Tag: Mexico

Swine Flu Thousand Cases

A pandemic second quarter of 2009 outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) virus is a new strain of influenza virus identified commonly referred to as Swine Flu confirmed cases topped almost 6,000 individuals, as Belgium became the latest European nation to be hit by the influenza A(H1N1) virus. World Health Organization (WHO) officials said the number of cases of influenza A(H1N1) stood at around 6,000 and nearly 7,000 in more than 30 countries, with more than 60 people having died from the disease.

Cases were first discovered in the U.S. and officials soon suspected a link between those incidents and an earlier outbreak of late-season flu cases in Mexico. In less than a week hundreds of suspected cases, some of them serious, were discovered in Mexico. Soon thereafter, the WHO along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressed concern that the A(H1N1) could become a worldwide flu pandemic, and WHO then raised its pandemic disease alert level to “Phase 5” out of the six maximum, as a “signal that a pandemic is at about to happen level”.

More than three thousand cases of infections including three deaths was the recorded highest number of A(H1N1) by the United States compared to Mexico where only more than two thousand reported cases of infection including 60 deaths were confirmed. The WHO said 389 people were also confirmed with the virus and one person had died in Canada who happens to be with the 19-year-old Chinese career that brings in to China a spread out. Two other cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong. Authorities there said they had quarantined six people who traveled with the second case, a 24-year-old man, by plane from San Francisco. A further 45 people who sat near him on his journey had already left Hong Kong, they said.

China, in the meantime, stepped up the search for people who came into contact with the mainland’s two confirmed Swine Flu patients. A 30-year-old man was confirmed to have the virus in the southwestern city of Chengdu. He had been in the United States before his homecoming to China. Plane (Air Canada flight to Beijing) and train (for Shandong Province with 20 people on board) travelers with a 5 meter contact with a 19-year-old student (his surname is Lu: second confirmed victim) are being haunted by Chinese Authorities in Beijing and Eastern Shandong province.

Hes not feeling well, a couple of days after his arrival in Beijing but still continue to travel by train with a fever, sore throat and a headache. They believed that virus highlighted in China and Hong Kong could be a mix of bird and human flu which came together in pigs.

Belgium confirmed its first case of Swine Flu in a 28-year-old man who also had been in the United States. Jose Angel Cordova (Health Minister of Mexico) moved to reassure tourists, saying that the country’s beaches and resorts an important source of foreign income — were safe for visitors. “There’s no risk to tourists,” he said, noting that most of the flu cases detected in holiday hotspots like Cancun and Acapulco dated back nearly two weeks.

The Swine Flu outbreak was expected to cost Mexico’s economy of more than 2 billion dollars or about 0.3 percent of gross domestic product.

Swine Flu Phase 5

Of this Swine Flus 5th phase spread out, if there are at least two countries in one region and spread the virus by any means of human-to-human transmission. The signal of the pandemic is strong. The infected countries are required to advise people with respiratory illnesses to stay at home. There should be an advisory of suspension of classes. Some key states in the United States already announced suspension of classes. An example of this is when a man-infected virus either a family member or any of his friends travel to another neighboring country.

If an infected man goes out from his community booked a flight to another country such as China, that country will get infected too. People whom he talked while in plane even if hes experiencing a fever, sore throat and headaches can be possible Swine Flu career after few more days before he/she can discover the virus. Similar case from a 19-year old Chinese student from Canada (he closely contact with dying man by Swine Flu virus and later traveled home to Beijing and boarded the train.)

In the Philippines, no outbreak of swine flu yet but the government is now planning and preparing for the possible spread out. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo instructed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to closely monitor the possible spread out to the Filipino. Some Filipinos are aware of the pandemic but they still go to the countries with flu spread out cases believing themselves that they have strong immune system.
In Mexico, some of the schools are already closed to protect their children from bigger numbers of flu cases.

This massive spread out was all started from scratchthe phase one. This article will try to reenact the source of Swine Flu with a short fiction story. In the first phase, there is an animal-flu governed the hog farm in a poor community. Suddenly by the next phase, this cute little pig started delivering sneezed out from the slimy and shiny nose to his owner. The owner suffers with a sneeze, cough, sore throat, fever and headaches by the next few hours.

Unintentionally, as a Swine Flu carrier, will be sharing his cough to his child on the next phase. And on the fourth phase the child greets her friend who is now leaving for another country for a vacation. And that friend while in the plane experiencing a fever and sore throat with headache until her father discovered in that country that she had a Swine Flu virus.

Some countries are also doing their planning and preparation for the prevention of the Swine Flu virus spread out. Advance preventive measures will lessen the spread out. Check your health officers about the information available against Swine Flu.

Recalling the 1976 Swine Flu Debacle

In the history of the United States, this is not the first time that the country is experiencing a swine flu outbreak. The first recorded incident of H1N1 infection in the US was recorded on January 27, 1976, when there was a small outbreak of mild respiratory illnesses took place at Fort Dix Army Base in New Jersey.

According to throat cultures obtained from sick soldiers, each of the patients were infected by “swine-like flu virus” which have been unknown to humans since 1930. It was believed that the same virus was also responsible for the worst flu pandemic in the United States in 1918-1919 which led to the death of half a million Americans.

To many people, the discovery of the 1976 was more of a debacle than a victory because after only 10 weeks of implementation, vaccination efforts came to a premature close as the program led to complications which were associated to the shots.

After the death of Private David Lewis after participating in a forced five-mile march the night before his demise, Dr. David Sencer and his colleagues attributed the death to strains of swine-like flu virus. Upon the advice of specialists across the United States, Dr. Sencer called on then President Gerald Ford to launch a nationwide mass inoculation.

President Ford and the US Congress heeded the call and in October implemented the $137-million National Inoculation Program. However, after only several days of implementation, there were reports that the vaccine being used for the program made the patients prone to Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder which results to temporary paralysis but could be risky.

Prior to its premature end in December 1976, the vaccine was administered to over 40 million Americans comprising almost 25% of the population. From the over 500 people who experienced Guillain-Barre Syndrome after vaccine administration, 25 people died. As a result, the Federal Government paid millions worth of damages to the families of the victims.

Meanwhile, the epidemic which some experts predicted would affect 50 to 60 million Americans during that time never happened. According to the Center for Disease Control, there were only 200 confirmed cases and one death.

It is understandable why the current H1N1 outbreak has been a source of anxiety for the public who recalls the 1976 event. It serves as a lesson for the government and health officials who needs to make a decision on the current swine flu in the days and weeks to come.

Dr. David Sencer, who is now retired and resides in Atlanta, believes that the 1976 debacle brought good things as well as bad. The belief that the 1918-19 flu epidemic resulted from swine-like virus partly contributed to the 1976 setback.

Although current studies have shown that the cause of the epidemic was bird flu, it did not ease the current anxiety prevailing in the public. The 1918-19 epidemic led to the death of 500,000 people in the United States and more than 50 million worldwide.

In Mexico, where the 2009 swine flu outbreak, originated, 22 people have died from the most recent outbreak. Government officials have been under fire for the way they have handled the situation. However, with such a mystery surrounding the threat, Dr. Peter Katona, who is an authority on infectious disease from UCLA, believes that people have failed to understand the challenges posed by such problem.

Pregnant Women Are More Risky In Swine Flu

Some complications among pregnant women as the Swine Flu continue to spread across the country, and soon to the world, and that this high-risk group needs to take antivirals as soon as infection is suspected. Just like what happen to a pregnant woman in Texas who suffers and died of Swine Flu infection. Medical officials believe that pregnant women are at higher risk of complications of influenza, whether it’s the seasonal influenza or pandemics of the past.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigates twenty cases of pregnant women with the swine flu, most of them experienced complications. Complications can include pneumonia, dehydration and premature birth. It is very important that doctors who are caring for pregnant women they suspect may have influenza, that they issue prompt treatment with antiviral medicines the Tamiflu and the Relenza. Doctors can be hesitant to take care of pregnant women with antiviral drugs and pregnant women may be disinclined to take them out of fear that they may pose a risk during pregnancy.

The benefits of using the antiviral drugs to treat influenza in a pregnant woman outweigh the theoretical concerns about the drugs strongly say by the medical experts who have looked into this situation. Of the three swine-flu related deaths in the United States, one involved a 33-year-old pregnant woman from Texas who had other health problems before she was infected with the virus.

From the undetermined source that only one out of three Americans would get Swine Flu vaccine. So, it means the vaccine manufacturers have no enough capability to do more drugs against the outbreak.
There are many people who become ill don’t seek medical attention and are never tested for this strain of flu especially if they only knew that they only have simple kind of flu.

In other news that weve read about the number of Swine Flu cases from hospital records doesnt match with the real numbers suspected because they declined to seek medical attention.

The report also suggested that the true number of largely unreported swine flu infections in Mexico, the outbreak’s epicenter, possibly had already reached 32,000 cases and approximately 1% of them are pregnant women too. The World Health Organization’s official tally for Mexico stood at 2,059 confirmed human infections, including 56 deaths.

The United States has now surpassed Mexico believed to be the source of the outbreak as the country most affected by the epidemic, according to WHO statistics. The agency reported that there are 6,497 confirmed cases of swine flu in 33 countries, with Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom having the most cases outside of the United States and Mexico.

In the meantime, back in Mexico, federal health officials said that the worst seemed to be over despite more deaths, toll rose to 58 deaths and 2,282 confirmed cases of swine flu a rise of two deaths and 223 more cases.

World Health Organization expert expressed support for the more selective use of antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu and Relenza against Swine Flu even though the pregnant women and the doctors of the pregnant women are declining the use of antiviral drugs. According to health officials that there are some European countries aggressively take antiviral drugs throughout their population to save themselves.

While countries like the United States and Mexico, they are trying to save their patients with underlying conditions and also the other groups at risk, such as pregnant women and be treated. Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG offered a charitable work to donate some of their Tamiflu supplies to the WHO enough for nearly 6 million people.