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

Mass. school closes after rash of illnesses
Associated Press - May 19, 2009 11:14 AM ET

A private girls school in Massachusetts has closed for a week after nearly 100 students and employees called in sick with flu-like symptoms.

www.wten.com...

WHO: No swine flu vaccine available for months

GENEVA - Drug manufacturers won't be able to start making a swine flu vaccine until mid-July at the earliest, weeks later than previous predictions, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. It will then take months to produce a new vaccine.

www.cumberlink.com...


[edit on 19-5-2009 by burntheships]

Has anyone heard anything new on the death of the offshore oil worker? I know they suspected that it might have been H1N1 related, but all I can find is the original article.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Pulaski County's coroner says investigators are probing whether a 28-year-old offshore oil worker's death may have been caused by the swine flu.

WXVT.com

Also, new numbers from CDC, although they don't have the new state counts yet:

As of 11 AM, May 19, CDC has 5,469 confirmed and probable cases in 48 states

reply to post by Cameoii


I searched just now and only found the one article...but look at the second paragraph! This man had several types of flu virus!


I have heard of this happening, but it is usually rare, such as we usually do not get a "common cold" on top of the flu!

Coroner Garland Camper tells The Associated Press that the man died Saturday morning at a Little Rock hospital after suffering from flulike symptoms for six weeks. Camper says samples taken from the man tested positive for several strains of flu, requiring his office to explore the possibility swine flu played a part in the death.

www.wxvt.com...

reply to post by burntheships


That's what makes me think they would be in a bit of a hurry to confirm or deny that this case is H1N1 related. This man would be very rare from what I have read. Some questions raised should be: How did he catch severl types of flu? Was he immuno-compromised? Does his case make H1N1 hybridization more likely? But for whatever reason, the story just dropped!

reply to post by Cameoii


Hummm....very good catch! Star! We should keep an eye on this story, as still in the back of my mind I believe there is a difference between the illness's in Mexico, and the ones in the U.S.

Alabama 61 cases 0 deaths
Arkansas 3 cases 0 deaths
Arizona 488 cases 2 deaths
California 553 cases 0 deaths
Colorado 56 cases 0 deaths
Connecticut 56 cases 0 deaths
Delaware 69 cases 0 deaths
Florida 103 cases 0 deaths
Georgia 25 cases 0 deaths
Hawaii 21 cases 0 deaths
Idaho 8 cases 0 deaths
Illinois 707 cases 0 deaths
Indiana 96 cases 0 deaths
Iowa 71 cases 0 deaths
Kansas 34 cases 0 deaths
Kentucky** 16 cases 0 deaths
Louisiana 65 cases 0 deaths
Maine 10 cases 0 deaths
Maryland 39 cases 0 deaths
Massachusetts 156 cases 0 deaths
Michigan 165 cases 0 deaths
Minnesota 38 cases 0 deaths
Mississippi 4 cases 0 deaths
Missouri 20 cases 0 deaths
Montana 9 cases 0 deaths
Nebraska 28 cases 0 deaths
Nevada 31 cases 0 deaths
New Hampshire 20 cases 0 deaths
New Jersey 18 cases 0 deaths
New Mexico 68 cases 0 deaths
New York 267 cases 0 deaths
North Carolina 12 cases 0 deaths
North Dakota 3 cases 0 deaths
Ohio 13 cases 0 deaths
Oklahoma 42 cases 0 deaths
Oregon 94 cases 0 deaths
Pennsylvania 55 cases 0 deaths
Rhode Island 8 cases 0 deaths
South Carolina 36 cases 0 deaths
South Dakota 4 cases 0 deaths
Tennessee 85 cases 0 deaths
Texas 556 cases 3 deaths
Utah 91 cases 0 deaths
Vermont 1 cases 0 deaths
Virginia 23 cases 0 deaths
Washington 362 cases 1 death
Washington, D.C. 13 cases 0 deaths
Wisconsin 766 cases 0 deaths
TOTAL*(48) 5,469 cases 6 deaths

Updated state counts by CDC

I don't know if the above has typos or if they just can't keep their stories strait!!! 2 AR deaths and 0 NY deaths?!?

[edit on 19-5-2009 by Cameoii]

reply to post by Cameoii

Also, we are told how hard this is hitting children, and that many of the hospitilized are children, but only 1 of 6 deaths has been under age 30?? What do we make of that? I guess this flu hits kids the most and really hard but they are still better able to fight it off than adults....I'm so confused!

I think this is the "Spanish Flu" from the 1918 pandemic, maybe genetically altered to include other strains. The "Spanish Flu' did the same thing it killed the young healthy adults with strong immune systems as opposed to the very young and elderly with weak immune systems as normal flus do.

Maybe those that have very mild cases are decendants of people that were exposed to the 1918 flu and survived passing their immunities or antibodies to their decendants.

Today's flu;

Nearly all those who died in Mexico were between 20 and 40 years old, and they died of severe pneumonia from a flu-like illness believed caused by a unique swine flu virus.

Health experts worry about a flu that kills healthy young adults

Deaths from most ordinary flu outbreaks occur among the very young and very old

dsc.discovery.com...



1918 Flu;

The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was an influenza pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1.

[1] Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients.[2]

Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims. The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths.

en.wikipedia.org...


We all know that they are trying very hard to keep certain things from us, such as the underlying health conditions of those that died, the real numbers of infected people. etc, maybe another thing they are trying to keep from us is the true identity of this flu.

Maybe there is no flu with 5-6 different strains, maybe this is just the "Spanish flu" from 1918 and they don't want people to know the truth because it would indeed create a widespread panic.

Several theories have been offered as to why the Spanish flu may have been "forgotten" by historians and the public over so many years. These include the rapid pace of the pandemic (it killed most of its victims in the United States, for example, within a period of less than nine months),

Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research

An effort to recreate the 1918 flu strain (a subtype of avian strain H1N1) was a collaboration among the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York; the effort resulted in the announcement (on October 5, 2005) that the group had successfully determined the virus's genetic sequence, using historic tissue samples recovered by pathologist Johan Hultin from a female flu victim buried in the Alaskan permafrost and samples preserved from American soldiers.[59]

On September 16, 2008, the body of Yorkshireman Sir Mark Sykes was exhumed to study the RNA of the Spanish flu virus in efforts to understand the genetic structure of modern H5N1 bird flu. Sykes had been buried in 1919 in a lead coffin which scientists hope will have helped preserve the virus.[62]

en.wikipedia.org...


They have been messin with the "Spanish Flu" for quite some time now mad: It is extremely possible that whatever is going on now has something to do with that.

reply to post by chise61


You might have something there about decendant immunity. If there is anything about this flu that screams weaponization, it is the targeting of the most able bodied for fatality.

reply to post by chise61


You may be onto another really interesting twist there, with the concept that those who recover from this flu have some reisitance from ancestry.
I wonder how that would play into the large amount of fatalities in Mexico?

There have been six confirmed deaths in the U.S., with three in Texas, two in Arizona and one in Washington. The possible death of a 16-month old child in New York has not been confirmed yet.

bizjournals.com

OK...did I fall asleep and wake up in some alternate timeline? If so I apologize for ever doubting those types of threads on ATS.

This is the info I have gathered on all reported deaths. If you count the infant in NY, that makes 7.

NAME: Miguel Tejada Vazquez
AGE: 22 months
SEX: male
LOCATION: Houston, TX (Mexico City)
ONSET: 4/8/09
DEATH:4/27/09
UNDERLYING CONDITIONS: Myasthenia gravis (autoimmune disease), heart defect, chronic hypoxia
SYMPTOMS: flu-like
COMMENTS:

NAME: Judy Trunnell
AGE: 33
SEX: female
LOCATION: Cameron county, TX
ONSET: 4/19/09 (hospitalized)
DEATH: 5/5/09
UNDERLYING CONDITIONS: asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, pregnancy
SYMPTOMS:
COMMENTS: family disputes underlying illnesses contributed to death

NAME: unidentified
AGE: 30's
SEX: male
LOCATION: Snohomish county, WA
ONSET: 4/30/09
DEATH: 5/6/09
UNDERLYING CONDITIONS: heart condition
SYMPTOMS:
COMMENTS: viral pneumonia at the time of death

NAME: unidentified
AGE: late 40's
SEX: female
LOCATION: Maricopa county, AZ
ONSET:
DEATH: 5/15/09
UNDERLYING CONDITIONS: lung condition
SYMPTOMS:
COMMENTS:

NAME: Carlos Garnica
AGE: 33
SEX: male
LOCATION: Nueces county, TX
ONSET:
DEATH: 5/6/09
UNDERLYING CONDITIONS: enlarged heart, underactive thyroid gland, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, obesity
SYMPTOMS:
COMMENTS: Garnica saw a physician at a Calallen clinic earlier in the day on May 6 and was treated with
Tamiflu. He was taken to the hospital later that evening. At the hospital emergency room on May 6, medical
staff performed a rapid flu test on Garnica and it came back negative. Findings of viral pheumonia due
to swine flu

NAME: Adam Wiener
AGE: 55
SEX: male
LOCATION: New York City, NY
ONSET:
DEATH: 5/17/09
UNDERLYING CONDITIONS: gout (reported by son)
SYMPTOMS:
COMMENTS: Doctor would not discuss nature of underlying conditions. Family contests underlying
conditions had anything to do with the death.

NAME:
AGE: 16 months
SEX: male
LOCATION: New York City, NY
ONSET:
DEATH: 5/18/09
UNDERLYING CONDITIONS:
SYMPTOMS:
COMMENTS: child died about an hour after being admitted to the hospital with fever.



[edit on 19-5-2009 by Cameoii]

The German tourist died of pneumonia and had common influenza, not Influenza A(H1N1) which hit many countries in the world, said Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nop-amornbodi.
...
Mrs Barbel Wilhelmine, 65, died on May 18 after developing high fever. The tourist who died of flu-like symptoms on Monday was initially tested positive for H1N1 at a lab in Bangkok, but authorities are awaiting further tests before confirming whether she had Influenza A(H1N1).

nationmultimedia.com

Now, we are getting false positives to go along with our false negatives in testing for H1N1. Maybe we should ask the magic eightball to start confirming cases [/sarcasm]

reply to post by burntheships


I'm not sure, but it could have something to do with demographics. I don't know how hard mexico was hit by the 1918 pandemic, but i'm sure that there were many that lived in rural areas that never even came into contact with that flu and therefore gained no immunity, or antibodies to it. The United states has pretty much always had big cities like chicago, New York, etc where a large number of the population was exposed to the flu and the survivors developed immunities.

It could also have something to do with certain races being more susceptable to this flu, or more able to fight it off. Maybe those that have mild cases are also decendants of the European Black Plague survivours. Didn't you post a link about Asians being more susceptable to the flu awhile back ?

reply to post by chise61


Not that I can remember off hand, but will search on this. I am of the opinion that the ancestry angle is more than likely the culprit. So, that could affect many different races...

reply to post by Cameoii


Aren't there two deaths in NY, wasn't the asst principal from NY

How do they expect us to take them seriously when they can't even keep their own numbers straight

reply to post by chise61


My point exactly. This is from the transcript of yesterday's press confrence with CDC:

Rob Waters: Thanks very much. Most of my questions have been answered, actually, but I did want to make sure about one fact. The six cases, the six deaths, are those all confirmed, and can you tell me where they are? What states they're from?
...
Anne Schuchat: Yes, what I do is refer you to our website. I believe our website just has five of the deaths listed. It does include their geographic area. This is WWW.CDC.GOV, and you can hit the spotlight for H1N1. The sixth death that isn't yet on our website was announced by New York City. So New York state is the sixth state. This wouldn't be on our table.

transcript

Now if they add a case to NY, which they should because it has been confirmed, that makes 7 cases on their website. And we still haven't heard of a second death in Arizona, although I'm starting to think it may be the offshore worker that the media has downplayed as much as possible.

reply to post by Cameoii


If they wouldn't put forth so much effort trying to downplay and keep things from us they may be able to keep their stories, and numbers straight

Ok i have some things to take care of, have a good day all and be careful

Originally posted by burntheships
reply to post by chise61

 

You may be onto another really interesting twist there, with the concept that those who recover from this flu have some reisitance from ancestry.
I wonder how that would play into the large amount of fatalities in Mexico?

Native. While Mexicans like to think that they are mostly spanish, they have a large amount of Native in them.

reply to post by Cameoii


And now the man in St. Louis, MS.

www.kansascity.com...

Originally posted by Cloudsinthesky
I just found a gov contract posting for the CDC....

Study of Pandemic Influenza: Critical and Commodity Vulnerabilities

www.fbo.gov...

C.1 Background and Need – During an influenza pandemic, not only will human health be adversely affected around the globe; the worldwide economy will be adversely impacted as well. With just-in-time supply chains the norm, any disruption of that chain will affect the supply of important critical products and commodities (including but not limited to energy products, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, food and food products, drinking water and waste water treatment systems). Disruption in the production of critical products and commodities will have devastating impacts on the functioning of communities and critical infrastructure and key resources during a pandemic. It is imperative that national and state level planners know which of these commodities is at greatest risk of disruption and how best to plan for, and mitigate, the consequences of those disruptions

C.2 Project Objective – To provide an objective assessment of the most vulnerable critical products/commodities during an Influenza Pandemic and to develop strategies and plans for mitigating these identified vulnerabilities in order to strengthen and make more resilient, their supply chain

I just find it odd (timing) that our gov/cdc is bidding out a contract to study the vulnerability of products and commodities and how the supply could be affected...........Not sure if this is an anual study or not......but the timing of this caught my eye.....This bid was posted on May 12/09

[edit on 19-5-2009 by Cloudsinthesky]

[edit on 19-5-2009 by Cloudsinthesky]

Well here is another Federal contract for pandemic preparedness simulations

Pandemic Preparedness Inititive

www.fbo.gov...
ac64b2de8f118f6b3b8ea407273290c&tab=core&_cview=1

I am so glad they were prepared