Dozens in Mexican city ill with suspected avian flu

Pls delete if dupe. I did not see it.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57868

Friday, September 28, 2007
Dozens in Mexican city ill with suspected avian flu
Raises concerns over international implications of epidemic
Posted: September 28, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Dozens of people in a Mexican city are gravely ill with what is being treated as a possible outbreak of avian flu, according to a new report from a Spanish-language website.

El Universal is confirming that authorities in a neighborhood in Guanajuato 45 patients have been given medical attention at the area's hospital after they reported symptoms including extreme headaches, stomachaches, vomiting, diarrhea and other weaknesses.

The cases have developed over the last two weeks, and "feel [like] death," according to Silvia Villalobos, one of the victims who spoke to El Universal correspondent Xochitl Alvarez in Spanish.

(Story continues below)

A spokesman for the regional general hospital, Ernesto Castle, indicated he does not know the cause of the problems, but officials are looking at an avian flu virus, which is transmitted by birds and is similar to botulism, as a source.

He reported at least 45 patients have been given emergency room medical attention, while other individuals went to their private physicians for help.

One man reported his wife was hospitalized after the symptoms hit, waking her with fever and chills, before she fainted.

Guadalupe Gomez, a resident of the area, said her concern was that the epidemic was being carried by flies attracted by leather processed in the tanning industry, which includes leathers from other nations.

City spokesman Jose Eusebio Olague said officials have directed that barricades be set up so that the sick do not spread the infections even further.

Traditional causes for fever and chills essentially have been ruled out by various tests, officials said. Sources in the air, water and other industries have been eliminated as a cause, officials said.

This specific situation already was addressed at the recent Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada, where officials released a plan that establishes U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law during a pandemic. It also sets the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies.

The "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza" was finalized at the SPP summit last month in Montebello, Quebec.

At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza.

With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies.

The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.

The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture.

The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities.

Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last month embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration.

David Nabarro is new U.N. system influenza coordinator

In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general.

Nabarro soon after fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable.

In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, "I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime."

Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions.

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BUMP! Too close for comfort!

And just in time for the fall/winter bird migrations. I thought this was interesting, given the timing:
http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=7136046&nav=AbC0
Preparing for flu season along the border

Sep 27, 2007 07:44 PM EDT

EL PASO, TX. - As the flu season quickly approaches, there are concerns over whether the lonestar state is ready for what some are calling an impending pandemic.

State legislators say the answer is yes. The commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services testified to Congress Wednesday on pandemic influenza preparedness. His diagnosis? Texas is ready to go. He said lessons from urricanes Katrina and Rita helped the state stockpile medicines and supplies.

The state has respiratory surveillance systems tracking patients who come into hospital emergency rooms. And Texas is able to diagnose patients who have influenza within three hours from initial tests. Texas officials say there is one area for improvement though. They would like to see the state work closer with Mexico to monitor the estimated one- million people crossing the border everyday.

Authorities say they work hard to make sure they are not caught off guard, "We've been working on influenza preparedness for several years in the state of Texas. We've developed several plans that have been incorporated in the overall disaster plan in Texas. We've been working on how we distribute medicines, when they're available, how we distribute vaccines, and how we work with the government to make sure essential operations continue," said David Lakey of the Texas Department of Health Services.

In New Mexico, health officials have signed an agreement with Chihuahua to share weekly reports about flu activity in the two border states. The agreement runs through the spring of 2008. A New Mexico Department of Health spokesman said the agreement will help New Mexico get data more quickly on any flu pandemic that might move north.

I thought WND was supposed to hold to reasonably high standards when it came to journalism. But this article is so full of holes and contradictions it isn't funny.

- The symptoms don't match avian flu by a long shot.

- Botulism and avian flu are not similar any more than botulism and any flu are similar save for some shared common symptoms.

- The report finds a opinion by a local resident that flies are transmitting the presumed [avian flu] virus credible?

I realize that WND is merely quoting a local source but they are stretching the standards beyond incredulity to use that report as a jumping off point for criticizing the internationalization of the avian flu response.

RR

Lots of bir flu rumors flying around the lower area of New Mexico regarding many sick people in Mexico. I have not heard of any deaths in the rumor mill stuff, just that there are lots of sick people in small villages. The rumors have been going on for a couple to three weeks. I have a friend in Las Cruces NM who tell me that the plan is to close the border crossing if/when the bir flu is verified in Mexico, again that is just rumor, probably starte with someone saying or asking IF the'd close the border. She also tells me that we have a much larger than normal amount of Nat Guard personnel coming into her area in the last week or so, kind of fanning out along the border and setting up camp. Nothing on our news about this at all. Maybe there is more to the rumors regarding a greater amount of sick people in Mexico.

Doesn't fit the symptoms of the bird flu, but still could be something serious. Mexico thrives on Pork, not the cleanest of places raising them in small feed lots. Most households keep a pig or two in a small pen, same as chickens. In small towns anaimals run all over the place, just plain filthy conditions. There is a lot more down there than just Montezuma's revenge.

I found this, probably nothing but they have been messing with the DNA in the chicken feed down there to combat a virus. Maybe this virus mutated and can now harm humans.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature.

GM mealie meal saves lives of chickens
21.aug.06
SABC news.com (South Africa)
Wagdy Sawahel
http://www.sabcnews.com/world/north_america/0,2172,133395,00.html
Mexican researchers have genetically modified mealies to create an edible vaccine against Newcastle disease, a major killer of poultry in developing countries such as South Africa, according to a report on the Science and Development Network website. The scientists hope their approach can help small-scale poultry farmers protect their flocks.
Vaccines against the disease that can be given to poultry on food already exist, but are not usually available in the small quantities required by single families or villages. With his colleagues, Octavio Guerrero-Andrade of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Guanajuato inserted a gene from the Newcastle disease virus into maize DNA.
Chickens that ate the genetically modified maize produced antibodies against the virus. The maize provided a level of protection against infection comparable to that of commercial vaccines.
"The disease is important and a big killer," says Frands Dolberg, of the Network for Smallholder Poultry Development, which works with partners in developing countries to promote poultry farming as a way of improving livelihoods. "There is a big problem in delivering the vaccine to the many millions of poor poultry keepers around the world, and the genetically modified maize could be a possibility," he said.
Success depends on GM maize access
Dolberg says that its success would depend on how accessible the genetically modified maize was to poultry farmers. But he points out that the poor, the landless and women - the main groups that keep poultry on a small scale in the South - generally struggle to access new technologies.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) officers who regularly monitor Gauteng markets told Irinnews earlier this year chicken sellers are aware of the Newcastle disease. They said the recurring presence of this highly contagious poultry disease might prove helpful in combating an outbreak of bird flu, due to the similarities of both symptoms.
"Chicken sellers at the market are aware of Newcastle disease, which is fatal to chickens but not humans, and the symptoms are similar to the avian flu. At the moment, when they recognise the Newcastle disease symptoms - weight loss, excessive mucus and measles - they just chop the heads off and sell them," an official told Irin.

This may not be real Avian flu but that doesn't mean it may not be a deadly (or very severe)flu of another sort. It is really something to keep an eye on because once something like this gets into the general population there really is no stopping it. Except for very lucky people who get to the hospital first (and get treated with IV's and modern medicine) there isn't that much more a country can do today than nations could do in 1918. Which is mostly close down public places, batton down the hatches and hope for the best. Scientists willing to live at work (and some will) can work on a vaccine but by the time it is sorted it will likely be to late for the first wave. Heroic efforts might prevent a second wave like they had in some places with the 1918 outbreaks.

Melodi

(from the article--)

1. City spokesman Jose Eusebio Olague said officials have directed that barricades be set up so that the sick do not spread the infections even further.

2. This specific situation already was addressed at the recent Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada, where officials released a plan that establishes U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law during a pandemic. It also sets the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies.

3. NORTHCOM, . . . has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency . . .

4. With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines . . . Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

5. Nabarro [Dr. David Nabarro . . . the first U.N. system influenza coordinator] stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions.

Did I miss anything?

In the information posted by Perpetuity, was the reference to 1 million crossing the border a mistake? Seems like an awful lot.
Raphaelle

Hey Seeker - thanks for that info. The #2 item sure explains why the Nat Guard buildup at the border. Although, the #3 does too, could be an exercise/practice run. In any event, the buildup may also help in slowing down the run for the US marathon too. It does not suprise me one bit that our news says nothing about this, half the state could be dead from the bird flu and they still would not mention a thing. Too busy focusing on sex offenders and nonsense. Maybe that's the game plan, soundbites of dribble and garbage, eventually you will just not turn it on.

=


In a FWIW note: And related to the thread's subject.

First off, my youngest son (age 30) called me monday of this week, asking if I had been watching the news (MSM). I told him I had not. He then told me that he'd just heard (on a San Antonio/Austin station that several people here in Texas had fallen ill with flu-like symptoms and had died!

I, of course "tore up" my news feeds trying to find an article about it. But "No Cigar"...! It was apparently one of those "One time" news articles. And pulled shortly after it had been broadcast - we get them some times, but they are infrequent - and always, later, I find that it if TPTB which had deemed the news to be too 'let's say explosive'.....

I had not posted this info, simply because with out a verifying news article, it is, at best an FOAF... I try to impart the news, not rumors...

The other matter. Again FWIW.

The Discovery Channel is supposed to be airing a "special" on H5N1 this Sunday! The trailors are using pretty interesting descriptions Like. *Pandemic! Not if! But When!" H5N1 is between 50% and 70% fatal ect....

If you can watch the Discovery Channel - you might want to look for the program (if I can access it, we can get the Discovery Channel. I will burn it to a DVD....)

TFD

Raphaelle said:

In the information posted by Perpetuity, was the reference to 1 million crossing the border a mistake? Seems like an awful lot.
Raphaelle

Click to expand...

Could be a mistake, but it could be an estimate of both legal, and illegal entries both going to and from the US.

And FWIW, here's a link to the Mexican newspaper that originally ran the article: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/451005.html
Afecta extraña enfermedad a vecinos de Barrio Arriba, en León
Al menos 45 pacientes recibieron atención médica en el Hospital Regional. Sufren fiebre extrema, intensos dolores de cabeza, estómago, articulaciones, náuseas, vómito, diarreas, ardor en los ojos y debilitamiento



Xóchitl Álvarez / Corresponsal
El Universal
León, Gto.
Lunes 24 de septiembre de 2007

20:27 Una extraña enfermedad afecta la salud de decenas de vecinos del tradicional Barrio Arriba, en la zona centro de la ciudad, quienes, desde hace dos semanas sufren fiebre extrema, intensos dolores de cabeza, estómago, articulaciones, náuseas, vómito, diarreas, ardor en los ojos y debilitamiento.

“Se siente la muerte”, dijo Silvia Villalobos, una de las víctimas de la enfermedad.


El director del hospital general regional, Ernesto Castillo señaló se desconoce qué causa los padecimientos, pero podría tratarse de un virus aviar, es decir transmitido por aves, semejante al botulismo.


Al menos 45 pacientes recibieron atención médica en el área de urgencias y consulta del Hospital General Regional y una cifra no determinada acudió con médicos privados.


Librado Ramírez, informó que su esposa, María, fue hospitalizada este domingo, horas después de presentar síntomas similares a la gripe. “Amaneció con fiebre y con catarro y luego se desmayo”, dijo.


Guadalupe Gómez, vecina del Barrio Arriba atribuyó la epidemia a la contaminación por moscas que provocan los cueros para calzado que se procesan en las tenerías –industrias- , algunos procedentes de otros países.


La dirección municipal de salud y brigadistas sanitarios de la secretaria de salud, tendieron un cerco sanitario en las colonias Obregón y el Duraznal, donde se identifican más enfermos, informó José Eusebio Olague, síndico del Ayuntamiento.


“Hasta el momento se ignora la causa de los padecimientos”, dijo el funcionario después de recibir un reporte oficial.


La sospecha inicial fue que podría tratarse de un brote de dengue clásico, por las molestias de los afectados, pero quedó descartado, tras varios estudios de laboratorio.


En la investigación epidemiológica se consideró el riesgo de una intoxicación por la contaminación en el aire y agua de sustancias químicas utilizadas en el curtido de pieles para calzado de industrias establecidas en ese sector de la ciudad.

El jefe de la jurisdicción sanitaria VIII, Efran Flores Tafoya, dijo que podría ser un virus ambiental y añadió que ese problema no es por contaminación en el agua o industrial.

gca

This sounds like a good show to watch. I went to the Discovery channel for Sunday

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/daily.html?date=20070930.273

and couldn't find anything on H5N1. If anyone finds that it will be shown on a different day, please post it here. Thank you.

=


*THis article was contributed by a member who wishes to remain anynomous!*

<i>This news article is especially interesting to me. My lady is going to see her son tomorrow, in....You guessed it! San Antonio! ~ Dutchman</i>


<B><center>http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/inde...us-baseflu.xml

<font size=+1 color=purple>'Boot camp flu' strikes Texas air base</font></center>

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- More than 150 U.S. Air Force recruits have been sickened by a flu sweeping Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Nine airmen were hospitalized last month and about 150 more took ill at Lackland, The San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday.</b>

Many of those sickened had the rare adenovirus type 14 strain known as "boot camp flu," the newspaper said.

The viral strain, which is rare outside the close quarters of boot camp, has many of the same symptoms as standard flu. However, it carries a high risk of pneumonia, especially among worn-out recruits.

An outbreak of the virus in May sickened about 100 airmen. Airman Paige Renee Villers died of pneumonia Aug. 7.

As stated above, the symptoms don't sound at all like influenza. The term "flu" gets misused often when discussing any microscopic illness. This sounds more like Norwalk or something gastro. No discussion of respiratory problems, or high levels of fatalities, so "bird flu" (H5N1) seems highly unlikely.

Gateway said:

This sounds like a good show to watch. I went to the Discovery channel for Sunday

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/daily.html?date=20070930.273

and couldn't find anything on H5N1. If anyone finds that it will be shown on a different day, please post it here. Thank you.

Click to expand...

*I see what you mean Gateway* I looked at their sunday scheduling (which you so kindly posted the URL to) - and didn't see mention of it either.

MY oldest son did say he was watching Survivorman at the time the trailer for the H5N1 program came on (then he mentioned "science channel" - he has a dish, you see. *But he insisted that it was to be aired on Discovery channel....*

He alerted me to it, because I am the family intel sourse. They all seem to depend on me to keep them up with the events of the world - I guess, so that they can live their day to day lives with out constantly having watch for a future event to "Jump up and bite them"

They all know "Old Dad" stays about a week ahead of things which might upset their lives... Though they all seem to dread a phone conversation with me. "I tend to give them "quick updated" on what has happened, what might happen etc. when they call me..... "That kind of drops their *D*s in the dirt" some times.....

This WND report does not mention H5N1. To my knowledge, H5N1 has not been seen in the Western Hemisphere as yet.

Avian flus are not unusual .... in fact, I've read that perhaps most human flus originate in birds (or at least they are a major vector).

That is not to say that any emergent flu cannot become pandemic. But we just need to keep the differences in mind when folks are looking at these things.

Seeker has highlighted some of the most telling information.

This is an extremely plausible scenario. Mexico is not known for having strict laws on import/export and immigration/emigration. They could have imported something from Asia (Vietnam) or some place that was infected with H5N1 and now it is spreading. We have confirmation of H2H transmission from Vietnam and if this thing has gotten loose south of the border, it could spread like wildfire, particularly across our borders. Texas, NM, Arizona and Cali should be closely watched for unusual flu outbreaks. The info in this thread about San Antonio should be raising some major red flags. Maybe the flu is here and TPTB just don't want to admit it yet, they don't want to cause a panic until they are sure or that it becomes too apparent to hide anymore.

There is also another plausible scenerio where terrorists get infected or bring the flu into Mexico which would be extremely easy, and then try to infect the local populations, maybe several, knowing that border jumpers will bring it into the US, speeding up the pandemic and hand delivering it to the US.

Maybe all the dots we have been seeing with the military are adding up to the flu being here as soon as the next couple of weeks.

Isen't there an ongoing exercise regarding a pandemic/outbreak ongoing nationally as well as internationally at the moment? Started 24th and running for 3 wks. concentrating on banking infastructure ect.

I haven't really dug up anything new on this, but did find this interesting link, and it's something to think about to add to the idea of a NAU. A North American Union sounds like the plan in case of a pandemic, and would be the perfect excuse. Or, it could just be my tinfoil is too tight.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47347
NORTHCOM hosts Canada, Mexico at Pandemic Influenza Conference
By Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Sept. 7, 2007 – Representatives from American, Canadian and Mexican military and government agencies came to U.S. Northern Command headquarters here this week to discuss their plans and preparedness for a possible influenza pandemic.
About 80 officials are attending NORTHCOM's first Tri-National Pandemic Influenza Conference.

"Pandemic influenza does not respect borders," said Francisco Averhoff, chief of quarantine and border health services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It's clear that it's necessary, when you talk about this disease, that we need to have a continental strategy and work together with our partners in Canada and Mexico to make sure that we can best deal with this."

Health officials cannot predict if or when a pandemic influenza will develop, but a particularly dangerous strain of avian flu known as H5N1 is being closely monitored around the world for signs it may be spreading from human to human.

"North America is a region, and we are close neighbors," said Dr. Ethel Palacios Zavala, deputy director of emergency preparedness for international health emergencies in Mexico's Ministry of Health. "This (conference) gives us an opportunity to share what we have been doing in the preparedness arena for pandemic influenza. It is also an excellent opportunity to meet face to face the people that you have been working with across the phone line or maybe an e-mail ... and have close personal contact with the other people in the region."

In a report on the North American plan for avian and pandemic influenza released in August at the North American Leaders' Summit in Montebello, Quebec, officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States committed to cooperating with mitigation efforts as much as possible. That makes NORTHCOM's timing for this conference perfect, said William Horne, secretariat of the pandemic influenza preparedness committee of Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

"It's absolutely vital the three countries get together in very close working relationships," Horne said. "It was great of NORTHCOM to host this event and bring us all together to do that sharing. It would be important anyway, but it fits so nicely with the release of that report.

"I think it's a golden opportunity for those of us to make personal contacts with other people who are working in this field."

Government and health officials are better prepared to deal with the consequences of an influenza pandemic since the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, in 2002 and 2003, Averhoff said.

"I think we had a large wake-up call with SARS," Averhoff said. "When SARS happened a few years ago, we realized that infectious diseases can transverse the world ... very quickly through air travel. And there's a need for rapid coordination of activities between countries. With that experience, I think pandemic influenza preparedness has been really unique in the way people are actually proactively trying to deal with these issues before it happens as opposed to reactively."

NORTHCOM’s mission is homeland defense and civil support. The command conducts operations to deter, prevent, defeat and mitigate threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories and interests within the assigned area of responsibility and provides military assistance to civil authorities. In the event of a pandemic, NORTHCOM primarily is concerned with continuity of operations and force protection. The command also expects to be asked to provide support to civil authorities.
(Army Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen is assigned to the combined Public Affairs Office of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.)

Oh, and here's a link to a multipage PDF from the Department of Defense and it's plans for a pandemic from 2006. It's probably been posted here before, but here it is again: http://fhp.osd.mil/aiWatchboard/pdf/DoD_PI_Implementation_Plan_August_2006_Public_Release.pdf

I agree that this probably isn't H5N1, and could be another strain of BF. There's currently another strain outbreak in Regina Canada that's affecting the area as well. Also, I think we need to keep in mind that a mutation could potentially occur with any flu variety resulting in a human lethal strain in our own little part of the world. And, flu season is right around the corner, so I wonder what early cases portend at this point.

Yes Spanish version of this was posted at GLP a few days ago. Was still in the rumour stage but i didnt get back to check on it. Thanks for update. Worth watching.

Well that's just great! Anything going on in Mexico will be here before the week is out I'm sure. Only here I fully expect the news of it to be surpressed until it can be attributed to "anything" other than being brought over from Mexico. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't spin it to say that "we" infected "them"!

drafter said:

Well that's just great! Anything going on in Mexico will be here before the week is out I'm sure. Only here I fully expect the news of it to be surpressed until it can be attributed to "anything" other than being brought over from Mexico. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't spin it to say that "we" infected "them"!

Click to expand...

Never thought of that. We're all in trouble if something serious starts in Mexico and illegals bring it over. How could it ever be contained?? It would sweep through the continent like a speeding bullet.

If they are guessing between flu OR botulism, they really don't know what it is. The two diseases do not resemble each other. It could also be another strain of ANY of of the known flu bugs.

The flies from the tanning process can't be overlooked. Flies carry all kinds of filth related crud. Typhus or cholera come to mind.

The reporting here is dismal. WND has no proof, just a lot of inflamed speculation. What really got me was the shift halfway through from the story in Mexico to anti Bush screed...and, of course, all those wonderful WND Special Offers.

I have no doubt that there are some sick people in Mexico. However, I'm not ready to jump to avian flu conclusions on this non-evidence.

I get updates from our DOH and the info on Texas flu came up to us a few weeks ago. They're warning us to be on the watch. It's not reportable until Oct., so the official stats aren't out yet.

Sage

Quote from Dutch's thread: "Many of those sickened had the rare adenovirus type 14 strain known as "boot camp flu," the newspaper said.

Strictly speaking, an adenovirus is not a flu bug, although it can have many of the same symptoms.

Have they found a way to diagnose bird flu without an autopsy? If they still have no way to positively identify bird flu in a living person, then there is no way for them to know that it's in Mexico. This sounds like another scare tactic until there is some solid evidence that it is bird flu. It’s possible the people who are sick have food poisoning, or some other type of flu. With all the contaminated food that’s been in the food chain I’d say some type of food borne illness is a very real possibility.

Ben Sunday said:

I have no doubt that there are some sick people in Mexico. However, I'm not ready to jump to avian flu conclusions on this non-evidence.

Click to expand...

I'm glad to see that somebody else was able to perceive it rationally.

RR

Could this be what caused the case of spinal meningitis in the soldier listed in another thread? He was in Texas and Bacterial Meningitis can be caused by a form of influenza.

Could they be related?

Beth

The location of the illness outbreak is far removed from the US in any case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mexico_map,_MX-GUA.svg

RR

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/

Great website, lots of good info.
RD

BTW--consider the first appearance of H5N1 (in birds or any other creature for that matter) in North America as a MAJOR news story that will NOT be kept under wraps. In fact, if it happens, it will be the next big impetus for a wave of panic-prep buying, especially by those who have not prepped previously. Suffice it to say, the news media will drive that panic.

It will be something on the order of what happened before Y2K, after 9/11, and after Hurricane Katrina. I expect that it will be a bigger panic-buying situation of a few applicable preps than any of those other events (and they were BIG). Masks, gloves, antiseptics of all kinds, and storage foods will lead the way.

Consider what that will mean to the availability of those items and many others as the panic takes hold (and manufacturers are unable to immediately respond to the demand).

IF H5N1 appears in North America, there WILL be a panicked response in the near-term--that's a given. Things will settle down a bit again until a human case turns up and then it will happen again.

if theres anything that give me pause its pandemic, we are long over due, virus's are fast changing and evolving organisms and one day we are going to be faced with a version of stephen kings the stand,

the perfect virus with a high 90 mortality rate is what your looking for with airborne transmission, but the media is quick to jump on anything on even the flimsiest of evidence with articles written by staffers that aren't even part of a media outlets health and safety desk,
look at the sars non event a few years back, that wasn't the big one and i doubt this is either , safe to say that when it comes and i believe it will they'll be no hiding it and you'll know it ,just don't be so quick to panic and think it over when they try to scare you in to lining up for the miracle "vaccine " that i am sure big pharma will be pushing you to take
freebyrd

Some people take the threat of pandemic flu quite seriously and are already reasonably prepped in that regard. As JC pointed out - quite correctly I might add - it will be panic city all over again. When SARS burst onto the scene you couldn't find decent supplies of mask, gloves, etc, and NOT because people in the US were buying them up; they were all going overseas by the Conex box full.

RR

There will be a flu - either fabricated in the lab or fabricated in their minds - so they can blame it for the collapse of our economy and use it to eliminate our constitution.

I guess all the reports from Asia are just fairy tales or lab experiments then.

RR

The Flying Dutchman said:

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*THis article was contributed by a member who wishes to remain anynomous!*

<i>This news article is especially interesting to me. My lady is going to see her son tomorrow, in....You guessed it! San Antonio! ~ Dutchman</i>


<B><center>http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/inde...us-baseflu.xml

<font size=+1 color=purple>'Boot camp flu' strikes Texas air base</font></center>

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- More than 150 U.S. Air Force recruits have been sickened by a flu sweeping Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Nine airmen were hospitalized last month and about 150 more took ill at Lackland, The San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday.</b>

Many of those sickened had the rare adenovirus type 14 strain known as "boot camp flu," the newspaper said.

The viral strain, which is rare outside the close quarters of boot camp, has many of the same symptoms as standard flu. However, it carries a high risk of pneumonia, especially among worn-out recruits.

An outbreak of the virus in May sickened about 100 airmen. Airman Paige Renee Villers died of pneumonia Aug. 7.

Click to expand...

Went to this link its been moved or is under construction--I wonder what that means?

i would suggest that in the future, if an article is referenced, it would be wise to post the entire article and put the link. you never know when tptb will take down the information.