Virus, SHTF in Mex?

[Jocassee]

This may be the big one...I expect we'll know more before long

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=090424171617.hbql8l5y&show_article=1

Seven People in California, Texas Hit by Strange New Swine Flu

Sixteen people have died from swine flu and authorities are probing 50 more possible deaths from the virus, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said Friday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53N22820090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Deadly new flu breaks out in Mexico, U.S.
Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:28pm EDT

By Alistair Bell and Noel Randewich

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A deadly strain of flu never seen before has killed as many as 61 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where several people were reported ill.

Mexico's government said on Friday that at least 16 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 45 other deaths.

The World Health Organization said genetic tests of the virus in 12 of the Mexican victims had the same genetic structure as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in seven people in California and Texas.

Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.

"It is a virus that mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans," Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.

It first looked mostly like a swine virus but closer analysis showed it is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Humans can occasionally catch swine flu from pigs but rarely have they been known to pass it on to other people.

CLOSE TO 1,000 SUSPECTED CASES IN MEXICO

Seven people were infected with the new strain in California and Texas, but all of them have recovered. Mexico said it had close to 1,000 suspected cases there.

Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year, but the flu season for North America should have been winding down.

The White House was closely following the new cases in the United States and Mexico, and President Barack Obama has been informed, an administration official said.

The Mexican government cautioned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or to share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of infection.

The outbreak jolted residents of the Mexican capital, one of the world's biggest cities and home to some 20 million people.

One pharmacy ran out of surgical face masks after selling 300 in a day.

"We're frightened because they say it's not exactly flu, it's another kind of virus and we're not vaccinated," said Angeles Rivera, 34, a federal government worker who fetched her son from a public kindergarten that was closing.

The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, the CDC has said.

The Geneva-based U.N. agency WHO said it was in daily contact with U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities and had activated its Strategic Health Operations Center (SHOC) -- its command and control center for acute public health events.

The CDC said it will issue daily updates here

Surveillance for and scrutiny of influenza has been stepped up since 2003, when H5N1 bird flu reappeared in Asia. Experts fear this strain, or another strain, could spark a pandemic that could kill millions.

In Egypt, a 33-year-old woman died of bird flu, becoming the third person killed there in a week. The H5N1 bird flu, a completely different strain from the swine flu, has infected 421 people in 15 countries and killed 257 since 2003.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Maggie Fox and Eric Walsh)

This may be it folks...or it may blow over in a week and we'll never hear about it again.

[wingnutx]

Good thing Napolitano is closing down the Canadian border.

[PTK]

Hm. Odd.

Does it speak strongly of my sociopathic tendencies that I hope this is indeed a "SHTF" event? 

[AJ Dual]

Hm. Odd.

Does it speak strongly of my sociopathic tendencies that I hope this is indeed a "SHTF" event? 

I dunno... 

Fur really does not filter nearly as well as an N95-spec mask....

Sorry, just had to get that in there. 

But seriously, it depends. What are you looking for in SHTF. The "Burn off of useless eaters/undesireables"? Adrenaline junky? Moral superiority of being (more) prepared than others?

Nah, never mind. All those reasons are sociopathic to one degree or another. Parenthood is a major milestone in how one thinks of these things. The thought of having to cart one, some, or all of my four little girls to the mass graves or burning fields, or conversely, leaving them orphaned, kind of takes the wind out of what "good" I once thought could come from SHTF, and whatever lingering SHTF fantasies I once had.

Kids have a funny way of upping one's investment in "status quo" immensely.

[El Tejon]

I knew it was the Canadians and their round bacon of death!

[charby]

Nah, never mind. All those reasons are sociopathic to one degree or another. Parenthood is a major milestone in how one thinks of these things. The thought of having to cart one, some, or all of my four little girls to the mass graves or burning fields, or conversely, leaving them orphaned, kind of takes the wind out of what "good" I once thought could come from SHTF, and whatever lingering SHTF fantasies I once had.

Ditto.

[CNYCacher]

State health officials and the FBI in California and Mexico are investigating the apparent theft of hundreds of bodies believed to be the victims of a new "swine flu".


In other news, there appear to be small riots breaking out in various cities across the southwest, early reports of groups of people, some naked, clogging up traffic, attacking cars and in at least one case, dragging people out of their cars and attacking them are filtering in.  One woman who phoned our office claimed she was bitten twice on the arm before rolling up her window.  She described her attacker as "some kind of crazy meth head, he could barely walk and was just moaning!  I tried to give him some money to go away and he bit me!"

Okay boys, get ready!  Grab your scoped 10/22s, backup machetes, sidearms, GMRS radios and as many 550 bricks of Federal 22LR as you can carry.  I'll see you on the roof!

[Jocassee]

Okay boys, get ready!  Grab your scoped 10/22s, backup machetes, sidearms, GMRS radios and as many 550 bricks of Federal 22LR as you can carry.  I'll see you on the roof!

LOL!!

Hope not. I agree with the above, if SHTF I'm not on some wild adventure, I'm holding down the homestead with my parents and younger sisters. Not something I'm looking forward to.

[Nick1911]

How do you defend against a virus?  I can't exactly quit my job for a year...

[PTK]

SHTF as in, population control. It'd do the world a lot of good.

[Balog]

A mass die off would most definitely not be a good thing. Unless you enjoy famine, martial law, and a regress in civilization.

[wingnutx]

I'm standing right in front of this particular fan  :|

[Jocassee]

SHTF as in, population control. It'd do the world a lot of good.

You must not have any family or friends.

[charby]

Pandemics happen about every 20 years... hm-mm the last swine flu one was in the late 80's. Hopefully the mortality is low.

[RocketMan]

Pandemics happen about every 20 years... hm-mm the last swine flu one was in the late 80's. Hopefully the mortality is low.

Cites?  Just interested in whatever information is out there.  (Too lazy for googling it myself.)

eta: Actually, too busy trying to reinstall Vista on a client's laptop for the fourth time.  Damn Vista.

[PTK]

You must not have any family or friends.

...not really, no. I tend to look at things rather coldly, it's a problem. Something or other affective disorder.

[Jocassee]

CDC says too late to contain U.S. flu outbreak
24 Apr 2009 19:31:20 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it was too late to contain the swine flu outbreak in the United States.

CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people.

"There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely," he said.

He said the U.S. cases and Mexican cases are likely the same virus. "So far the genetic elements that we have looked at are the same." But Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Patricia Zengerle)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/24443479.htm

Doesn't sound like they're very worried.

[charby]

Cites?  Just interested in whatever information is out there.  (Too lazy for googling it myself.)

eta: Actually, too busy trying to reinstall Vista on a client's laptop for the fourth time.  Damn Vista.

from http://us.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/23/swine.flu/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

If history is any indication, flu pandemics tend to occur once every 20 years or so, meaning we're actually due for one, he said. However, it is not likely to be the swine flu, he said.

I can't remember where I read about the late 80's but a bunch of articles are taking about a swine flu incident in WI in 1988.

[Seenterman]

Wow never though I'd actually see people wanting the S to HTF. 

[PTK]

Wow never though I'd actually see people wanting the S to HTF. 

Then you didn't do a whole lot of thinking.

[drewtam]

...not really, no. I tend to look at things rather coldly, it's a problem. Something or other affective disorder.

You're not looking at it coldly, you're looking at it foolishly. Epidemics destroy and slow down civilization, they do not "purify" it as you seem to think. We are all immensely wealthier and healthier due to our large world population. 

[Standing Wolf]

It's Bush's fault. It's gotta be. Who else's fault could it be? It's obvious, right, dude?

[Snowdog]

SHTF?  Um no... it's still 2 years and 7 months until 2012.  Nice try though.  :D

[tyme]

Are you sure it's 2012?  I guess it depends on which mythology...

http://www.dvc.org.uk/apocalypse.html

Something or other affective disorder

You mean seasonal affective disorder?  And by season I mean GLOBAL KILLER FLU season? :)

[Azrael256]

Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States

Durrrr... the same reason why SARS killed so many farmers in China but nobody in the states?

Pig-farmers living in third-world s**tholes have a higher mortality rate from everything.