

MEXICO CITY – Swine flu extended its reach through Europe and Latin America, with at least five countries reporting new cases on Sunday. Health experts were investigating a case of the virus jumping from a person to pigs, trying to determine if the disease was reaching a new stage.

Hong Kong kept 350 people under quarantine in a hotel as a precaution even though no new swine flu infections appeared in Asia, and Egypt's attempt to kill all pigs as a precaution against the disease prompted pig owners to clash with police who were helping to seize their animals for slaughter.

So far the swine flu epidemic has killed 19 in people in Mexico and one toddler in the U.S. and has spread to 18 countries worldwide — but experts believe the actual spread is much wider.

Mexico's health secretary said 11 people were suspected to have died from the virus in the previous 24 hours. The alarming news came after the epidemic's toll in Mexico appeared to have been leveling off.

The global caseload was nearing 800 and growing — the vast majority in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Colombia on Sunday reported South America's first confirmed case of swine flu a day after Costa Rica reported the first in Central America.

The Spanish Health Ministry said the country now has 40 confirmed cases of swine flu — making it the European nation hardest hit by the virus. It said most of the victims have already recovered. All but two had recently visited Mexico.

Britain, Italy and Germany also reported new cases.

But just over a week into the outbreak, the virus largely remains an unpredictable mystery.

Hong Kong — which was criticized for delaying quarantine measures during the SARS outbreak — sealed the downtown Metropark Hotel, where a sickened Mexican tourist had stayed, trapping 350 guests and employees inside.

About a half dozen police officers wearing masks guarded the hotel Sunday, even though all those at the hotel were reported to be healthy. One guest said he walked on the stairs for exercise and to alleviate boredom.

"It's highly inconvenient. That's what's affecting people, because it took us by surprise," said 45-year-old Kevin Ireland, who was on a business trip from New Delhi, India.

Scientists warn that the virus could mutate into a deadlier form.

"Influenza is unpredictable," said Dr. Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who has worked on SARS and H5N1 bird flu outbreaks. "There are so many unanswered questions. This is a brand new virus. There's so much we don't know about the human infectious with this virus."

Right now, one of the biggest hurdles is a lack of information from Mexico. A team of international and Mexican virus sleuths is trying to piece together an epidemiological picture of who's dying and where transmission began, while also uncovering just how it's attacking people with severe illness. But details are emerging slowly.

Late Saturday, Mexico's confirmed swine flu cases jumped by about 25 to 473, including the 19 deaths. A Mexican toddler also died in Texas days ago, for a worldwide total of 20.

President Barack Obama urged caution.

"This is a new strain of the flu virus, and because we haven't developed an immunity to it, it has more potential to cause us harm," Obama said. Later, he spoke with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to share information.

Pablo Kuri, a Mexican epidemiologist, said three of the dead were children: a 9-year-old girl, a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. Four were older than 60. The other nine were between 21 and 39 — unusual ages for people to die from flu because they tend to have stronger immune systems.

Although most of the dead were from the Mexico City area, they came from different neighborhoods in the metropolis of 20 million, and there were no similarities linking their medical backgrounds.

One theory for the deaths is that perhaps they sought treatment too late — falling sick an average of seven days before seeing a doctor. Many of the sick around the world were people who had visited Mexico, including 13 of Britain's 16 cases.

The World Health Organization earlier announced that a pandemic was imminent, but it has decided against declaring a full pandemic alert. Still, that doesn't mean people can relax, said Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO's global alert and response director.

"These viruses mutate, these viruses change, these viruses can further reassort with other genetic material, with other viruses," he said. "So it would be imprudent at this point to take too much reassurance" from the small number of deaths.

In the Canadian province of Alberta, health and agriculture officials said about 220 pigs on a farm were quarantined after being infected by a worker who had recently returned from Mexico. They stressed that swine viruses are common in pigs, and there was no need for consumers to stop eating pork as long as it's handled properly and cooked thoroughly.

The pigs are all recovering in the first documented case of the H1N1 human flu being passed to another species.

In Egypt, police fired shots in the air and tear gas at pig owners who stoned them in an attempt to prevent government workers from slaughtering their animals as a precaution against swine flu. A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said 12 people were injured in the Manshiyet Nasr slum.

In Baghdad, Iraqi officials killed three wild boars at Baghdad's zoo because of swine flu fears, even though health experts say the virus is not transmitted by pigs. Iraq has no documented cases of swine flu.

___

Associated Press writers Juan Carlos Llorca and David Koop in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Agence France-Presse - 5/3/2009 11:48 AM GMT
Mexico sees swine flu coming under control
Mexico was optimistic Sunday that the swine flu epidemic is coming under control, as diplomats complained over Mexicans being held in isolation in China although they show no signs of infection.

Colombia meanwhile announced its first case of A(H1N1) in a man living near the capital, becoming the 18th country to confirm an infection.

Mexico, at the epicentre of the international flu outbreak, said the national death toll had reached 19, but Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said "each day we're seeing fewer serious cases."

He said "the mortality rate is dropping" and there were "enough elements to say that we are in a stabilisation phase."

Just days earlier, the Mexican government had spoken of 159 "probable" deaths from the new variant of swine flu, which was shown to be spread by human-to-human contact.

But stringent tests by US and Canadian labs on the mountain of "probable" cases excluded most of them.

In China, Mexico's ambassador complained that Mexicans were being treated unfairly after learning that about 50 were being held in isolation in across the country.

Ambassador Jorge Guajardo succeeded in visiting 10 Mexicans being detained in a hotel in Beijing, but only after a brief standoff with a Chinese official who did not want him to enter.

The ambassador said a Mexican diplomat living in the Chinese city of Guangzhou had been subjected to special testing after his return from Cambodia -- which has no confirmed swine flu cases -- just because he was Mexican.

"We of course object every time somebody is singled out for their nationality, and for no other reason, especially when they have no symptoms or when they are coming from a country that has absolutely no cases," Guajardo said.

"No other country in the world is implementing this type of actions, and it is something that concerns the Mexican government a lot. We have stated our objections."

Health officials in Hong Kong -- where tropical temperatures and dense population put it at risk -- said they were testing 10 more suspected cases, as the search for anyone who may have come into contact with the city's only positive case went on.

Thomas Tsang, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said 15 new cases of people with flu-like symptoms who have travelled to countries with confirmed swine flu outbreaks had been tested since Saturday.

Five were negative, while the others were undergoing further tests, Tsang said.

Hong Kong was put on its highest health alert after a 25-year-old Mexican man was found to be carrying the A(H1N1) virus on Friday, in the first confirmed case of swine flu in Asia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday that the virus had not spread in a sustained way outside of the Americas, a condition necessary to declare a full global pandemic.

Clashes erupted in Cairo on Sunday between Egyptian police and pig farmers who were trying to prevent their animals being taken away for slaughter, an AFP correspondent said.

Egypt began killing the nation's 250,000 pigs on Saturday, despite the WHO saying there was no evidence the animals were transmitting swine flu to humans. No cases of swine flu have been reported in Egypt.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 160 confirmed cases across 21 states and said more cases and even deaths could follow.

Authorities in New York said the city may have seen more than 1,000 cases, but carriers were likely recovering or already cured.

In Canada, some 30 new cases were reported on Saturday, bringing the total number of people infected there to more than 85.

Officials also confirmed cases had been detected in a pig herd in Alberta, probably contracted from a man who recently returned from Mexico.

The three North American nations tried to mitigate the economic impact of the crisis, hitting out at countries which had slapped bans on their pork products.

"We strongly urge the international community not to use the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza as a reason to create unnecessary trade restrictions and that decisions be made based on sound scientific evidence," the countries said in a joint statement.

Nearly 20 nations, including China and Russia, have imposed bans on the importation of pigs and pork products from Canada, the United States and Mexico.

In Europe, Ireland recorded its first case of the flu, in a man who had recently returned from Mexico.

And baggage handlers in Paris refused to unload planes arriving from Mexico and Spain over swine flu fears Saturday, causing delays for hundreds of passengers.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Afghanistan's Only Pig Quarantined in Flu Fear
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=7508617

By Golnar Motevalli
May 5, 2009

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's only known pig has been locked in a room, away from visitors to Kabul zoo where it normally grazes beside deer and goats, because people are worried it could infect them with the virus popularly known as swine flu.

The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.

"For now the pig is under quarantine, we built it a room because of swine influenza," Aziz Gul Saqib, director of Kabul Zoo, told Reuters. "We've done this because people are worried about getting the flu."

Worldwide, more than 1,000 people have been infected with the virus, according to the World Health Organization, which also says 26 people have so far died from the strain. All but one of the deaths were in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.

There are no pig farms in Afghanistan and no direct civilian flights between Kabul and Mexico.

More at link.

 

[PMedMoe]

The pig should be glad.  Alberta has shown that transmission went the other way; from human to pig.