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Today's Top News
Fatal New Flu Strain Threatens Mexico, US
MEXICO CITY - Mexican and U.S. health officials searched on Saturday for signs 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.
A police woman wears a mask in Mexico City April 24, 2009. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez 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.
MORE CASES COULD EMERGE
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 U.S. 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 Center 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.
Editing by Mohammad Zargham
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98 Comments so far
Show AllMaybe the planet is fighting back. Maybe we will be diseased into the stone age, where the survivors will go back to living off the vast amounts of land that will be freed up by natural attacks on our human population from diseases hired by the animals we've been torturing, enslaving and "farming" for thousands of years.
I think we can all agree that we cannot "develop" forever.
Good post. Certainly a living, breathing, interconnected ecosystem like Gaia (from which humans have mostly disconnected themselves, by their own volition) would have a natural defense mechanism to get rid of nasty and destructive pests. Our very own human bodies have such a mechanism, and they usually do a pretty good job when taken care of. Mother Earth would have this too - only it takes much longer (by our perspective) for the mechanism to fight back, a couple centuries in this case.
Too bad for us that we are the nasty and destructive pests . . .
In my opinion, the Gaia hypothesis is an excellent metaphor, and these posts make good use of it. "The world's immune system is responding to an assault."
However, what is really going on is that overpopulation, undernourishment, and poor sanitation--in short, poverty--makes an excellent incubator for the evolution of pathogens. So, as sweet and unifying as is the Gaia hypothesis (and I do love the metaphor), this is really nothing but plain old evolution playing out, same as always.
In my opinion, this has nothing to do with Gaia or evolution, but with the eugenics agenda of the Global masters. I know a number of posters almost seem to revel in some kind of twisted Gaia notion of massive kill-offs of the human population. This latest outbreak is not a natural occuring phenomenon. It most likely signals government bioterrorism racheting up to a new level, to set up the excuse for martial law.
Unlimited growth is cancer.
The Headline should Read - Fatal new corporate medicine quack product threatens Mexico, US and the world. Does anyone for a moment believe that medicine represents anything but the worst of exploitive business practices multiplied by the irreplaceable bank busting marketing tactic of fear.
Like almost all things that the plague of Corporate Medicine creates, this alleged New Flu Stain has zero credibilty. The germ witch hunters and disease mongerers have been playing the fraudulant germ voodoo card for generations. It has created the greatest health fiasco in the history of the world which is allopathic medicine with its failed treatments and enormous wealth that State sponsered quackery insures.
The New flu is a myth - it is an invention of a product to market and nothing more. What is already know about this marketing campaign exposes an absurd and perniciuos scam.
The list of absurdities that must be accepted by the brainwashed public to be sold this fantasy is a humbling example as to the degree of social ingorance that the medical industrial state financial complex has achieved -
Consider some of the transparent nonsense that comes with the new flu strain myth -
Germs cause disease ( really ? )
Killed Up to 68 Mexicans and infected 8 in the US - Really ? - how is it that they know it killed 20 of the 68 but not the other 48 - is the culturing from the 48 so difficult - no it can't be BECAUSE they are also claiming that a whole 8 people ( wow 8 ) have been infected in the US and none, repeat NONE of these people in the US were even sick enough to go to a hospital. How the hell do they then know that the sick people in the US were even sick with the alleged new strain if there sickness was so minor that they stayed home and recovered ? Recovered from what then ? - and if these hordes of 8, repeat 8 Americans were sick and could have cultures identified so quickly why couldn't the 48 DEAD Mexicans -
Expanding the customer base with fear the claim is that in Mexico 1004 cases are suspected - suspected ? suspected of what ! being advertising material ?
America has 300 million people - 8 cases and none were even really too sick.
By what magical mechanism did the alleged virus travel to the US but manage to avoid 46 of the 50 states ?
Most of the dead in Mexico were in the 25 to 45 age group. The fraudulant microbe therefore has the uncanny ability to target the strongest in population and pass up the weakest which are the elderly and very young.
Had enough of this nonsense and want to make sense out of it?
Who benefits ? disease mongers benefit. The drug sellers and the health hacks benefit _ "Cordova said that Mexico had 1 million doses of antviral medicine,and could easily enough treat the cases reported so far" - snd in New York City health officals were investigating what sickened students with "mild symptoms"
We will never know what was wrong in the envirnoment or food supply in Mexico now that a number of people have died. Instead MediSIN is on a marketing rampage. They will play market forces for evey last penny they can network out of the system. Beware the rush to reseach and development of a new flu vaccination that will be fear mongered down the throat of each and every person who can be suckered in by the corporate hacks that are masquerading as MDs and public health officals.
If we do have a pandemic we can rest assured that our public health infrastructure so assiduously built up during the Bush years will protect us.
-30-
"DVD rental stores said customers poured in to rent movies on Friday night so they could huddle inside for the weekend."
That really made me laugh! Close all the schools and museums, cancel public events, concerts, etc. Then let's everyone haul ass to Blockbuster to rent movies. Everyone knows you can't catch a bug while renting a DVD in a crowded store!
"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai. ~Leo Tolstoy
You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you want to see your karma, just look in the mirror.
Uh oh - every time I cook or clean the bathtub I am probably killing thousands if not millions of bacteria.
Joe
I would rather hope that Gaia is using a defense mechanism but with our paraniod criminal 'elite' trying to hang on to all they have stolen, it might be interesting to see what the pentagon's and cia's bio-weapons labs have been up to. Whatever the 'source beginnings' it damn sure bears the hallmarks of Naomi Klein's 'shock doctrine' agenda.
But I just read that the death rates have subsided, but being from our 'prestigious' MSM(msnbc) who am I gonna believe? This will have to play out for several days because eventually, if it worsens, even our traitorous MSM will have to report more on it if for no other reason to inform our national treasures, the 'elite'.
Ah yes, there is that other little nasty element to this whole thing: a bio-engineered crisis. I didn't mention it myself, but I'm certainly with you on the possibility. Right from the get-go of this story, I was quietly wondering if the workers at the military's chemical warfare facilities may have been doing a lot of overtime recently.
Not to push this too far into the land of speculative musings, but there were quite a few executive orders under the Bush I, Clinton and Bush II presidencies that set up the lawfulness of military control in the event of a national "emergency" or "crisis". All they need now is a trigger. A "pandemic" that has the population cringing in fear would certainly qualify.
I thought of this possibility, too, and very quickly found myself rocking back and forth with my eyes closed, my ears covered with my hands, softly humming to myself to block it all out. I just don't want to think about it!
Sioux Rose
SAMOSAMO: Glad you posted this idea before I did! I, too, had an immediate visceral reaction that some of the bugs PROMISING a pandemic may or may be purely natural occurences. When the climate change dried out a lake around a facility in USSR that once was used to breed biological weapons, researchers could still find viable Bubonic Plague and other "delights" in the soil surrounding the area. It's the old Pandora's Box "thing." Once these monsters are let loose it's a whole other matter catching them; and for minds evil enough to invent unmanned drones or robotic insects that can target "kills," why would we be naive about the idea they might want to try their bioweapon toys out, too? They lied about the nuclear tests in the desert as the "downwinders" learned through their high cancer counts. Integrity is not a notable component of that mentality that sees its career in the ways and means to deliver death to "convenient other."
By the way, CD now places one's comment under all those that pertain to the topic. I was responding to SAMO and then realized others had posted who shared my own fears.
""Genetic analysis shows the flu strain is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses.""
This is what got me thinking the possibilities, 3 different strains of the flu bug. The little I know of the flu bug makes me think that not only can an animal such as a pig contract all of these as I have read through the history of these dieases but when mixed or not the DNA/RNA of viruses can combine and create ever more virulent strains using genes to create resistance or become more aggressive.
And since the pentagon or cia are not held to scrutiny by congress or congress just doen's give a s**t, I don't know what they do. But it is not hard to figure that mixing these together in a lab will produce what will happen in an animal such as a pig, maybe even faster. Also remember, the people in weapons labortories are paid enough to put them in the 'elite' sector and without a conscience.
These are my thoughts as well. This a weaponized agent that has gotten loose?
Do people remember about a year ago when a number of vials from a US Laboratory were sent to 18 different countries where it was found they had been contaminted with a biological agent? (A Virus much like this one created in a lab)
It was only discovered by accident but the lab in question later claimed it an accident.
Or have people been following the number of micro-biologists who have died in accidents or committed suicide?
Do a google search on either and keep your mind open.
Remember as well that Anthrax attack just after 9/11. They claim they found the culprit (a person now dead rather convenient for them dont you think?) but the strain of Anthrax came out of FT Dix.
And in case people think this conspiracy theory nonsense it is a FACT That laws exist on the books and have existed on the books in the USA, passed by the senate and congress, that allow the US GOvernment to test such agents on the public.
Fast Eddie: Muchismas gracias for pointing out overpopulation, poor sanitation and poverty as connected to these new diseases. SARS (ah, remember SARS?) started in South China, which resembles Mexico City in many respects. Some people do not believe that overpopulation exists. Perhaps these are the same people who will give me a new disease.
With such a racist attitude as yours, maybe you would MERIT a new disease.
'(CNN) -- Cases of swine flu in Mexico and the United States represent "a serious situation" that could become a pandemic, the World Health Organization's director-general said Saturday.
'"This is an animal strain of the H1N1 virus and it has pandemic potential because it is infecting people," Dr. Margaret Chan said Saturday speaking to reporters on a teleconference phone call.'
Sounds like they know the strain.
Yep, six hours can make quite a difference.
Unfortunately, the US and Mexico are about the worst places for this flu to start. Both places have no virtually no publicly provided healthcare, and both have an populace who cannot afford to stay home from work, as most employers provide little or no paid sick leave.
Me, I work for the US government, so, in 11 years of working there I have about 1300 hours of sick leave racked up, plus another 200 hours of vacation leave I could dip into. Everyone in government - from a starting-level clerk to the president, gets these benefits, at the same level, too. If capitalist employers offered these benefits, we would be in better shape to face the pandemic.
And, I must add, most of the comments here so far are either a bit loony, or are completely beside the point.
Among the "beside the points" are the population remarks. Even a much less populated world would still have large cities - they are vital for everything that is "human" about humans - culture, science, and economic activity. Wasn't the world a pretty thinly populated place when the bubonic plague was spreading across Europe?
Compact, populous cities are also the only way to achieve sustainable energy usage. Even a much less populated world where cities are replaced by "a house in the country" sprawl - like, say Loudon County, VA or the "homes in the redwoods" area between San Jose and Santa Cruz, CA is not sustainable from a transportation energy usage standpoint.
And now I've gone off topic...
Where...and for who? Perhaps in the larger cities, there are more healthcare options available, especially for children. I know of some programs for children and for the elderly, but most of the adults I know here do not have health insurance and all of them work at "legitimate" jobs. In the town where I live in Southern Oaxaca, people are routinely turned away from the hospitals, either because they do not have enough money to pay or because there are simply not enough doctors and nurses on staff. Most people here rely on family remedies. At least for now in the United States, a person can go to the hospital and not be turned away because they can't afford treatment.
I think many people have a vision of Mexico based on cities like Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara or tourist regions, where more modern amenities and services do exist. But much of Mexico is very poor and few people consider the government a resource for their lives. How can it be said that healthcare here is better, when most places don't even have waste treatment facilities, grey and black water flows into the street, packs of obviously diseased dogs run rampant and the very water that is used to bathe has algae and dirt in it? These things are part of a larger picture of healthcare and Mexico is really missing the mark. Not to say that the US has their act together in this regard, but to simply say that Mexico has better healthcare is an extreme generalization that fails to take into account a number of other factors.
I live in a pueblito with mestizos and indigenas. So you can forget about smearing me with gringo-centric racism.
Anyone with a legitimate job is enrolled in the IMSS. I have been here almost 20 years and also have managed businesses here, so I know what I am talking about.
Mexico's SANITATION is poor. Sanitation and health care are not the same.
Sanitation may be better in Gringolandia (why not go back there, bubba?), but healthcare is not.
I don't think I was smearing you or being a racist. Most of the people I know do not have health insurance and they all work. I don't know what you mean by a legitimate job though. If the definition of a legitimate job does not include the all of the shop owners or attendants, office workers or the many people who can only find work selling things on the streets, then the healthcare system as you have described it is excluding a large population of people. I also believe that sanitation does have a lot to do with healthcare in a preventative sense. I don't think we should entirely separate the two.
As far as your correcting my grammar goes-- go right ahead. I am neither offended nor impressed by your attempt to undermine my opinion based on a common grammatical error.
Nobody is trying to undermine your opinion.
But you also do not READ well, as my comment referred to YOU as the racist.
And I already indicated that a legitimate job is one where you are enrolled in the IMSS--which provides healthcare, retirement benefits as well as access to social interest housing credits. It also means that taxes are deducted from your gross income.
Anything else is an "informal" job. Which more and more people will have since Calderon, the Employment President, has done nothing but fiull his pockets and those of his compinches from the public trough.
In the US, having a legitimate job does NOT entitle you to healthcare.
If you reread the first line of my last comment you will notice that you misread it. I said "I don't think I was smearing you OR being a racist. Meaning I do not believe I was being a racist. Pointing out that many Mexican people are unable to receive quality healthcare is not racist. Pointing out that a person, regardless of their financial status, can walk into a hospital in the US and receive treatment is not racist. I don't understand why you cannot accept that both systems (Mexico and the US) are flawed.
Originally, you said that if a person has a legitimate job, then they are entitled to IMSS benefits- you did not say that if a person is enrolled in IMSS, that means they have a legitimate job. The definition of "legitimate" could be determined in a different way depending on the way you describe the circumstances.
I believe you are the one who engaged in prejudicial language by referring to me as "bubba" and suggesting I go back to the United States. Half of my entire family lives in Mexico and are indigenous Mexican people. You could not be further off on the bubba point. I do not plan on responding to whatever you have to say or even checking back to see what you have written. Nor do I think I will ever take you seriously should I see you again on common dreams. You obviously have an enormous chip on your shoulder and while I have engaged in many interesting and productive conversations on CD, I do not consider this to be one of them. So, have a good day, a nice life and maybe IMSS can help you with that enormous block on arrogance that resides firmly upon your shoulder.
BTW, the correct usage is "for WHOM".
As for the scale, suddenness and limited duration of the Queens high school outbreak, it seems more typical of a problem with the food, water or something in the ventilation system or environment. Lab tests or cultures from infected students would tell.
Joe
As much as I'd love to subscribe to this whole "the planet is fighting back" concept, I simply don't believe it. First of all, it sounds uncannily close to the same "disease pandemic = jesus is coming" line touted by fundy Christians. Second, knowing the history of disease pandemics... being that the Influenza outbreak in 1918 killed more people than died in WWI (not to mention the the bubonic plague and all that fun stuff) it seems like any recent pandemic is mostly sensationalized for the purposes of selling surgical masks and ratings.
If the "Gaia" is fighting back, it isn't doing a very good job of it. Every disease it throws our way, we ignore it and keep multiplying.
But I happen to agree with FastEddie... it's just evolution and the germ theory of disease at work, unfortunately as always, in poorer areas. No need to invoke new age mysticism... as cool as it sounds.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" -Epicurus
"Second, knowing the history of disease pandemics... being that the Influenza outbreak in 1918 killed more people than died in WWI (not to mention the the bubonic plague and all that fun stuff) it seems like any recent pandemic is mostly sensationalized for the purposes of selling surgical masks and ratings."
Can you explain what you mean here? You state that there have been very serious pandemics in the past, but talk of current ones is just hype. You seem to be contradicting yourself.
What I am saying is that, first of all, if there ever was a time to say "the planet is fighting back" it seems like it would apply to the times of the worst pandemics in human history. At these times, as other posters have mentioned, there weren't nearly as many people wreaking as much havoc on the planet as there are today... so this throws a damper on the whole theory.
And then secondly, even if we were to apply this argument to those really horrible pandemics such as the Influenza outbreak or the Bubonic Plague, then I would have to conclude that the planet failed miserably at neutralizing the human threat, as we are still here all these years later and our population is still exploding.
Lastly, on a scale of how bad we've known these types of things to get, whether it's SARS, the Avian Bird Flu, or this newest flu outbreak, it always seems like the media grasps on to any story that generates fear among the population and sensationalizes it.
Sorry if I wasn't being clear with that. I hope this serves to clarify what I meant.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" -Epicurus
i guess I disagree with you that it is being sensationalized. Coverage has been low- key in the US, but if it is "sensationalized" it appears that the media will at least be paying attention to something important for once. Even a mild pandemic will cause much more human suffering than any "terrorist attack".
Perception,
As one who mentioned the Gaia idea above, I will respectfully have to disagree with your disagreement. (Does that make it a double negative?)
Anyway, I think my problem with your refutation (though you certainly make a good point) could be summed up as a "scale of time". It seems to me you are looking at these instances singly, in and of themselves, rather then as a collective whole. By that I mean all of them TOGETHER might reflect Gaia's defense mechanism, over time. Couple these diseases with erratic and unpredictable weather patterns, severe droughts in some areas with severe floods in others, bugs that are becoming resistant to pesticides and "germs" that are becoming resistant to anti-biotics, etc, and I think it could be easily argued that something is starting to slap us back quite forcefully.
Perhaps the word "starting" is the key to what I mean. Your scale of time is vastly different than the earth's scale of time. Since you and I live an average of somewhere between 70 and 90 years, our immune system responds in what seems to us as a short amount of time when combatting any disease agents. Well, the earth will do the same, but since it has been around somewhere in the vicinity of a couple BILLION years (or a couple thousand, if you are a fundamentalist Christian fan of Bishop Usher), Her response may seem to us as a VERY long time (i.e. from 1918 to today), when in fact it is but a mere fraction of a fraction of a second to earth time . . . and my apologies to the fundy Christians for not calculating the conversion to your frame of reference. In other words, I am simply putting this in a different scale of time.
I hope that helps clarify my thoughts. If I have mistaken your points, my apologies.
No "new-age mysticism" necessary, though I will say the earth most definitely IS a living, breathing organism much like you and I are.
Peace,
John (Seventhson)
It could also be that it is human nature to look for patterns when there are no such patterns, and the events are just random events.
The problem with your scale of time theory, of BILLIONS of years, is that humanity hasn't been around doing the things it is doing for BILLIONS of years. In terms of scale of time, humanity has been around only for a very short time. And the ability of humanity to spread all over the world, and consume vast natural resources, has also only been true for a very short time.
Which means, that if Gaia is indeed responding as per your view, then the response cannot be that of a response on a scale of BILLIONS of years. Or even thousands. It has to be pretty much on a scale that is very close to human scale.
Hmm, combination of avian flu and swine aye?
Here, let me help out and throw these bird bones on the floor for a reading.......
Ah Ha! It spells: R-U-M-S-F-I-E-LD! Past CEO and stockholder of the corporate holder of the Avian vaccine patent.
The Bones never Lie!
From January 1997 until being sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense in January 2001, Rumsfeld served as Chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc. Gilead Sciences is the developer of Tamiflu (Oseltamivir), which is used in the treatment of bird flu.[27]As a result, Rumsfeld's holdings in the company grew significantly when avian flu became a subject of popular anxiety during his later term as Secretary of Defense. Following standard practice, Rumsfeld recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead, and he directed the Pentagon's General Counsel issue instructions outlining what he could and could not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to respond.[28][29][30]
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=atHtXtCigRII&refer=europe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Rumsfield
I knew we should have put him on the rack for torture! Now he's torturing all of us....
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Awesome post, TM. I should also point out that good old George Schultz (Reagan's Sec of State)) also holds lots of stock in Gilead Sciences.
Thanks Seventhson,
and I didn't know that about Shultz,
It's just amazing how the more you dig, the more the same names keep coming up.... All Nixon/Regan/Bush guys..... even on seemingly disparate crisis like CIA & JFK, Salem Bin Laden & Bush & Carlyle Group, Bildenberg Group & bank bailout recipients, Fed reserve bank and Isreal...... etc, etc, etc,
If we could abolish a few white house mafias, our lives might get much better!
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
"If the "Gaia" is fighting back, it isn't doing a very good job of it. Every disease it throws our way, we ignore it and keep multiplying."
That's why Gaia gives us wars and conservatives to start them.
""Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" -Epicurus"
Maybe like children, he lets us fail so we can learn from our mistakes.
Sorry to say, my dear commenters, but the spread of a flu viruses has nothing to do with sanitation or economic status. Wealthy people are more likely to spread the disease because of frequent air travel. Most of Meixco's poverty is in the rural areas. Central Mexico city is fairly well-off.
I was speaking of "incubation" rather loosely, and you are speaking of the international spread of the disease. And yes, international travel is a vector for comparitively well-off people to rapidly spread a disease around the world.
Population density has a lot to do with disease development, evolution, and dispersal. "Human pathogens can also show density-dependent infection rates. For example, tuberculosis, which is caused by bacteria that spread through the air when an infected person sneezes or coughs, strikes a greater percentage of people living in high-density cities than those living in rural areas" (Campbell and Reece, "Biology," 7th Ed.).
Sanitation also clearly effects dispesal, as evidenced by Zimbabwe's recent cholera outbreak.
As for poverty in Mexico City, I just googled it and found:
http://www.mexico-child-link.org/street-children-definition-statistics.htm
Mexico City has 1,900,000 underprivileged and street children. 240,000 of these are abandoned children. (Action International Ministries)
In the central area of Mexico City there are 11,172 street children. 1,020 live in the street and 10,152 work there. (City of Mexico/Fideicomiso, Report, 1991)
Not so fast, Fast Eddie:
Tell us about all the Seattle street kids you have adopted--and what it is costing you to feed and clothe them.
When you have done that, come back and talk to us about Mexico City's poor.
My favorite bumper sticker: "Mother Nature is coming, and BOY is she pissed!"
Flu pandemics occur every time the influenza virus develops sufficient novelty to evade the immune system. Human flu spreads globally more rapidly now than in the past due to more effective transportation. The pandemics of the 20th century occurred in 1918 (Spanish flu), 1957 (Asian flu), and 1968 (Hong Kong flu).
If the current flu becomes pandemic it will undoubtedly be known as the Mexico 2009 flu. Since preliminary analysis suggests it is a hybrid of human, swine and avian flu it is clearly novel and will likely start a pandemic. This unusual structure has already led to suggestions of a biological warfare agent.
Sioux Rose
PROF: Your post made me think about how the avian and swine parts would comingle... was there a romance between a pig and a bird?
Bacteria can toss DNA back and forth like a frisbee.
Not exactly a romance between the animals but a romance between the flu viruses simultaneously infecting an animal, maybe a pig.
Sioux Rose
The PROF: Plausible explanation. I was adding a bit of humor to the subject. I don't think it merits the levels of panic that seem to be the rage thanks to media fanning the flames of fear. What sells better?
"Flu pandemics occur every time the influenza virus develops sufficient novelty to evade the immune system."
This is not quite true.
The major pandemics (e.g. the Spanish Flu of 1918) were caused by cytokine storms, which are a positive feedback loop in healthy immune systems. This is why healthy young adults are affected more than the weak, older or compromised immune systems.
The new strain has been described as a subtype of H1N1 (similar to the Spanish Flu), which indicates a cytokine storm.
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins - Native American proverb.
What I said was quite true about the reason for a pandemic, a novel virus.
Your comment, WTF, relates to the unusual pattern of death arising from a novel virus. The young and old, who are usually more affected by the flu, have immune systems that are less competent than mature healthy adults who succumb, as you note, to the vigorous effects of their immune systems leading to cytokine storms. This includes cytokine mobilized killer cells that can destroy so much infected lung tissue that respiratory collapse occurs.