U.S. declares swine flu emergency

[Amelia]

U.S. declares swine flu emergency

Sun., April 26, 2009

msnbc.com

CDC confirms cases at New York City school; fears grow of pandemic.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30398682/

What you need to know about swine flu

A new strain of swine flu that has killed as many as 81 and sickened more than 1,324 in Mexico has spread to the United States and Canada is raising fears of a possible pandemic. Learn more about the disease and why it is causing concern among health officials.

What is it?

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs first isolated in swine in 1930, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The illness is caused by four different type A influenza strains that can cause outbreaks in pigs, though subtypes H1N1 and H3N2 seem to be more common. The death rate among pigs is low, with most infections occurring in the late fall and winter.

Symptoms of infected pigs include fever, depression, coughing (barking), sneezing, difficulty breathing, red or inflamed eyes, lack of appetite and discharge from the nose or eyes.

How do people get infected?

Human infection happens intermittently, with most cases occurring when patients have direct contact with pigs. But cases of an infected person transmitting the swine flu to others have also been documented, says the CDC. (A 1988 outbreak in pigs in Wisconsin led to multiple human infections, and there was evidence that a patient transmitted the virus to health care workers.)

About one case of swine flu in humans is reported to the CDC every one to two years, but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases were reported to the agency. According to WebMD.com, 11 of those people had direct or indirect contact with infected pigs.

Human-to-human infections do occur similar to the way the human seasonal flu virus is transmitted — through coughing, sneezing and coming in contact with a person or object with the virus.

People cannot become infected by eating pork or pork products. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit kills the virus as well as other bacteria, notes the CDC.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms are similar to those of the regular human influenza virus: fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some who have been infected with the swine flu also reported having a runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

How is it diagnosed?

A respiratory specimen must be collected within the first four to five days of illness, when the infected person is most likely to be shedding the virus. However, some patients (such as children), may shed the virus for 10 days or longer, according to the CDC. Specimens must be sent to the CDC for laboratory testing in order to identify swine flu.

How is it treated?

Four antiviral drugs are licensed to treat the disease in the U.S.: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. Most of the viruses are susceptible to all four, but the CDC currently recommends oseltamivir or zanamivir to treat and prevent swine flu infections. The antivirals should be taken as soon as possible symptoms appear.

Tamiflu, the generic name for oseltamivir, appears to be effective against the new strain when taken early, says the CDC.

There is currently no human vaccine for swine flu, but the flu vaccine may provide some protection against the H3N2 strain, though not the H1N1 strain.

[Gail]

Yes, just heard about this...

[Woody]

None of it in the US has been directly connected to pigs though.

[Daryl]

We have four cases in Nova Scotia, Canada and also a few cases in British Columbia, Canada.

[Bravus]

Yes, the scary part of this current outbreak is that it is a mutated form of the virus that spreads human-to-human.

[BobRyan]

I talked to one of the guys from the CDC yesterday and he said that this thing could be big and could take 3 to 4 months for a solution specific to this previously unknown strain to be created and then made available -- if we can do it that fast.

Tomorrow's news

Quote:

By David Brown

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, April 27, 2009

The United States declared a "public health emergency" yesterday as countries from New Zealand to Scotland investigated suspected cases of illness that they feared might be a strain of swine flu that has been identified in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

...

The A/H1N1 swine flu confirmed in the Mexican, U.S. and Canadian cases is a previously unknown combination of pig, human and avian flu viruses. Pigs, which are easily infected with all three types of flu, can function as "mixing vessels" in which flu viruses exchange genetic material and emerge in new forms.

in Christ,

Bob

[Dr. Shane]

I commented on this in World Affairs. Right now they don't know enough about it so they are taking precautions in case it becomes something major.

I'll let you guys know if I get sick. May be I should stock up on Tamiflu.

[BobRyan]

Shane - are you in Mexico?

[Dr. Shane]

I live 12 miles from the Mexico-Texas boarder. We were just in Mexico today.

[Joe_in_RP]

Just remember, Satan's tools are FUD. Fear, Uncertainty and Deception.

There is no need to be fearful.

God did not send us the spirit of fear.

[BobRyan]

I talked to one of the guys from the CDC yesterday and he said that this thing could be big and could take 3 to 4 months for a solution specific to this previously unknown strain to be created and then made available -- if we can do it that fast.

Tomorrow's news

Quote:

By David Brown

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, April 27, 2009

The United States declared a "public health emergency" yesterday as countries from New Zealand to Scotland investigated suspected cases of illness that they feared might be a strain of swine flu that has been identified in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

...

The A/H1N1 swine flu confirmed in the Mexican, U.S. and Canadian cases is a previously unknown combination of pig, human and avian flu viruses. Pigs, which are easily infected with all three types of flu, can function as "mixing vessels" in which flu viruses exchange genetic material and emerge in new forms.

[Robert]

God did not send us the spirit of fear.

I believe you, but:

Deut 28:1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you....

15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God [you fail to keep His covenant] and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. 17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. 25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. 28 The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you. 30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. 33 A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. 34 The sights you see will drive you mad. 35 The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 36 The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. 37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the Lord will drive you. 38 You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. 41 You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. 42 Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land. 43 The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.

45 All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.

Anyway, back to the subject....

[GreatLakesGramma]

I wonder if the reason the people in Mexico City are dying from it, while in the US it's mild, is because Mexico City is such an unhealthy place to live. Maybe their immune systems are so overwhelmed by the poisons in their air and water that they're too weak to fight the flu.

[Bravus]

Not sure. It is worrying that apparently it's people in their 20s and 30s who are dying from it, whereas often things like this kill sick old people and small children.

People are still saying 'it's only a few deaths in a large country, what's all the panic about?' but the numbers I've heard have gone from 20 to 80 to 100 to 150 in just a couple of days, so it's a bit early for calculations...

[Amelia]

My post was intended to be informative not fear inducing. I don't believe we need to be afraid as long as we take the same precautions as we would for any kind of virus or bacterial infection. But knowing what to look for if one does get sick is good information.

[Dr. Shane]

Well, now the US has officially advised people not to travel to Mexico unless they have business there.

Does building a church count as business?

[Amelia]

Texas raises confirmed swine flu cases to six

Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:39pm EDT

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Texas state health authorities on Monday confirmed four more cases of swine flu that is threatening to become a pandemic, bringing the state's total to six.

To contain the outbreak, Texas officials closed 14 schools near San Antonio and one in Dallas.

In North Texas, Dallas health officials are tracking three more "probable" swine flu infections that could be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in coming days.

In Guadalupe County near San Antonio, all three confirmed cases involve students at Byron Steele High School, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.

The cases in Dallas affect a wider age group -- a 24-year-old, a 7-year-old and a 3-month-old, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services officials.

The new virus has killed up to 149 people in Mexico and there were 40 confirmed U.S. cases, though there are no confirmed U.S. deaths from the virus that spreads quickly between humans.

The World Health Organization on Monday raised its pandemic alert level to phase 4, indicating a significant increased risk of a pandemic, a global outbreak of a serious disease. It would be the world's first flu pandemic since 1968.

Elsewhere in Texas, local officials said they were tracking four possible cases in Nueces County near Corpus Christi.

In Schertz, Texas, two high school students have recovered and the third is recovering under voluntary isolation at his home, officials said.

In the middle class suburb outside San Antonio where the three confirmed swine flu cases live, residents did not show any alarm.

"It doesn't make me nervous, it's only three cases so far," said Yvette Sosa, whose daughter attends Byron Steele, one of 14 area schools that authorities closed indefinitely as a precaution. "I'm not scared yet."

[Stan]

Air Canada is offering trips to Cuba to those who booked trips to Mexico..

Sweet..

[Joe_in_RP]

Its more dangerous in the hot climate. Dehydration is a problem. If you are dehydrated in a hot climate you cannot sweat and develop heat stroke. Often people wait a while before seeking treatment and are already dehydrated.

Its hard to get heat stroke in Alberta.

[Woody]

I think the frenzy over the swine flu will die and turn into a dud like many in the past.

[Robert]

HEY ROBERT

I am not sure how we got from swine flu

to GOD IS going to punish people

Someone replied: "God did not send us the spirit of fear."

Then I quoted God....Just making a point that it sure looks like we need to fear God....(Of course I don't buy this) But, it was off subject and so I decided to behave myself.

[Woody]

Quote:

I decided to behave myself

Rob ... that would be a terrible loss. Please don't do that.

[GreatLakesGramma]

The article I read this morning described the symptoms people have been having in the U.S. It sounds exactly like the nasty flu that has been going around among my local and internet family and friends: fever, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea. My friends have said that the headache was terrible, and they've had pain in their necks, shoulders, and I don't remember where else.

[Jeannieb43]

And you're in Michigan -- in the cold country. Oh dear. I'm leaving for Michigan in two days.

Maybe your family members should go to the emergency room and get tested. Maybe this is really part of the swine flu.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Everyone I know who's had it is over it.