Mexican Swine Flu Has Killed First American
Today is a day of mourning and seriousness, as the Mexican Swine Flu (H1N1) has now claimed the life of one American. A child in Texas was the first fatality from the swine flu in the US, as confirmed by Dr. Richard Besser of the Centers for Disease Control.
The CDS’s Dr. Besser reported, “I can confirm the very sad news out of Texas that a child has died of the H1N1 virus.”
“As a parent and a pediatrician, my heart goes out to the family.”
The child was a little under two years old.
Only days ago, the official count for the number of Americans infected by H1N1 swine flu was an unconfirmed 11. Today that number has immediately increased to 64, six of who are in Texas.
Many people who recently returned from Mexico seem to have a case of this flu, and are spreading it to their friends and families, which is resulting in a gradual spread of this virus.
Dr. Besser, however, urges people not to panic but rather keep a close watch of news and recommendations from the CDC.
(Article continues after Video)
- Related Video: Health Officials Believe ‘Patient Zero’ Found In Mexico, Edgar Hernandez
“I expect we’ll see more cases,” Dr. Besser told us in interview. He continued, “And as we do, we’ll learn more about this, and if there needs to be more stringent or less stringent recommendations, we’ll be making those.”
Despite these words, Besser admits things may get far worse here in the US.
“Given what we’ve seen in Mexico, we have expected that we would see more severe infections and would see deaths,” Besser said.
Scientists Confirm Virus is Mexican Origin
Performing quick assay and data collection, health officials believe they have found ‘patient zero’ in this deadly outbreak that has spanned four continents and outside of Mexico and the US, has claimed 112 victims across four continents. Within Mexico itself, 1,500 infected and nearly 10% dead from the virus.
Officials believe the patient zero is a 5 year-old Mexican boy named Edgar Hernandez, from a rural mountain village in Mexico.
Edgar is the earliest person to have tested positive for having H1N1 and have his case documented. Edgar managed to survive his case of the swine flu.
Edgar Hernandez’s village is a mountain town named La Gloria, in the Mexican state of Veracruz. On April 2nd, Mexican health officials made note of flu outbreak that quickly spread across the 3,000 person village.
Reports show that every other sick person in the village had a normal case of flu; Edgar had a particularly ‘peculiar’ strain that Mexican health officials at first were not too concerned about.
Only after the same strain started popping up around the country a few days later, did health officials immediately return and also pull up Edgar’s sample. This virus had started to quickly spread from one person, was causing deaths and set health officials into action.
Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova reports, “In this case, there’s a patient who turned out to be positive for the swine flu virus, with the exception that at that time in no region of the world it had been established as an etiological, epidemic cause.”
Protecting Yourself and Aftermath
The World Health Organization is collecting data on the spread of this flu and official counts, as to determine appropriate course of action.
Worldwide people are already stocking up on surgical masks, liquid foods and drinks and over-the-counter medicines in case the worst happens.
Health officials in the United States have approved the release of Tamiflu and Relenza, two powerful antiviral medications. There is a misconception that antibiotics may be used in treating viral infections, and it should be noted that antibiotics are intended to assist the body in breaking down non-resistant bacterial cells.
The WHO confirmed as of time of report, the following countries do have confirmed cases of H1N1. There is a connection between direct travel and return to Mexico for each of these nations: United States, Canada, Spain, Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica and Germany.
Mexico has updated its count of confirmed positive infections to 2,500 and has not updated its death count from 159 individuals.
Other nations are now taking precautions to prevent the spread of swine flu. Mexico itself has banned non-essential public events and people are wearing masks in public.
Many governments are banning travel to Mexico and several nations are testing the temperature of each person who is arriving from Mexico via sophisticated heat scanning devices. US President Barack Hussein Obama told Americans to only travel to Mexico right now if ‘absolutely necessary’.
China and Russia have banned all imported pork from Western hemisphere nations, a move which indicates an errant thought about how this virus can quickly spread and kill humans.
As the name indicates, the swine flu is a respiratory virus that is usually transmitted from pig-to-pig. The virus, albeit rarely, can transfer from animal-to-human.
If this virus mutates and is spread to another human, which may be the case with this strain of H1N1, the results can be disastrous.
Virulence levels of this particular strain are a bit elevated from common flus and its quick spread is deadly because people have no natural immunity. Vaccinations can only be provided after a new strain is discovered, and it takes several months to develop a sufficient suite of vaccine.
In that amount of time, tens of thousands of people or more could easily die. Fortunately, this virus has not yet made a key mutation to cause a global pandemic.
Symptoms of H1N1 include diarrhea, sore throat, runny nose, fever and vomiting. Basically, it will feel just like any other case of flu a person has contracted during their life.
Each year, normal strains of flu kill 300,000 to 500,000 people worldwide. While the numbers from this one Mexican origin H1N1 strain have thankfully not reached those numbers, its death rate is significantly higher than common strains of flu.
Health officials report that this is because there is no vaccination for this ‘new’ type of flu and that people do not have a natural immunity to it. Without non-commonly released antiviral medications like Tamiflu, a person is left to their own immune system and health to battle this infection.
Tamiflu and associated drugs are typically released on an age basis and are not available to the general public, outside of cases of severe influenza compromise coupled with pregnancy, chemotherapy or other potentially debilitating health diseasses.
This is to lower potential for viruses that are resistant to antiviral medications from taking form and spreading.
In preparation for this virus mutating and spreading quickly through the US population, the federal government has started to prepare the national stockpile of Tamiflu (12 million units) for distribution to any state that declares a medical emergency and has medical need for the antiviral measure.
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Author: Amber
Amber <3's you and someone else does too!
10:28 am
Children and toddlers die of the regular flu all the time, therefore, this should not be shocking to us. In fact, 30,000 Americans die every year of the regular flu. Not to say that the swine flu shouldn’t be taken seriously, but the fact that only 1 American has died so far is actually incredibly reassuring…not to mention the fact that the first death is someone in the age range of someone who is at high risk of death from the regular flu.
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12:20 pm
Actually, the child was from Mexico if you read the actual article. It was flown here (Houston) to be treated.
The amount of people who are infected with this virus in the U.S. is approximately 0.001%.
The purpose of the flu shot is to increase your immune system by giving you a “mild” flu in hopes that you can fight off tougher strains later in the year. The strain you get from the flu shot may not be the same as the flu which is spread around (which may be the reality of this flu).
The pigs near the farm of Patient Zero were found to NOT have swine flu.
@Claire: “no shit sherlock.”
Not very christian of you. Not that I believe this is really a christian website. I believe this is a spoof.
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3:37 pm
If Amber was a man, I would totally jump on her bones. But unfortunately she’s a woman, and I fancy a nice man-root to satisfy myself, so I’m going to fantasize about Dan instead. Oh man, I just want Dan to thrust his hot, throbbing cock into my anus, while he reaches around and grasps my spicy Italian sausage, pleasuring me with his hand until I’m overcome with waves of ecstasy as I spill my man-chowder onto the mattress. And then Dan will quickly pull his thick cock out of my tight ass and he’ll lick up my spilled seed off the bedspread. While he’s doing that I’ll bend down and take his thick cock between my lips, savoring the taste of his flesh and my own feces. I’ll nearly choke as he screams with pleasure, pumping his baby-batter deep into my esophagus.
Ok, I really gotta jack off right now, be right back!!!
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7:24 pm
Here is an interesting article about Swine flu: http://www.nashville247.tv/News/Health/2009/04/29/NEW-Details-on-child-killed/1241025564.html
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5:51 am
This is not just some swine flu. This is a swine+avian+human flu strain. This my friends was crafted in a laboratory and unleashed on humanity by evil plot. People want you and yours dead, quite simply. Roughly 80% of the world’s population gone — that’s the goal. Don’t go thinking it won’t happen. Recall the anthrax incident? There are some demented people out there. A flu is a little easier and less likely to cause suspicion than an envelope filled with white powder.
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11:33 am
The problem is that unlike more common flu, the protein makeup of this flu is so novel that no one has an immune defense for it. Your body is working point up to overtake this virus once it’s recognized. And it’s true that it takes several weeks to several months to develop effective vaccines against known strains, so this is very troubling if this virus mutates to a point to where it begins to quickly spread. I doubt this will happen, much like the some potential the last outbreak of avian flu did not come to fruition.
Also, Amber, the child who died was not American. He was a Mexican child who came to Texas to get emergency medical treatment, and sadly still passed. I think the median age groups that have fallen to this virus are 25 – 45, which somewhat goes to show how if you’re not careful and even at a prime in your life, a new strain of virus can quickly compromise your health.
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11:58 am
“The problem is that unlike more common flu, the protein makeup of this flu is so novel that no one has an immune defense for it.”
No shit, Sherlock. However, nobody has complete immune defense for ANY type of the flu. The regular flu adapts every year (a sign of evolution) which is why people have to get a flu shot every year, because the strain is somewhat different.
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3:23 pm
Your right Claire, i apologize, i am a complete douchbag.
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3:24 pm
I’m not a Christian. Christians can suck my ass-barf. I’m an Atheist who’s constantly arguing with the racist, homophobic, hateful Christians on this site. And no, this site is not a spoof. The writers on here are real and they truly believe the insane diarrhea that comes out of their mouths.
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3:29 pm
Hi Adam, you are clearly new at pretending to be Adam Nelson, so I’ll give you a pointer. Go to your profile and add a website (whatever website you want) to where it says “website” or something like that. By doing that, you’ll make your name clickable. Notice how the real Adam Nelson’s name is red and clickable, that’s because his name is linked to a website. So make your name clickable, so that you’ll actually fool people into thinking that you’re Adam Nelson (even though you’ll be saying incredibly funny things at the real Adam Nelson’s expense).
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5:43 am
Long live Adam Nelson!
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5:06 pm
You’re not me and I pray your fingers get arthritis or something for not being nice.
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5:07 pm
Should have known you’d encourge people to act like me. Maybe, just maybe, somewhere in that little heart of yours you love me and want to be my eve.
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5:16 pm
“Maybe, just maybe, somewhere in that little heart of yours you love me and want to be my eve.”
For your information, I have Cardiomegaly. Therefore, I’m sure my heart is much larger than yours. And I do NOT love you. I hate your guts. And I see you’re still planning on raping me and forcing me to carry children for you, with that “eve” comment. So I’ll be bludgeoning you into the ground before you even manage to get your filthy hands on me. Rapist.
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5:47 am
And you think they really want you to go away? You’re their main readers. You’re their target audience.
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5:59 am
I believe you have love Adam-Nelsonmegaly too, because the Christ in your heart, even unknown to you, is compelling you. Ah, my Eve.
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