The Discovery of the 2009 A/H1N1 Pandemic - Mexico: April 17 New Respiratory Illnesses - Including Mexico City & Oaxaca

[Science Teacher]

Those are my thoughts, too. A first wave of a pandemic can be mild in comparison to other waves. People relax and can let their guards down.
I hope the government launches an excellent program in helping people prepare.

[LSL]

If this swine flu follows a mild first wave then a more virulent second wave, hopefully that will buy time for the development and production of an efficacious vaccine! Not to mention production of antivirals. Just hope it doesn;t mix with this years human H1 strain and acquire oseltamivir resistance....

The question of how much of the reports out of Mexico are due to swine flu, and howmany may be something else, or whether there are other factors at play to account for the reported differences between the swine flu in Mexico and the states still remains to be answered.

Be nice to know how much above the expected flu morbidity and mortality the number we are hearing out of Mexico fall.

[ironorehopper]

Reuters AlertNet - Most suspected flu patients in Mexico now healthy

Most suspected flu patients in Mexico now healthy

26 Apr 2009 18:42:33 GMT
Source: Reuters

(Adds quote, detail)

MEXICO CITY, April 26 (Reuters) -

Two-thirds of the roughly 1,300 people in Mexico suspected of being infected with a fatal new strain of swine flu have been given a clean bill of health and sent home from the hospital, President Felipe Calderon said on Sunday.


Calderon said more than 900 people had been declared healthy and nearly 400 others with flu-like symptoms were in hospitals being checked.

Fears of a global swine flu pandemic are growing with new infections cropping up in the United States and Canada.

Millions of Mexicans hid indoors to avoid a virus that has killed up to 81 people across the country.

Calderon reassured Mexicans that the flu is curable with drugs and said Mexico has ample stocks of antiviral medicine.

"It's very important to act fast and take this seriously, but it's also very important to stay calm, cooperate with authorities and inform them of any cases that arise," he said during a meeting of health officials.

(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg and Catherine Bremer)
-

Reuters AlertNet - Most suspected flu patients in Mexico now healthy

[HenryN]

http://translate.google.com/translat...history_state0=
Federal Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova explained that analyzed a larger number of samples, 452 about three thousand, three thousand 59 are useful, which resulted in 42 cases fully confirmed deaths from influenza A-H1N1 of 112 thousand cases. With the new evidence, were discarded and 94 cases in total, was dismissed yesterday 17. The official noted that the highest peaks (for deaths) of the days of the epidemic were 25 and April 26. C rdova reiterated that the age at which most deaths were recorded between 20 and 29 years. Also, in a press conference the head of Health, insisted that most of those infected who died lived in the DF (68%), followed by the state of Mexico (7%), San Luis Potosi (7%), Tlaxcala, Oaxaca and Chiapas (3% each)

[gsgs]

Besser doesn't seem to believe it


http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=103156

So far we are not seeing any signs of this petering out," said Dr Richard Besser, acting director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. "We are on the upswing."
Though Mexican officials said they were over the worst, Besser said the country still had significant transmission.

[HenryN]

Commentary

[ironorehopper]

Despite the continuing spread of the novel H1N1 influenza virus among young people and the temptation to renew the spectre of the 1918 great pandemic of ''spanish flu'', I continue to think that this parallel is not possible at this stage of knowledge.

The claim of several individuals that the novel H1N1 virus will actually cause a pandemic mimicking the 1918 ''spanish flu'' remains cause of great concern if the aim of media sources (even the ''new media'') is to gain trust among general population.

[AlaskaDenise]

Originally Posted by niman

Commentary

Commentary

Swine H1N1 Fatalities in Mexico

Recombinomics Commentary 16:27
May 8, 2009

The official noted that the highest peaks (for deaths) of the days of the epidemic were 25 and April 26. Cordova reiterated that the age at which most deaths were recorded between 20 and 29 years.

The above comments are from an update on cases in Mexico. The samples are being retested for swine H1N1 and the testing is reconfirming earlier reports. In addition, sequences are being generated from outbreaks worldwide (see updated map), and these sequences match those from Mexico (well over 99% identical).

These data suggest that the number of cases is much higher than reported in official numbers and raise concerns that similar fatality levels will be recorded as the swine H1N1 spreads worldwide. The country reporting the most cases in the United States, but new cases are appearing in the southern hemisphere, raising concerns that the virus will expand and evolve.

The targeting of previously healthy young adults repeats data from 1918, as does the movement of swine H1N1 into a human population (as seen in the list below).

Concerns that the virus will recombine with seasonal flu and acquire key changes such as oseltamivir resistance (H274Y), as well as PB2 E627K highlight the importance of sequence surveillance.

The continuing spread of H1N1 remains a cause for concern.

A/Arizona/01/2009
A/Arizona/02/2009
A/Auckland/1/2009
A/Auckland/2/2009
A/Auckland/3/2009
A/Auckland/4/2009
A/California/04/2009
A/California/05/2009
A/California/06/2009
A/California/07/2009
A/California/08/2009
A/California/09/2009
A/California/10/2009
A/California/14/2009
A/Canada-NS/RV1535/2009
A/Canada-ON/RV1527/2009
A/Castilla-La Mancha/GP13/2009
A/Castilla-La Mancha/GP9/2009
A/Catalonia/P148/2009
A/Catalonia/P154/2009
A/Christchurch/2/2009
A/Colorado/03/2009
A/Denmark/513/2009
A/England/195/2009
A/Hamburg/4/2009
A/Indiana/09/2009
A/Israel/644/2009
A/Israel/G-640/2009
A/Israel/G-645/2009
A/Israel/MF-119/2009
A/Israel/MF-70/2009
A/Italy/01/2009
A/Italy/02/2009
A/Italy/03/2009
A/Italy/04/2009
A/Kansas/02/2009
A/Kansas/03/2009
A/Lisboa/26/2009
A/Massachusetts/06/2009
A/Massachusetts/07/2009
A/Michigan/02/2009
A/Minnesota/02/2009
A/Mexico/4108/2009
A/Mexico/4115/2009
A/Mexico/4482/2009
A/Mexico/4186/2009
A/Mexico/4516/2009
A/Mexico/4603/2009
A/Mexico/4604/2009
A/Mexico/InDRE4487/2009
A/Michigan/02/2009
A/Nebraska/02/2009
A/Netherlands/602/2009
A/New York/06/2009
A/New York/09/2009
A/New York/10/2009
A/New York/11/2009
A/New York/12/2009
A/New York/13/2009
A/New York/15/2009
A/New York/18/2009
A/New York/20/2009
A/New York/22/2009
A/New York/23/2009
A/New York/31/2009
A/Ohio/07/2009
A/Pais Vasco/GP20/2009
A/Regensburg/Germany/01/2009
A/Regensburg/Germany/02/2009
A/South Carolina/09/2009
A/Stockholm/28/2009
A/Switzerland/01/2009
A/Texas/04/2009
A/Texas/05/2009
A/Texas/06/2009
A/Texas/07/2009
A/Texas/08/2009
A/Texas/09/2009
A/Texas/15/2009
A/Toronto/3141/2009
A/Toronto/3145/2009
A/Toronto/3146/2009
A/Toronto/3170/2009
A/Toronto/3178/2009
A/Toronto/3181/2009
A/Toronto/3184/2009
A/Valencia/GP4/2009

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[Shiloh]

Source: http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/3959

JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS
A News Blog
Crusading Mexican Newspaper Discovered Swine Flu Crisis Before Emergency Was Declared

Queries from a newspaper in Oaxaca state founded only a year ago, Diario Despertar (“To wake up”), forced state health officials to publicize a fatal “atypical pneumonia” an entire week before officials declared a national swine flu emergency, The Los Angeles Times reports.

The paper’s police reporter got a tip from a source about strange happenings at the state-run hospital, where the woman who became the first person to die from the outbreak had sought medical care, Tracy Wilkinson reports for The Times.

“Not above dressing its journalists up as paramedics, the paper sent two people to investigate,” Wilkinson says. “They quickly realized that the hospital was seized by alarm.”

Despertar’s publisher, Alfredo Martinez de Aguilar, prides himself on his “intelligence unit” of reporters who are willing to go undercover if needed. He wonders whether local health officials would have told the public of the emergency if his reporters hadn’t dug up the truth, Wilkinson writes. “We made them come to us,” the publisher says.

[Laidback Al]

Originally Posted by Shiloh

Source: http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/3959

JOURNALISM IN THE AMERICAS
A News Blog
Crusading Mexican Newspaper Discovered Swine Flu Crisis Before Emergency Was Declared

Queries from a newspaper in Oaxaca state founded only a year ago, Diario Despertar (“To wake up”), forced state health officials to publicize a fatal “atypical pneumonia” an entire week before officials declared a national swine flu emergency, The Los Angeles Times reports.

The paper’s police reporter got a tip from a source about strange happenings at the state-run hospital, where the woman who became the first person to die from the outbreak had sought medical care, Tracy Wilkinson reports for The Times.

“Not above dressing its journalists up as paramedics, the paper sent two people to investigate,” Wilkinson says. “They quickly realized that the hospital was seized by alarm.”

Despertar’s publisher, Alfredo Martinez de Aguilar, prides himself on his “intelligence unit” of reporters who are willing to go undercover if needed. He wonders whether local health officials would have told the public of the emergency if his reporters hadn’t dug up the truth, Wilkinson writes. “We made them come to us,” the publisher says.

See post #6 from April 20th in this thread for first notice of the Diario Despertar stories.

[sharon sanders]

Thank you to everyone around the world who helped us publicly disseminate this information more than a year ago.




Also please see:

April 24, 2009

Mexico Confirms 16 Deaths Due to Swine Flu - 60 Others Being Investigated

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=100069