Swine Flu (H1N1)-A New Threat
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are monitoring the progress of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico which already has 20 confirmed cases in the United States. Mexican officials have claimed that the H1N1 swine virus has claimed the death of over 60 people, 71 according to BBC News as of April 26, 2009. Over 1,000 people are suspected of being infected in Mexico. A few days ago, 6 people were confirmed to have the swine virus in California and 2 in Texas. As of today, 20 cases are confirmed, notably in students returning from a trip from Mexico to New York City. Four cases were confirmed in Canada. The outbreak and most of the cases originated in Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world with a population of 20 million inhabitants. What worries most scientists is that the affected are mainly young, healthy adults which should have the capacity to fight off the virus. Cases of elderly or children being infected are not common and thus, rare.
With the threat of avian flu a couple of years ago, the world is better prepared with stock piled antiviral drugs for a possible global influenza pandemic. The pandemic alert has not been raised as the CDC and WHO are still monitoring events unfold. Mexico has approximately 1 million doses of anti-viral drugs, such as Tamiflu, which has shown to be effective in treating the virus. The WHO believe Mexico to be capable of handling the outbreak, which started in mid-March and have pledged support to work with Mexican health authorities. The World Bank has also loaned $25 million dollars in immediate aid to help treat the outbreak and will provide $180 million dollars in the long term. Expert teams have already been deployed to the hotzone to investigate the virus. Makers of the antiviral drugs are on standby to mass produce the medication if the virus spreads worldwide. Authorities in Mexico City have encouraged its citizens to stay at home and not assist public venues such as soccer stadiums, nightclubs, and even church to help slow the spread of the virus. This was followed by suspension of massive public events. Mexican military personnel have passed out 6 million surgical face masks and seeing people with these precautionary face masks has become a common sight in Mexico City.
The CDC and the WHO are urging all world governments to stay informed and prepare defense plans in case the virus goes global, which seems to be the case. Despite this, tourists are currently not being advised to halt travel to Mexico. The White House stated that it is not time to panic, and that all proper precautions are being taken. The H1N1 swine virus is a new strain of influenza type A according to WHO. It is a respiratory disease that constantly changes, much like the human flu. It usually affects herds of swine, and transmission to humans was not common. The swines appear to serve as a “mixing vessel” in which the genetic material of avian, swine, and human influenza strains are combined (antigen shift), resulting in something never seen before. The CDC are initiating work to produce a vaccine from a “seed strain” of the swine flu, but nobody knows how quickly this may be done. People that have contracted the virus spread the virus like any common human influenza, mainly by coughing and sneezing.
Details will change by the minute. It may appear that a “local virus”, behind the scenes, mixing with the swine virus strain is what is enabling the disease in Mexico to be much more lethal than what has been found in the US cases, despite both being confirmed to be swine virus H1N1. Make sure you get your Tamiflu from greedy Roche today, just to be safe.
May 1st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Lol. I was pretty sure that you did not have the H1N1 virus! Thanks for visiting. I also took the liberty of adding you to my blogroll, you do a great job correlating life’s struggles with scripture and people should read your blogs.
I will try to answer your questions, keep in mind, that I am NO expert.
“How did the virus spread over to humans… from pigs?”
Viruses are wretched microscopic things that are laying around and are technically neither completely alive nor dead. Weird, huh? They are just pieces of genetic code in the form of RNA or DNA and enveloped in a protein coat, sometimes, they also have a fat coat. Viruses are only truly “alive” when they infect a host organism and replicate. There are thousands of different viruses and some look really scary (like T4 phage). Viruses tend to be about 10-100 times smaller than bacteria! These little guys are usually loyal to the host organism that it likes to infect, in this case, the “swine influenza virus” used to just affect herds of swine. What happened is that since viruses continuously mutate, the viral genetic material underwent recombination with viral genetic material from bird and human influenza strains. The surface protein structures of viruses, or antigens, are different for each strain, and with H1N1, you have something entirely new that your immune system has not seen before (3 different antigens in 1)! Hence, the danger. As a “new” virus, it has the ability to jump host species and now be more lethal to humans than swines. So, now, what didn’t use to affect us, does. It appears to have become more loyal to us.
“What do YOU think we should do to solve the crisis?”
Containment is no longer an option. A vaccine is currently underway, but the time line is about 4-6 months. For the moment, I would place CDC teams with enough antiviral meds at key intervals all across the US/Mexico border (southwestern states) and in the major US cities. If things get really, really bad in Mexico, we should close the border. I think everything will be okay, however. On another note, what about countries that are much poorer than Mexico, like Vietnam, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Nicaragua? They have little to zero antiviral medicine. If it does become a pandemic (level 6), the countries most devastated will be countries in poverty. Hoffmann-La Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other pharmaceuticals need to mass produce more antiviral medication 24/7 with emergency funding from the World Bank.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:00 am
i was just giving my opinion fyfyfy if you get insulted well you read it as an insult it was just an opinion well you get ofended my intentions are not to insult anybody i have family in mexico and they say is super freaking dangerous overthere, we are ok now here in USA.. look this web page is this works for you is in english http://www.who.int/en/
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_20090429/en/index.html
April 30th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
You definitely know what you’re talking about. This was very good to read. Would it be ok if I asked a few questions? They might be rather elementary, because I definitely do NOT know what I’m talking about.
–How did the virus spread over to humans… from pigs?
–What do YOU think we should do to solve the crisis?
And last of all…. http://www.doihavepigflu.com/. I couldn’t resist.
April 30th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
quibo oscar pa que la vieja quede mamando un rato le dolio guey jajaja ayyy noo dice que la ofendi no pues wow me sale que ya sabia la gripa porcina antes de que fuera algo mundial si como no
April 30th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
There are various ways we can go about in “digesting” these H1N1 news. As I have said, the media blows things out of proportion, so right now it is too early to tell if they are right in raising the alarm so drastically. I believe we should stay informed and not give in to panic.
April 30th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Nestor, I talked to some doctor and researcher at MD anderson when it was not that serious. Sorry, but your insult was not need. I dont read spanish. I would like to know more. Yes, I believe they will closed the border soon since the first death is from texas and the parent of that infant was from mexico.
April 29th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
hey fyfyvay you dont think thats serious… are you not watching the news?? are you blind-deaf-etc….. first do a good research and then you can comment…
look oscar this web page may work for your topic:::
http://www.eltiempo.com/media/produccion/infoGripePorcia_AFP/index1.html
April 29th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Hi, Rishi
Yeah, I told them to return ASAP. The border could be closed in the coming weeks if events worsen. And to add more fear into the mix, my dad says he has “flu”-like symptoms. Right now, everyone with a common cold is fearing they may have H1N1.
The threat of home aside, if WHO raises the alert to level 6, I am also worried about the poorest countries, as they do not have supplies of Tamiflu and Relenza.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Sorry to hear their vacation was cut short, but hey, better safe than sorry. It’s a little scary to know that swine flu has already taken a life in the US… but the fact that it was so close to home (Houston) makes it even more disconcerting.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Hello, Fyfy!
I also try to remain optimistic. I learned from the avian flu outbreak years back that the media blows things out of proportion to raise their TV ratings. However, when the World Health Organization raises the pandemic alert to level 5 (human-to-human transmission in at least 2 countries), it demands our attention and caution. The maximum is level 6, when a full blown pandemic is underway worldwide.
What bothers me is the speed at which it is spreading globally. USA, Canada, Spain, UK, New Zealand, Israel, etc.
Just today, a 23 month old baby died due to swine flu here in Houston.
This virus appears to have genetic elements of avian flu, human flu, and swine flu neatly rolled into one, meaning that strains combined (something called antigenic shift).
Mexico is a strong country compared to other nations. India and Mexico always battle for the 12th and 13th spot in terms of GDP on the lists of the CIA World Factbook and the International Monetary Fund. Mexico does have good doctors but their government does not invest in research and development. Take this excerpt from “El Universal”, one of Mexico’s top daily prints:
“We are incapable of dealing with this crisis ourselves, not because of a lack of leadership or determination, but because we’ve failed for decades to invest in universities, laboratories and scientists. Let’s learn the lesson.”
The problem can no longer be contained at this stage. My parents are currently in Mexico, nowhere near the outbreak, but scared enough to return by tomorrow. Their vacations were canceled.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Called me an opmistic, but I do not believe this is that serious. Thousand of people died form the flu each years. I do not see this as any different. About 2000 people were diagnosed with swine flu in Mexico and about 170 had died, not even 10% of the infected. I dont see the point in wearing mask when the flu is clearly not air-borne, unlike the SAR viruses we have about 9 years ago. The media say that it is hard to track the swine flu since it is constantly changing, but little did they know that the flu virus are always constantly changing. That is why we recommended people to get flu vaccination annualy. I also belive that swine flu that once in the body with a person who already been diagnosed with common flu can undergoes recombination or exchange of DNA.
Oscar I belive the only reason why it is more lethal in Mexico than in the US is due to the fact that it is hard for people to get free access to medical care over there and Mexico is not a very well develop country when it comes to medicine. My best advice to Obama is to sent some doctor over there and help treat the problem before it get worse.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Great map tracking the flow of the virus! Thanks, man.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:34 am
check this web page it might be useful for you topic
http://www.eltiempo.com/media/produccion/gripaPorcina/