Mysterious U.S. Swine Flu Probe Widens as Mexico Finds Swine Flu *updated*

Swine Flu Outbreak May Spark UN Agency Review of Pandemic Alert
Last Updated: April 25, 2009 04:51 EDT
www.bloomberg.com...
WHO’s alert level is at level 3, meaning there is no, or very limited, human-to-human transmission of a potential pandemic virus.

April 25 (Bloomberg) -- The deadly swine flu outbreak that’s spread across Mexico and infected people in California and Texas may be declared an international health emergency.

The World Health Organization will hold a teleconference with flu experts at 4 p.m. Geneva time to decide whether the situation is “a public health event of international concern,” said Gregory Hartl, a WHO spokesman.

At least 68 have died and more than 1,000 have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms in the Mexico City region in the past month, Jose Cordova, Mexico’s Health Minister, told reporters yesterday. The country’s government has shut schools and distributed face masks.

More at Link...

[edit on 4/25/2009 by Hx3_1963]

hm, my first reaction on this topic was not to freak out, I'm on the other side of the world from where this is happening...

Then I saw our local news an hour ago, the flu outbreak was head news. They let a few local virus experts speak, one of them said "I won't hide my concern on this: it's already worse then SARS, because of the speed with wich it's spreading and the numbers of infected in such a short period...

ok, so now I'm concerned

does anyone know the incubation time of this virus?

reply to post by GypsK


im not too sure but someone said
Incubation period can be 5 to 7 days hope this helps.

it's the last post on this page www.abovetopsecret.com...
by Memysabu

reply to post by GypsK
From what I'm gathering, views differ on initial emergence...

From a month to a week?

Most have a 3-7 day? incubation period...before major symptoms appear...

It's still real sketchy now...hopefully we'll get a good update soon...

My post above has the time frame for the new meeting today...

[edit on 4/25/2009 by Hx3_1963]

Originally posted by haika
I'm guessing that it would be your basic flu vaccine.

Impossible.
There is no 'basic flu vaccine'.

Each and every flu season the vaccine is different. And it needs to be produced months and months ahead of time.

Mexico just isolated what stain it is. Therefore, calling people in to get flu shots immediately makes no sense. There hasn't been time to create the vaccinations to this strain.

This is highly suspicious.

Key Facts about Swine Influenza (Swine Flu)
www.cdc.gov...

Swine Flu

What is Swine Influenza?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.

How many swine flu viruses are there?
Like all influenza viruses, swine flu viruses change constantly. Pigs can be infected by avian influenza and human influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. When influenza viruses from different species infect pigs, the viruses can reassort (i.e. swap genes) and new viruses that are a mix of swine, human and/or avian influenza viruses can emerge. Over the years, different variations of swine flu viruses have emerged. At this time, there are four main influenza type A virus subtypes that have been isolated in pigs: H1N1, H1N2, H3N2, and H3N1. However, most of the recently isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.

More at Link...

Swine Flu - Outbreak in Mexico, U.S. Tied To New Unique Strain
www.nationalterroralert.com...

Asia takes precautions after swine flu outbreak
timesofindia.indiatimes.com...

Visualizing Swine Flu in Mexico
paul.kedrosky.com...

[edit on 4/25/2009 by Hx3_1963]

CAN ANYONE CONFIRMED WHAT'S THE OFFICIAL DEATH TOLL FROM THIS SWINE FLU?

Currently,
My mainstream media in Asia reported 6 deaths
Dallas News reported 20 deaths
The Philadelphia inquirer reported 62 deaths

WHICH IS TRUE ????????

reply to post by wisdomnotemotion
Last I've heard is 68...in the central Mexico area

Infected estimates range from 1k to 1.2k as of last updates

CDC meeting at 4pm Geneva (Europe) time...

www.bloomberg.com...
Last Updated: April 25, 2009 04:51 EDT



[edit on 4/25/2009 by Hx3_1963]

Mexican officials cancelled vaccination campaign

Officials announced and then quickly abandoned a vaccination campaign, saying the medicine is likely not effective against the current strain. Instead, they were stocking up on the flu medicine Oseltamivir, which they say has shown positive results.

www.thenews.com.mx...

reply to post by GypsK


hi GypsK
regarding incubation periods, from what i have researched in the past, it could be anytime up to 23 days (depending how aggressive the strain is) i would like everyone to err on the side of caution especially as this seems not to have been mapped yet. further complications could arise through myosis with other bugs and critters. i feel that anyone with current diseases or medical conditions not related to this should isolate themselves from the general populus within the hot zone(s) (assuming CDC have not implemented this into their procedures) this critter could possibly latch and piggyback, mutating along the way.
i do not want to cause any fearmongering amongst the readers but one has to consider the worst case scenario and this one has my attention as much as the ebola and marbug (haem fever outbreaks of the past).
regarding myosis, i put this to CDC several years ago to which they would not comment although they kindly replied.
keep safe and hygenic
i am no expert but know that if this is managed professionally and speedily, it could be contained. furthermore if this bug has gained a foothold, expect to see quarantine locations, near shutdown of borders, flight restrictions et al.

Curious story about troops below - absolutely no mention of the flu outbreak but the dateline is yesterday. Funny how the Mexican drug-crime meme flared up and faded out, only to be replaced by the flu meme. I'd say border and immigration strategies are definitely percolating behind the scenes.
"Never let a good crisis go to waste"...

www.cbsnews.com...

WASHINGTON, Apr. 24, 2009

(AP) The Obama administration is considering sending more National Guard troops to keep order along the U.S.-Mexican border as drug-fueled violence increases in northern Mexico, defense officials said Friday.

Governors of Arizona and Texas have asked for more than 250 additional Guard troops this year, but no decision has been made. The administration has asked Congress for $350 million that could fund emergency military operations along the border but the money has not been approved, and no final choices have been made about how to spend it if it comes through, defense officials said.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the White house policy has not been set.

The $350 million request does not signal any imminent deployment of National Guard troops to the border, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
Curious story about troops below - absolutely no mention of the flu outbreak but the dateline is yesterday. Funny how the Mexican drug-crime meme flared up and faded out, only to be replaced by the flu meme. I'd say border and immigration strategies are definitely percolating behind the scenes.
"Never let a good crisis go to waste"...

Yes is that not true! That story does seem out of place.

I even started a thread about the dynamic duo
Rahm and Clinton. Management by Crisis!



Another scary headline: WHO: Mexico swine flu has 'pandemic potential'
21 minutes ago

The head of the World Health Organization says the swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States could develop into a pandemic.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan says the outbreak involves "an animal strain of the H1N1 virus, and it has pandemic potential."

Chan says it is too early to say whether a pandemic will actually occur.

The global health body has advised countries around the world to look out for similar outbreaks following the discovery of related strains on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border.

www.google.com...

Detailed Swine Flu Timeline

Epicenter?

Residents [of La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico] believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to ‘flu.’ However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms. It was unclear whether health officials had identified a suspected pathogen responsible for this outbreak.

Too Late To Caintain It

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it was too late to contain the swine flu outbreak in the United States.

CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people.

"There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely," he said.

I'm sorry, but why in the world would anyone say that at this stage? 99.99% of the population in the U.S. does not show any symptoms. What would it hurt to exercise an abundance of caution and restrict flights and border activity? What would it hurt to ask people to curb their movement and activities for a week just to limit any further spread? I mean really, if they are so concerned...unless it's just a done deal or no big deal at all.



[edit on 25/4/2009 by kosmicjack]

this headline was just shown on cnn as a developing story. getting more frightening!

World Health Organization's director-general calls cases of swine flu "a serious situation" that "must be watched very closely."

Yesterday they were reporting a mild problem, nothing to be overly concerned about. The WHO were reported to be "observing" but not really worried about it.

Today the WHO are worried. It seems they are about to begin travel restrictions in affected areas.

I saw on the BBC an hour ago that a group of scientists are holding an emergency meeting with the WHO to assess the likelihood of a global pandemic.

This does worry me to a point, simply because we've been told repeatedly over the last decade how likely it is that we will see a global outbreak of a deadly virus and how lucky we are that we haven't seen one already.

People look at historic outbreaks and say that we couldn't experience something like that again because cleanliness has improved and food standards are better. But these are both down to evolution, and viruses evolve too.
The threat never goes away, and is not diminished. In fact I'd say it's increased because of global travel.

The fact that this virus seems to be developing faster than anyone expected is a worry and I think that's why the WHO are now more interested. It seems like it's evolving faster than H5N1 was seen to do, and that was fast.

I don't think we should be playing games with these things, there should already be travel restrictions in place.

It's certainly something to keep an eye on.

Here comes the depopulation...

Here comes another crash in the real estate market this fall...

The NWO is on the way.

I glad that the supermarkets are offering disinfecting wipes at the door and in the meat section. Too bad they don't have machines that sanitize paper currency like they do in Japan. Money is filthy! Please wash your hands, everyone and if you're are sick wear a mask. I need to stock up on surgical masks and hand sanitizer. If I think I've been expose or someone sneezes on me I use *Purell on my hands then breathe in the vapors before it dries. I wouldn't advise this to anyone....but it's what I do. That and emergen-C every morning.

reply to post by cdi


Interestingly, while I know little of the classification methods (for example, what makes H1N1 specifically different from any others) I have found thison Wiki...

The "Spanish flu", 1918–1919. First identified early in March 1918 in US troops training at Camp Funston, Kansas. By October 1918, it had spread to become a world-wide pandemic on all continents, and eventually infected 2.5 to 5% of the human population, with 20% or more of the world population suffering from the disease to some extent. Unusually deadly and virulent, it ended nearly as quickly as it began, vanishing completely within 18 months. In six months, some 50 million were dead; some estimates put the total of those killed worldwide at over twice that number.[20] An estimated 17 million died in India, 675,000 in the United States[21] and 200,000 in the UK. The virus was recently reconstructed by scientists at the CDC studying remains preserved by the Alaskan permafrost. They identified it as a type of H1N1 virus.[citation needed]

I know Wiki is not entirely reliable, but the chances of this being incorrect are minimal (this isn't pop-culture subject matter after all).

I haven't quoted this to scare people, I just though it was interesting to show how dangerous this situation could be, and to justify why I think the WHO should already be blocking travel to and from Mexico.

No doubt, if this is a similar risk, there should already be limits on travel. The WHO has already asked all other nations to be on alert for signs of this virus, so surely if it's a concern that it'll travel, they should halt all travel before it reaches that stage.

They're giving a warning to other nations, and still no travel limits? Isn't that closing the barn door after the Horse has bolted?

I wonder how much money these people are being paid to make these decisions? I'll do it for half, and I'll make the decisions in the right order too!

- One picture...



- One story...

Mexican Swine Flu - An Advanced Biowar Event That Will Be Bigger Than 9/11
www.rense.com...

- How can it happen?

New flu strain is a genetic mix
uk.reuters.com...

Problem - Reaction - Solution

Originally posted by ChrisCrikey
I glad that the supermarkets are offering disinfecting wipes at the door and in the meat section. Too bad they don't have machines that sanitize paper currency like they do in Japan. Money is filthy! Please wash your hands, everyone and if you're are sick wear a mask. I need to stock up on surgical masks and hand sanitizer. If I think I've been expose or someone sneezes on me I use *Purell on my hands then breathe in the vapors before it dries. I wouldn't advise this to anyone....but it's what I do. That and emergen-C every morning.

I used to get colds and flu all the time. I used to come down with all sorts of little viruses at work, because we have a communal kitchen area, and that's rarely spotlessly clean.

But, after a virus went through the company and caught almost everyone, I started washing my hands several times a day. Just as a routine now I wash my hands twice as often as I used to. And I haven't been ill with a cold or anything else for about two years now.

When you see other people who rarely wash their hands, it's clear to me that this simple process is enough to double your chances of preventing illness. And yet most people only seem to wash their hands after using the bathroom or before cooking. People should be doing this routinely throughout the day, just as they should be doing in every medical environment too.
It just makes sense, and especially when you know so many others who just don't bother washing their hands at all. I'm sure many men here can testify that it's rare to see another man wash his hands in a public bathroom.