Mexicans and Their Porcine Lovers SPEAD SWINE FLU TO SOUTHWEST U.S. !
Ralph Waldo
corpulent, and smelly Mexican women with crabs, are turning to sex
with not-so-flaccid young pigs, saying their hog honeys are often more
sexually "responsive" than those typical Mexican girls with 60-inch
waistlines!
Pedro, who said he'd rather not give his full name or hometown, told a
reporter, "Me have screwed all kind of pigs -- human and otherwise --
and the squealers me catch in the fields are cleaner and more energy
than my wifes or girfriends."
Manuel said, "Mon, doz leetle peegies can sure take a beeg one,
y'know?"
And even Jimmah Cahtuh, whose administration oversaw the largest mass
innoculation (for, what else, swine flu) in 1976, chimed in,
remarking, "Though ah no longuh have lust in mah hawaht, ah've seen
some porkahs that strahk mah fansuh."
Of course, a little known secret among Latin American Catholic priests
is that many of them raise and nurture pigs to use for
dehornification.
Unfortunately for U.S. citizens, all this hog-humpin' is bringing
swine flu (oinkusinfluenziez) to many border cities.
Epidemic coming?
--------------------
"In California and Texas, 5 New Swine Flu Cases"
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 24, 2009
Government scientists have identified five more people who have been
infected with swine flu, apparently confirming suspicions that the
unusual strain of the respiratory infection is spreading from person
to person, federal health officials said yesterday.
Three new cases were found in California and two in Texas, bringing
the total number of confirmed cases to seven, officials at the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said. The CDC
announced Tuesday that two children had been infected in San Diego.
The agency has launched an investigation to try to determine how
widespread the virus is.
Officials said there was no reason for alarm despite the growing
number of cases, but they urged doctors to be on the look-out for more
cases and said they were intensifying their efforts. They have also
taken preliminary steps to create a vaccine against the virus if
necessary.
"We don't think this is time for major concern around the country,"
Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization
and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters in a telephone briefing.
"We are taking steps to know more and stay on top of the situation,"
she said, adding that the agency had alerted the World Health
Organization and the Pan American Health Organization.
Two of the new cases involved a father and a daughter in San Diego
County, and two others were boys who attend the same school near San
Antonio. Those cases, combined with the lack of evidence that any of
the infected people had contact with pigs, led officials to believe
that the virus was spreading from one person to another, Schuchat
said.
"We believe at this point that human-to-human spread is occurring.
That's unusual. We don't know how widely it is spreading," she said,
adding that she expects more cases to be identified in coming days as
the investigation unfolds.
The cases so far involve three females and four males ranging in age
from 9 to 54. The first child became ill March 28. The CDC confirmed
the three new California cases Wednesday and the two new Texas cases
-- in 16-year-old boys -- yesterday. Laboratory testing showed that
the virus does not match any known flu strains.
The infection has caused typical flu-like symptoms, including high
fever, sore throat and cough, as well as vomiting and diarrhea; one
person was hospitalized. But so far, the virus does not appear to be
causing serious illness, Schuchat said.
"The good news is all seven of these patients have recovered," she
said. The virus appears to be resistant to two drugs normally used to
treat the flu, but two others appear to be effective against it.
Genetic analysis of the virus indicates it is highly unusual: It is a
hybrid that resulted from a combination of four different viruses --
one that typically infects people, one that originated in North
American birds and two from pigs in Europe and Asia.
"This combination has not been recognized before in the U.S. or
elsewhere," Schuchat said.
Although the cases all are scattered along the U.S.-Mexico border,
officials have not identified any cases in Mexico. But they are
continuing to investigate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/23/AR2009042304116.html
Perverto
animals that much.
Fuck, you're next girlfriend might be half hog!
forz...@gmail.com
the things you find in the internet, Racist, Ignorant, Hateful and
resented people whose only joy in life is to write these kind of silly
things.
i...@cuttler.com
mutation of the virus comes from Canada.
You are just a racist pig trying to modify facts to fit your small
mind. Get a life.
HONEYpot
"Spain confirms 1st swine flu case in Europe"
MADRID – Spain's Health Ministry confirmed the country's first case of
swine flu on Monday and said another 20 people are suspected of having
the disease. It was the first confirmed swine flu case in Europe and
the first outside of North America.
Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said the patient is a young man who
had recently returned from Mexico where he had been as part of his
university studies.
Jimenez told a press conference the man is responding well to
treatment and that neither he nor any of the people under observation
are in serious condition.
"The situation is under control," Jimenez said.
Jimenez said this is Europe's first confirmed case of the swine flu
outbreak that started in Mexico and is blamed for at least 22 deaths
there.
The man with the confirmed case is from the town of Almansa in the
Castilla-La Mancha region, according to regional health authorities.
He checked in to a clinic Saturday complaining of fever and
respiratory problems and was eventually hospitalized, the regional
health department's Web site says.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090427/ap_on_he_me/eu_spain_swine_flu
eminentlylapable
-----------------
"In Mexico, Young Adults Appear Most at Risk"
"Capital Grinds to a Halt as Suspected Deaths Rise to 103"
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, April 27, 2009
MEXICO CITY, April 26 -- Six days a week, Luis Enrique Herrera rode
his bicycle to work, a round-trip journey of nearly 20 miles. He
worked with his hands as an auto mechanic and seemed to his relatives
a healthy 35-year-old man, which is why they did not feel overly
worried when he had to go to the hospital. "We thought he had a common
cold, something normal," said his younger brother, Gabriel Herrera.
It was 12 days ago that Luis Herrera walked into this city's National
Institute for Respiratory Illnesses with a fever of more than 102
degrees, aching bones and breathing problems. Now he is isolated,
uncommunicative, bedridden and breathing through a tube. His doctors
have not confirmed which strain of flu he has contracted, but his
family fears it is the deadly new swine virus that has virtually shut
down this city of 20 million people.
"He just kept getting worse and worse and worse," Gabriel Herrera
said. "His condition now is really very grave."
The anxiety over the virus has vastly altered the rhythm of Mexico
City, with millions of people staying home and many of those who
venture out doing so wearing masks. On Sunday, Catholic Masses across
the city were canceled. One of the most popular Mexican professional
soccer teams played a game in an empty stadium that can seat more than
100,000 people. Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said he might have to shut down
all public transportation if the crisis worsens.
The question of who contracts and ultimately dies from this virus has
become a matter of central concern in Mexico. And the answers that are
beginning to emerge as the death toll rises have been ominous.
Relatively young adults, presumably among the population's most
healthy, have been the first to succumb. Sunday afternoon, Mexico
placed the death toll at 86, and a Health Ministry official, speaking
on the condition of anonymity, said all the dead were ages 25 to 50.
The ministry later raised the toll to 103.
Fifteen people in Mexico City who are suspected to have died from the
virus were 25 to 37 years old, Ebrard said in a radio interview
Sunday.
The high proportion of young adults among the fatalities is one of
several mysteries about this virus. The same pattern emerged during
the 1918-1919 Spanish influenza epidemic, which killed at least 50
million people, and it remains unexplained in that case as well.
One theory is that the virus triggers an excessively aggressive immune
response that destroys the throat and lung tissue. Young adults, with
the most robust immune systems, may be especially at risk.
The greatest concentration of cases and deaths have been in Mexico
City, the surrounding state of Mexico, and the state of San Luis
Potosi to the north. Health Secretary José Ángel Córdova said 30
suspected swine flu cases are spread across 17 other states.
Most of the fatal cases involved extensive lung damage, requiring
doctors to prescribe mechanical breathing assistance. Exactly what
caused the lung damage is not known.
Justino Regalado Pineda, an epidemiologist with the Health Ministry,
said adults would be more likely to contract the flu simply because
they tend to congregate more in public places, such as at their
workplaces.
He speculated that one reason people have died in Mexico as opposed to
the United States is that the life span of the virus could have been
longer in Mexico.
After flu infections, people can develop an additional bacterial
"superinfection" that could be lethal, said Brian Currie, an
infectious-diseases doctor and director of clinical research at
Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Currie said it remained a
mystery why people in Mexico were dying while the cases reported in
the United States have been relatively benign.
"You've got to remember, this is a strain of flu nobody has seen
before," Currie said.
Even though there is no known vaccine for humans for this strain of
swine flu -- which combines genetic material from more common types of
pig, bird and human flus -- Mexican officials have stressed that it is
curable. President Felipe Calderón said Sunday that of the 1,324
patients with flulike symptoms as of Saturday, 929 have been treated
and released from the hospital.
Mexican officials said there is no shortage of antiviral medication.
The difference between who lives and dies seems largely linked to how
quickly patients receive treatment, officials said.
"With a sickness like this, if you don't take it seriously, if you
don't go to the doctor right away, it can have very grave
consequences," Calderón said in a televised address Sunday.
Calderón gave a national lesson on public health, instructing people
to wash their hands regularly, wear surgical masks, cover their mouths
when they cough and avoid sharing food. Officials in Mexico City have
handed out 6 million masks.
"Everyone, absolutely every Mexican, needs to make a special effort to
avoid contacting other people who could potentially be infected with
the virus," the president said.
Jorge Francisco Guzmán Suárez, a 24-year-old who died Saturday at the
National Institute for Respiratory Illnesses, was initially treated by
a private doctor for a stomachache, rather than the flu, his aunt,
Herminia Guzmán, told the Reforma newspaper.
"We are devastated," the aunt told the paper. "The miracle did not
arrive."
An outdoor market in the colonial neighborhood of Coyoacan on Sunday
was a shadow of its usual self. Candelaria Villanueva, 72, a vendor of
jewelry and blouses, said sales have plummeted. She was worried, she
said, because her 20-year-old granddaughter recently got sick and was
told by a doctor that it was "just the flu."
"I think you have to have faith in God," she said.
A double-decker tour bus was nearly empty. Bus worker Karla Yañez said
people are scared to ride.
"Everybody's inside, places are closed, the parks are closed, people
don't go out," she said. "Mexico is a social place -- people like to
go out and be together. The sickness has taken that away."
[Staff writer David Brown in Washington and special correspondent
Jonathan Roeder in Mexico City contributed to this report.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/26/AR2009042602827.html
Lil' Barb
“Captured Flu Carrier Describes Horrors of Spreading Disease”
By Miguel DeLaques
Gazette Staff Reporter
April 27, 2009
REYNOSA, Mexico -- Pablo Fertal, 27, a migrant farm worker since age
14, was picked up and detained recently by officials of the local
Authoritie de Medical Nationale after he was reported by a hotel
proprietor as a probable carrier of the swine flu that is spreading
from Mexico City into the U.S. and Canada. As he receives treatment
under police guard at a local clinic, he spoke of his experiences that
in all likelihood led to his becoming a contagious carrier of the
sometimes deadly disease. His broken English has been partially edited
for clarity in this transcribed interview.
---------
“Hola my name es Pablo and I no spek the englas so well so please
excuse please. I was work in beeg corn field and pig farm last month
when I thng I caut dees flu from de pigs. I am no married you see so
I was as you say alway horny. Always. I look for the girls and
these one time I met Maria in town and she tol me she can set me up
with nice young senorita ver clean. So I give her 17 pesos for hotel
and tequila and she took me to the room and tol me wait for senorita.
I tok a few drinks from bottle and next thing I know I am in bed full
of the piss and shit meself and these hog, these pig is in the bed
also and my dick es all sore and red wih the puss. Me head hurt bad
but I chase the pig out of the bed and try to get up but fall back and
hit head on side and not feel so good too. Later, a police come in
and arrest me for fucking the pig he says, and take me away still no
clothes on and pig shit all over me body. In the station I am told I
have a bad disease and have to stay until I am cured and I will be
fined for the medicine and other things. The doctor tol me the pig
which dey kill have the swine flu and gave to me when I have the sex
with eet. Which I say me no remember but they say I was registerer at
the hotel and people call police to stop the squealing and noise. So
I am here but cant go until me blood no more hav the hog germs doctor
say. The police say to me many men en Mexico are long time screw the
pigs when no can buy the senoritias and this is spread the flu all
over. My wee-wee now have three holes for the peeing and the blood
still coming out. Thas all. Gracias. Okay. Don put thees in the
news?”
http://www.renosagazette.com
---------
jissywizzy
REGARDLESS OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCE(S) of the swine flu, the mere hint
that it is coming from MEXICO will -- or should -- have a huge impact
on efforts to STOP ILLEGALS FROM CROSSING THE U.S. BORDER! And for
finding and deporting those who are residing in the States.
And it's about time!
Let's get 'em!
Well, maybe not all of 'em.
We'll keep the more attractive females for fucking and prostitution.
Let's see, that'll mean about 17 girls will be retained.
Ralph Waldo
HONEYpot
"Airline Shares, Oil Prices Plunge on Fears That Flu Could Bring New
Woes"
By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
THE SWINE FLU outbreak is compounding the ailments of the global
economy just as it is starting to stabilize, darkening the outlook for
everything from tourism to world trade, particularly in the United
States and Mexico.
In recent weeks, economic data suggested a bottoming-out of the global
financial crisis. But economists yesterday were forced to digest worst-
case scenarios in which a recession that is already the deepest since
World War II could become two or three times as painful.
That would be the consequence of a full-blown flu pandemic. But even
if the outbreak were to remain relatively contained, economists warned
of a new round of woes.
Underscoring those concerns, airline stocks plunged yesterday amid
fears of a replay of what happened earlier this decade in Asia, when
outbreaks of bird flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as
SARS, emptied hotels and led to flight cancellations. The value of the
Mexican peso took its steepest drop since November. And investors
drove down the price of oil by 2.7 percent on fears that swine flu
would slow global economic recovery.
But the real focus of concern centered on a new dose of the last thing
the world economy needs right now -- more uncertainty.
"The impact is to threaten the stabilization of the global downturn
we've been seeing over the last few weeks," said Brian Dolan, chief
currency strategist for Forex.com. "The timing could not be worse."
The damage could hit the already ailing tourism and airline industries
the hardest. The European Union and a number of nations began warning
their citizens yesterday to avoid unnecessary travel to parts of North
America.
During the SARS outbreak in 2003 -- the last major epidemic of a
respiratory disease with human-to-human transmission -- airline
traffic to Asian destinations such as Hong Kong fell by as much as 60
percent. Overall, Asia-Pacific airlines lost 50 percent of traffic in
the first five months of 2003, causing them $6 billion in losses.
North American carriers saw passenger traffic fall by 3.7 percent that
year.
This time, however, the global airline industry is already in deep
crisis, raising the specter that deep losses could lead to forced
consolidations or even requests for government bailouts. Though
carriers have reported only limited cancellations so far, Continental
Airlines saw its shares dive 16 percent yesterday, while United
Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines saw declines of around
14 percent. With a number of nations from Spain to New Zealand
reporting confirmed cases of swine flu, and countries including Russia
and Taiwan moving to quarantine travelers showing flu-like symptoms,
even Asian and European airline shares saw sharp sell-offs.
The outbreak is also affecting trade. Russia, China and the
Philippines, citing swine flu, suspended pork imports from Mexico and
some U.S. states where the virus has been detected, despite the fact
that health officials say there is no link between pork consumption
and the virus. With trade barriers already on the rise because of the
global downturn, other nations could pile on.
Though Mexico's pork industry could suffer from any new bans, the
impact of such restrictions in the United States is less clear.
Russia, for instance, is the fifth largest importer of U.S. pork, but
since most U.S. production comes from states that have so far not
confirmed cases of swine flu, industry leaders said there would be
little immediate disruption. That said, they warned that Russia could
extend the ban, and that other nations might follow suit.
"The concern is that regardless of the scientific evidence, other
countries could use this as an excuse to restrict our exports," said
David Warner, a spokesman for the U.S. National Pork Producers
Council. "Everyone is looking to protect their own right now."
The economic impact of the outbreak could be amplified by the
financial crisis, especially in Mexico, where restaurants and shopping
malls were already closing in the capital, eating further into
plunging retail sales. When SARS struck, by comparison, the global
economy was in a period of broad expansion. The outbreak, according to
the Asian Development Bank, cost East and Southeast Asian nations
overall about 0.6 percent in economic growth in 2003.
This time, however, the global economy is anything but robust,
magnifying potential new strains.
The impact in the United States would be far greater in the case of a
larger-scale pandemic, with the worst-case scenario akin to what
happened during the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed tens of millions
of people worldwide. A 2006 report from the Congressional Budget
Office estimated a pandemic, depending on its severity, could cost the
United States between 1 percent to 4.1 percent of annual economic
output. Given that the U.S. economy is expected to shrink by 2.8
percent this year, a pandemic could lead to a contraction of 3.9
percent to 6.9 percent as consumer demand and worker productivity
suffer further.
[Staff writer Sholnn Freeman contributed to this report.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/27/AR2009042703417.html
Perverto
-- HOWEVER ... MSNBC REPORTS ...
"Flu-fighting masks may help, but don't bet on it"
"Science is murky, and much depends on whether they're used correctly"
By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer, msnbc.com
updated 8:36 a.m. ET, Wed., April 29, 2009
IT'S THE SUREST SIGN THAT an outbreak of illness or infection has
grown serious: People on the street wearing face masks as they hurry
to work, crowd into the subway or walk their dogs.
And now, in the U.S., where the new flu strain has killed a 23-month-
old child in Texas and been confirmed in at least 66 people in six
states, worried residents have started stocking up on masks and
wondering whether to wear them, especially in places like New York and
Texas, where the outbreak appears to be expanding.
But health officials here are hedging answers to the simple question:
“Do face masks really work?”
“The CDC does not have a firm message on this,” said Dr. William
Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center
in Nashville, Tenn., and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases
Society of America.
Guidelines posted this week by the federal Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention recommend that people avoid close contact and crowded
conditions rather than relying on faces masks for protection from
infection during a flu pandemic. But they also suggest that face masks
might reduce risk if it’s impossible to avoid crowds or people who are
already infected.
"Very little is known about the benefits of wearing face masks or
respirators to help control the spread of pandemic flu," the CDC
notes.
The trouble, said Schaffner, is that whether or not face masks protect
against viruses such as the swine flu depends greatly on what kind of
masks people use and how well they wear them.
There are basically two kinds of face masks: loose-fitting surgical or
medical masks made of soft, thin cloth that sell for pennies apiece,
and form-fitting masks, also known as N-95 respirators, made of spun
plastic fibers that filter small particles. They sell for a few
dollars each.
“If people were careful about their use and used them consistently,
could masks provide some level of protection? I would say ‘Yes,’”
Schaffner said.
‘You could get a false sense of security’
But if any of those conditions aren’t met, people are better off
tossing both kinds of masks and avoiding the illusion they’re
protected at all, he added.
“You could get a false sense of security,” Schaffner said.
That hasn’t stopped Americans from stocking up on both varieties of
face masks as well as other flu-related supplies, retailers and
manufacturers say.
An executive with a medical supply Web site told CNBC on Tuesday that
a major mask supplier had run out of an entire year’s supply of masks.
Valerie Paxton of AllegroMedical.com said the company sold more than
20,000 N-95 respirator masks on Monday alone.
Mask manufacturers, including 3M, Prestige Ameritech and the Kimberly-
Clark Corp. have said they are increasing production to keep up with
demand.
At Rite Aid stores in New York, New Jersey and California, face masks
have sold out in some sites, along with hand sanitizer, antiviral
medication and thermometers, said Cheryl Slavinsky, a spokeswoman for
the drugstore chain.
“We’ve been shifting stock, moving product from store to store,” she
said. “We’ve got plenty in our distribution supplies.”
Those shoppers could see some benefit from their supply of masks,
research suggests. A 2006 report by the Institute of Medicine
concluded that cloth masks work better than using homemade masks such
as scarves. Although using a respirator would be better still.
And a study in The Lancet journal said that use of N-95 masks in the
outbreak of SARS — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — gave Hong Kong
hospital patients up to 13 times more protection than not wearing
one.
Masks must be worn properly, consistently
But in both cases, masks needed to be used along with other preventive
measures. The level of protection depended on whether the masks were
worn properly — over both the mouth and nose, for instance — and
whether they were worn consistently. One problem with the N-95 masks
is that although they filter microscopic particles, they also impede
breathing, making them uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of
time, Schaffner said.
“Those of us who are a little claustrophobic don’t like to wear them
for very long,” he said.
Still, using masks in a place with an identified outbreak might make
sense, said Barbara Russell, director of infection control at Baptist
Hospital of Miami, Fla., and an emergency preparedness expert with the
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
“If you are in an epidemic center like New York, it probably wouldn’t
hurt to have some around,” Russell said. “As far as wearing it to work
or wearing it on the street, we’re not there yet.”
One of the biggest benefits of wearing masks during outbreaks of
infection or illness might be the psychological boost it provides,
Schaffner said.
People who don masks may also wash their hands more frequently, avoid
crowds and take more responsibility for safeguarding their health.
“It shifts the locus of control,” he said. “It makes people think,
‘I’m not just a victim, waiting for the virus to attack me.’”
HONEYpot
eminentlylapable
It's now to be called "MEXICAN SPIC FLU," per the World Health
Organization.
jissywizzy
REHAB! Might this be the "solution"?
------------
"Mexican Officials Say Flu's Ability to Spread May Be Low"
By William Booth, Anne-Marie O'Connor and Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 2, 2009
MEXICO CITY, May 1 -- Mexican health officials studying the new
influenza virus said Friday they have found that its ability to spread
from person to person may be fairly low, raising hopes that the
extreme measures taken here -- the shutting down of all nonessential
commerce and government -- can contain its spread.
In an obscure government building in the south of this city, dozens of
experts in public health gathered in a "war room" to monitor on
computer screens the spread of swine flu around the country. While it
is far too early to answer with any certitude the most pressing
questions -- how infectious and lethal is the virus? -- they offered
some preliminary assessments.
Hugo López-Gatell, director of epidemiology and disease control for
the Mexican Health Ministry, said one reason for higher mortality
among Mexican patients is that they delay seeking help. "One of our
biggest lessons was that people delay in getting to health centers,"
López-Gatell said. "Prompt attention diminished the deaths."
Steve Waterman, a team leader at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention who is in Mexico to assist with the health crisis,
said, "Maybe there's something about using a lot of drugs at home that
may make things worse. Maybe Mexico City's high elevation . . . makes
it more likely for you to have problems."
Waterman added, "They have excellent doctors and antiviral drugs, so
they should be able to manage cases well." But some patients may be
waiting until they are extremely sick before seeking medical help, he
said. "If they come in late, there's often nothing you can do."
There have been 397 confirmed cases, and 16 of those patients have
died. The number of confirmed cases is expected to rise dramatically,
as Mexico has just put in place laboratories to test for the virus.
Asked to estimate the mortality rate of the outbreak in Mexico,
Waterman said, "That's one of the major questions we're trying to
answer."
"Mexico is in the earlier stage of transmission," he said.
Unknown Point of Origin
Scientists still do not know where the virus originated. In one major
outbreak that tipped off scientists that something was amiss in
Mexico, 616 people out of a population of 2,155 got sick in the town
of La Gloria, which is surrounded by pig farms in Veracruz state. But
Miguel Ángel Lezana, the director of the National Center for
Epidemiology and Disease Control, said he doubts that pig farms caused
the virus. There is only one confirmed case of swine flu in La Gloria,
a 5-year-old boy who recovered.
"I don't think so. The farms are quite far," Lezana said. "Our
agricultural authorities already made some analysis with the pigs
there. They found nothing."
Said the Health Ministry's López-Gatell, "We don't know yet. It could
have been in California, where there were the first known cases, or it
could have been in any other part of the world, or in Mexico, of
course."
López-Gatell said health officials noticed an increase of serious flu
cases in the annual flu season, which runs from October to March. In
the previous season, they had seen 4,000 serious cases of flu by March
2008. During this season, they had seen 4,000 such cases by December.
Further outbreaks throughout the country brought an additional 3,000
cases by March -- a total of 7,000 for the season.
In addition, he said: "There were many grave cases among young people
around the country, in Baja California Norte and San Luis Potosi. We
said, 'What's happening?'
Scientists characterize the infectiousness of a pathogen such as a new
influenza virus by assigning it a "basic reproductive number," which
is a measure of how many secondary cases of flu a typical patient will
cause in a population with no immunity to the pathogen.
For measles, which is highly contagious, the basic reproductive number
is above 15; for smallpox, it is above 5. For ordinary influenza, the
basic reproductive number ranges from 1.5 to 3.0.
"According to the preliminary models, the reproductive number that we
have in the Mexico City metropolitan area is 1.5," Lezana said in an
interview. "It's a number fairly low, and that's good news."
"So looking at this number, the main point is that you have a great
opportunity to stop the spread of the virus," Lezana said. "So yes,
there is this problem with the spread within the family, but you have
a good opportunity to stop the spread of the virus outside the
family."
Shifting Estimates
The Mexican epidemiologists caution that their work is preliminary and
that their understanding of the virus and its infectiousness may
change.
Scientists, for example, are still debating the infectiousness of the
virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which
has generally been assigned a basic reproductive number of 3. The most
recent estimates of the infectiousness of the 1918 influenza pandemic
virus range from 1.8 to 2.0.
"I think it's very early, and any number will be uncertain. And if it
is low, that is good news but not a reason to expend less effort on
control. Rather the contrary: The lower the number, the more readily
control measures can reduce its spread," said Marc Lipsitch, a
professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health who
is assisting the CDC in battling the outbreak. He added: "At this
stage, any estimate must be preliminary, and small differences can
make a big difference -- say, 1.5 is much easier to deal with than
2.0."
Lezana said, "The number moves. What we expect to see is this number
will be lower in the next few days."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/01/AR2009050102642.html?nav=mbot
HONEYpot
"We have reduced the frequency of transmission by one-half in our
country," said Health Minister Dr. Hernando Elamot. "In fact," he
added during an interview in a suburban Mexico City hospital, "we are
now calling it 'piglet flu' because of its diminished potency."