Swine flu could spread globally

[Irish Alan]

Probable case of swine flu detected, quarantined at Chulalongkorn Hospital.

Breaking News

The Nation

Published on April 28, 2009

A 42-year-old Thai woman returning from Mexico was suspected to have contracted swine influenza and is being quarantined at the Chulalongkorn Hospital, sources said.

The sources said the woman returned from Mexico early this month and became ill.

She was admitted to the hospital Tuesday.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakin ... antined-at

[Irish Alan]

Pork industry wants "swine" out of flu

Reuters

What's in a name? U.S. pork producers are finding that the name of the virus spreading from Mexico is affecting their business, prompting U.S. officials to argue for changing the name from swine flu. Skip related content

At a news briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took pains to repeatedly refer to the flu as the "H1N1 virus."

"This is not a food-borne illness, virus. It is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that's not what this is about," Vilsack said.

Israel has already rejected the name swine flu, and opted to call it "Mexico flu." Jewish dietary laws forbid eating pork.

The Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health also objected to the name, saying the virus contains avian and human components and no pig so far has been found ill with the disease.

And there is growing sentiment in the farm sector to call it the North American virus -- although disease expert Anthony Fauci told a Senate hearing the "swine flu" designation reflected scientific naming protocol.

For U.S. pork producers the swine flu name has hurt, forcing government officials into the position of stressing that American pork is safe to eat and that other countries should not ban imports.

Pork, soybean and corn prices have fallen in the last two days, "and if this continues, obviously you have significant potential, which is why it's important to get this right," Vilsack said.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was also talk of stripping the "swine" from swine flu, which CDC acting director Richard Besser said was leading to the misapprehension that people can catch the disease from pork.

"That's not helpful to pork producers. That's not helpful to people who eat pork. It's not helpful to people who are wondering, how can they get this infection," Besser told a briefing.

(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090429/to ... 52b11.html

[laphanphon]

besides trying to be PC, love the 'mexican flu', think they all need to get on the same page. it's not a 'human to human' flu, yea, i believe that. and, it's not a food borne flu, well, if overcooked like everything here, i can actually believe that.

why is homeland security involved. thought they had organizations for food imports. don't you just love the news, always so truthful and accurate.

[saint]

isnt it comforting , while the world is on red alert over this virus , that several people and lots of money have been designated to find a politicaly correct name for it !!!!!! i for one , feel very reasured .

[bumper]

Web Site for W.H.O. includes preveative meaures:

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

[Galee]

I'm due to fly back to the UK soon. The fibres in the blankets they issue always make me sneeze.

I can just imagine the looks I'm going to get.

[wazza]

What pissses me off is, 1 million die from malaria, probably the same from TB, a few hundred thousand from Hep B and C, add in HIV as well. Up to 3 million now ??

How many died from SARS 200 ??? the whole world choked on that, and it seems again.

Every year young people die from viral meningitis , but its predictable, so we accept it.

The media just love this sensational stuff , what about a good case of haemorragic fever again?, its still out there, but in small areas of Africa and they dont get CNN, FOX, BBC etc

Im not saying we need to be careful, but it does need to be put into perspective.

[arjay]

This is a report of the latest action being taken by the Thai authorities, including airport arrival checks, taken from the Bangkok Post:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1 ... gainst-flu

Govt steps up flu prevention

By: BangkokPost.com and AFP
Published: 30/04/2009 at 03:10 PM

Precautions against the spread of Mexican swine flu have been further tightened at major airports, Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai announced after the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its global alert to ''pandemic imminent''.

All incoming passengers at major airports wil have to fill out a questionnaire on whether they have visited affected countries or not.

Passengers who have been to countries the flu has spreaded to have to fill in another form giving their travel details and how to contact them, and their body temperature will be taken. This is in addition to having passed through the thermal scanners on arrival, he said.

Mr Witthaya said the Health Ministry has a stockpile of 320,000 courses of the antiviral drug oseltamivir, which could treat 320,000 people.

He had ordered the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation to produce another 100,000 courses of the medication as a precaution against an outbreak of the disease.

The acting Thai embassador to Mexico, Phanwadee Charoenchai, said on Thursday that there were no indications that any Thais living in Mexico have been infected by the swine flu.

The Thai embassy had contacted all 105 Thais who have registered their names with the embassy there, and they were all healthy. There were other Thai citizens in Mexico who were not registered with the embassy, she said.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization raised its pandemic flu alert from level four to level five, on a scale of six, signalling a swine flu pandemic is "imminent" and the virus was now being passed from human to human.

The upgrade followed the death of a young Mexican child who had travelled across the border into the US state of Texas. The child was the first person to die of the disease outside Mexico.

"All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans," WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan said after a meeting of health experts in Geneva.

"The international community should treat this as an opportunity to ramp up the response. After all, it is really all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic," she added.

Phase five, one step short of a full pandemic, is characterised as a "strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalise ... the planned mitigation measures is short", under the WHO global emergency response plan.

So far seven deaths had been confirmed in Mexico -- the epicentre of the outbreak -- the WHO reported, although Mexican officials have said the new multi-strain virus is suspected in 176 deaths.

More than 1,300 people were also in hospital with flu symptoms, of which 49 were confirmed cases of swine flu .

The United States has the next largest number of confirmed cases -- 91 spread across 10 states -- and a Mexican toddler became the first person outside Mexico to die from the disease while visiting relatives in Texas.

The following countries had also reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (13), Germany (3), Israel (2), New Zealand (3), Spain (4) and the United Kingdom (5).

[WBU ALUM]

It's one thing to be prepared and concerned.

Read yesterday in two different Reuters articles that there are 36,000 deaths a year due to flu-related illness in the US and 250,000 to 500,000 worldwide every year.

Confired "Mexican flu" case deaths have not even reached 200 worldwide, and Mexico is now reporting that the numbers of reported flu cases have gone down every day.

It's looking more and more like a media frenzy rather than reporting news.

[cali4995]

Standard influenza in the states always seem to run from like NOV through maybe FEB. With
these other "flu's" extending the season, I swear we'll all be wearing respirator masks soon.

[Hages]

I called the "Swine Flu" hotline yesterday, but all I got was "CRACKLING'

[mortiboy]

I called the "Swine Flu" hotline yesterday, but all I got was "CRACKLING'
I dont believe you You telling porkies!