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Mexico attempts to contain swine flu virus

By Catherine Bremer, Reuters

Mexican authorities say the virus in this new swine flu strain was confirmed as the cause of death in 20 cases over the last month

AP

Mexican authorities say the virus in this new swine flu strain was confirmed as the cause of death in 20 cases over the last month

Mexican and US health officials are searching for signs that an outbreak of a new flu strain is spreading further, after it killed up to 68 people in Mexico and infected eight in the United States.

As Mexico shut schools and museums and axed public events, global health officials stopped short of declaring a pandemic.

But they warned more cases could come to light, making up a major outbreak, as the flu spreads between people and infected some individuals who had no contact with one another.

The World Health Organization said the virus from 12 of the Mexican patients was the same genetically as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas who later recovered.

The Mexican government said the flu had killed 20 people and it may also be responsible for 48 other deaths. In all, 1,004 suspected cases have been reported nationwide.

Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova, speaking on the evening television news, encouraged people to avoid crowds and wear face masks, noting there was no guarantee that going to get a flu vaccine would help against the new strain.

He said the death rate appeared to have steadied and hospitals in the past few days had not seen the exponential rise in the number of people infected that many had feared.

Genetic analysis shows the flu strain is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses.

The fact most of the dead were aged between 25 and 45 was seen as a worrying sign linked to pandemics, as seasonal flu tends to be more deadly among the elderly and the very young.

"We realize the seriousness of this problem," Mexican President Felipe Calderon told health officials on Friday.

In California, Dr. Gil Chavez, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the California Department of Public Health and the state's chief epidemiologist, said many more cases could come to light as patients are tested. "The more we look the more we are likely to find," he said.

In New York City, health officials were investigating what had sickened scores of students who fell ill with flu-like symptoms in a Queens high school on Thursday and Friday. The symptoms were reported as mild and a city health official said he could not speculate about which flu strain was responsible.

The US government said it was taking the situation seriously and monitoring for any new developments.

As far away as Hong Kong - the epicenter of the 2003 SARS epidemic and especially vigilant to any threat of infectious disease - the government's Centre for Health Protection said it was closely monitoring investigations in the United States and would analyze flu samples in the territory.

Cordova said Mexico had 1 million doses of antiviral medicine, easily enough to treat the cases reported so far.

In Mexico City, a crowded metropolis of 20 million people, soldiers handed out surgical masks and the government warned people to avoid close physical contact and sharing food.

Finnish rock band The Rasmus canceled a Mexico City concert and the Mexican Football Federation said two weekend soccer matches would be played with no spectators present as a precaution.

DVD rental stores said customers poured in to rent movies on Friday night so they could huddle inside for the weekend.

The last flu pandemic was in 1968 when "Hong Kong" flu killed about a million people globally.

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Comments

Swine flu pandemic
[info]sk8ay wrote:
Saturday, 25 April 2009 at 11:36 am (UTC)
This sounds like it could be the start of a pandemic. At least the Governments are taking some sort of action, although it sounds to me like if we want to prevent the spread of this virus they need to stop anyone travelling in and out of the infected areas.

Its a bit scary that no vaccine is available, although I've just done a bit research and found that you can get some protection from antiviral medication and you can get this on prescription from fightflunow.com and a few other sites...I've just ordered some as a precaution.

Let's hope the Mexican Government can effectively control this threat.
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]brazierdv wrote:
Saturday, 25 April 2009 at 08:00 pm (UTC)

After all the media play on the Asain flu pandemic I suspect that many in the public will be quite cynical - at least at first - assuming it will amount to nothing. It's nice though to see that Mexico is taking it seriously. You can be sure it will get a huge profile if Americans start dying.
Just seen this on blogosphere about Obama...
[info]ancientoneuk wrote:
Saturday, 25 April 2009 at 10:19 pm (UTC)
Apparently Obama was stood next to Felipe Solis who died the next day after meeting Obama when the President was there for an archaeology showcase. Strange how the President didn't catch it...

Also notice that someone is egging the pudding somewhat out there with stories that Roche's Tamilflu works when this has not been substantiated in any way or evidenced either, a very dangerous thing as there are big question marks over Tamilflu's side effects and effectiveness.

As for "cures" I would be very careful what is promised, there are a lot of mickey mouse medicines out there that give the good ones a bad name and could be lethal too.
Swine flu pandemic
[info]elliottchina wrote:
Sunday, 26 April 2009 at 12:03 am (UTC)
This sounds to me like a man-made bio weapon. How else could humans contract a swine/avian flu concoction? Pigs are mammals, but not even primates, and I find it hard to believe that a sick animal could have infected a human-unless it was purposely injected in humans. it's too much of a coincidence that this outbreak occurred a few weeks after three vials from the U.S.C.D.C. top security laboratory "disappeared".
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]pfratianni wrote:
Monday, 27 April 2009 at 06:02 pm (UTC)
I agree there are many suspicious facts surrounding this latest epidemic.

1st: The Sudden Outbreak

2nd: The speedy news coverage

3rd: As you mentioned the very recent mysterious disappearance of several viral containing vials from a Top Security Lab

4th: The unimpeded ease in which the infection spreads almost as if it was constructed to do so

5th: The overwhelming reaction by the governments around the world to this latest outbreak. Do they know something we don't?

6th: A never before seen flu that is a hybrid mix of Bird, Human, and Pig viral strains

7th That not one major or minor from what I have seen has even brought up the question yet if this is possibly a result of a man made bio-weapon

8th: The readiness of certain pharmaceutical companies offering to make a vaccine and to sell us viral fighting drugs. Isn't that sweet of them that they are willing to make an absolute fortunate fighting something they might have constructed in the first place. If people haven't figured it out by now know it is not in their best interests to keep people healthy but on the margins between death and vibrancy.

I appreciate your willingness to at least pose this possibility which the news outlets have neglectfully avoided.
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]elliottchina wrote:
Thursday, 30 April 2009 at 08:59 pm (UTC)
Thank you for being brave enough to consider my viewpoint. I'm sure most people think I'm a conspiracy theorist, but as our points are logical. there is no other conclusion that this is a bio weapon.
What really frightens me is the thought that this is the pre-cursor to a truly deadly virus. The same company that contacted this unique flu is busily concocting it's antidote, which will turn out to be the REAL deadly virus, and people all over the world will take this medicine, and ti will kill them.
After all, the pharmaceutical company has nothing to lose, and everything to gain in way of profits.
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]pfratianni wrote:
Thursday, 30 April 2009 at 10:15 pm (UTC)
Well actually I don't take it quite as far as you do. If the end goal is profits then they need live capital producing bodies. Granted they'd prefer marginally healthy so that they'll be in need of medical care but alive nevertheless.

Of course there might be some James Bond like elitist scheme to depopulate and then repopulate the world with of course a nepotist slant. Though I consider this as a possibility my bet is on the money.
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]elliottchina wrote:
Sunday, 3 May 2009 at 05:27 am (UTC)
"Google" the Georgia Guide stones. No one knows who put up these stones, but they are in ten languages.
The last goal on these stones is to reduce the word population to 500 million. Nepotism, along with those enough money/power, will be the ones saved; plus the scientists and doctors needed to keep the elite alive-just like the U.S. recruited Nazi German doctors and scientists to create the Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex to slowly sicken and "dumb-down" of the population through administration of heavy metals and toxins in our medications, inoculations, and though chem trails than rain down on us everyday (you can also Google "Chem Trails").
These are called Soft Kills Weapons. They cause living thing to be in a constant hyper-immunity and general poor health.
We agree with you this current influenza outbreak is not "the one"; you're right, if everyone dies than no more harmful inoculations need to be made.
We think this flu is a precursor to a more serious illness, a "beta test" if you will. Now the question is: how to slowly kill off all the "useless eaters"? One or two more outbreaks?
Another thing to consider: when WHO upgrades the outbreak level to Level 6 (a pandemic). You can access the WHO website and it will define what constitutes their definition of a pandemic, and what can the U.N. can do in what can happen to citizens if a pandemic is "established". Within the realm of possibilities are: forced vaccinations, martial law, and most importantly, loss of U.S. citizens' basic rights as the U.N., an international entity, will establish what measures are necessary to contain the pandemic.
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]pfratianni wrote:
Sunday, 3 May 2009 at 02:55 pm (UTC)
I'll look into the Georgia Guide stones and keep this larger conspiracy of soft kill weapons as well as this latest outbreak as a "beta test" in open mind. Maybe for me my level of conspiracy I am willing to believe is a money motivated release of relatively non lethal virus' by pharmaceutical companies.

As far as the larger conspiracy goes I guess I really don't want to believe even if it were truth. I guess that reality would be too sad to bare. This does not make it true or untrue but even my mentality shows way most people are not open to the most simply and basic of conspiracies.

I think the more complex a conspiracy at some point people just short circuit and default to what they've been told and or want to believe. That's the genius of constructing and carrying them out. Who would believe you anyway, at least in any significant number to stop such conspiracies. The news media won't report on it and the law enforcement certainly won't do anything about it. So in such cases what do you do?
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]elliottchina wrote:
Monday, 4 May 2009 at 10:17 pm (UTC)
When my husband & I "woke up" to what was really happening to the world 5 years ago, and the evil elite who make the long-term plans to slowly rid the Earth of its "useless feeders"-eugenics is alive and well - we went through several stages of emotion. First, shock and disbelief, then panic, and now just general anxiety and worry on a daily basis.
No one wants to believe the truth. Who wants to believe that a small group of royalty and ultra-rich individuals control the rest of the world's destiny? But they do - research the Builderburg Group. They are the ones deciding the outcomes of our lives;these plans have been in development for sometimes hundreds of years.
As I stated before, there's no coincidence that heavy metals (like fluoride, which was first used by the Nazis in concentration camps to subdue and dumb-down its prisoners)& other toxins in the public water supply, medications and inoculations, and chem trails to make the public subdued, apathetic, and generally stupid. Think of the differences in the American public and the citizens of other countries when the economic collapse occurred; there was no rioting on the street here like there were in so many other countries.

After the 9-11 incident, which many prominent scientists and ex-governments workers by the hundreds have pronounced a staged event by the U.S. government, there have been hardly any protests against the resulting Patriot Act, which took away most of our civil rights. Although there are now many "9-11 truthers", they are afraid to protest because protest is no longer tolerated. No matter how peaceful the protest is, government agents infiltrate the protest & act violently; and therefore give the authorities cause to call out the SWAT Team, Military Police, etc.

Anyone now who opposes anything the government decrees of supports can be labeled an enemy combatant; i.e. taken into custody without any rights, like being informed of the nature of his crime, no possibility of contact with loved ones, and worst of all, being kept indefinitely without trial. Plus, it's now widely known that the American government condones torture; The Obama administration is shutting down Guantanamo Bay, just to ship potential "terrorists" to countries who openly torture citizens of any country.

I'm sorry, I realize I've gone on a tirade.
It's hard to face, but the best thing you can do is educate yourself about these truths. It's becoming more difficult to find sites on the Internet (Google has publicly admitted to censoring posts), but they're there.
There are two good Internet shows to get you started: Alex Jones on Prison Planet, and Alan Watts' "Breaking Through the Matrix".
If you have Dish TV, or maybe just regular cable, there is a channel Truth TV, which has a variety of shows, interviews, and documentaries.

After you are well informed and know some facts, you can start to approach open-minded people to just point out all the chem trails. Just look under "Images" on Google; you'll find pages of sites about them, and descriptions of how you can tell the difference between chem trails and regular condensation trails. If they show interest, you might have a newly informed citizen.
Go to protests if you can, and of course, correspond with your political representatives and the President himself. Alex Jones and Prison Planet have free fliers and literature you can pass out.

Most importantly, STAY AWARE. The corporate run newspapers and shows are almost all pure fiction, spun to benefit the corporation that run them and the government. You may have to make more of an effort to get the truth, but it's worth it.
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]pfratianni wrote:
Tuesday, 5 May 2009 at 04:00 am (UTC)
Thanks for sharing with me your views. I don't know if I believe & or even want to believe every aspect, but I do believe in investigating different points of view than I'm used to with an open mind.

I also believe in the essence of what you are saying which I interpret as thus; You can't trust the government, media, and the corporations that manipulate them. With this underlining essence it behooves an individual to investigate on his/her own. I believe in being not only a skeptic, but an honest skeptic. An honest skeptic when presented with overwhelming evidence will take upon a position and more importantly if morally alive will act.

What I am trying to filter through is this, not that I don't believe profit oriented conspiracies exist, as they definitely do, but to the extent elitist groups are willing to go.

Now this should be obvious to me with the historical events of the Nazis. They were willing to do unspeakable horrors in a very systematic fashion. In Dungeon and Dragon terms they were what would be termed lawful evil, if that makes any sense.

So the real question is not whether people are evil and racist enough to manipulate, enslave, and kill in mass but whether they have the savvy and staying power to carry out these very elaborately complex and long term plans.

If you look at the soviet union government, who in my opinion did their share of mass evils, eventually the hard liners died off and the country naturally shifted to a more benevolent than before state.

This being so, what makes you think even if all your worst conspiracy fears are true that that level of manipulation and control can be sustained?
Re: Swine flu pandemic
[info]elliottchina wrote:
Tuesday, 5 May 2009 at 08:00 pm (UTC)
My message will be short this time.

You simply have to research recent events that have gone on in our own country. We now live in a security state, and all our invasions of others countries to "democratize" them have been farces. Osama ben Laden, the most evil terrorist alive, according to our own government, was himself trained by the CIA .

I recommend, again, listening to Alex Jones, who has a free Internet talk show every day, and to Alan Watts (not Watt). It will be a sudden immersion that may be hard to believe at first, but just keep listening.
Alex Jones has several documentaries free to download to DVD format; Alan Watts is more classically educated, and has written 2 or 3 books that explain how different power structures have worked through time.

If you don't have time to listen, both men have Web pages that distill the information of each broadcast daily. I don't have room here to cite every example and its documented source in this entry.

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