Swine Flu Outbreak

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rockin'robin

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Q's & A's About "Swine Flu"

Mexico is contending with an outbreak of swine flu, suspected in the deaths of dozens of people and sickening perhaps 1,000. In the United States, at least eight cases have been confirmed with the infection, all of them in California and Texas; only one person was hospitalized. Here are some questions and answers about the illness:

Q. What is swine flu?

A. Swine flu is a respiratory illness in pigs caused by a virus. The swine flu virus routinely causes outbreaks in pigs but doesn't usually kill many of them.

Q. Can people get swine flu?

A. Swine flu is a respiratory illness in pigs caused by a virus. The swine flu virus routinely causes outbreaks in pigs but doesn't usually kill many of them.

Q. Can people get swine flu?

A. Swine flu viruses don't usually infect humans. There have been occasional cases, usually among people who've had direct contact with infected pigs, such as farm workers. "We've seen swine influenza in humans over the past several years, and in most cases, it's come from direct pig contact. This seems to be different," said Dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert with the University of Michigan.

Q. Can it spread among humans?

A. There have been cases of the virus spreading from human to human, probably in the same way as seasonal flu, through coughing and sneezing by infected people.

Q. What are the symptoms of swine flu?

A. The symptoms are similar to those of regular flu — fever, cough, fatigue, lack of appetite.

Q. Is the same swine flu virus making people sick in Mexico and the U.S.?

A. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the Mexican virus samples match the U.S. virus. The virus is a mix of human virus, bird virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.

Q. Are there drugs to treat swine flu in humans?

A. There are four different drugs approved in the U.S. to treat the flu, but the new virus has shown resistance to the two oldest. The CDC recommends the use of the flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza.

Q. Does a regular flu shot protect against swine flu?

A. The seasonal flu vaccine used in the U.S. this year won't likely provide protection against the latest swine flu virus. There is a swine flu vaccine for pigs but not for humans.

Q. Should residents of California or Texas do anything special?

A. The CDC recommends routine precautions to prevent the spread of infectious diseases: wash your hands often, cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, avoid close contact with sick people. If you are sick, stay at home and limit contact with others.

Q. What about traveling to Mexico?

A. The CDC has not warned Americans against traveling to Mexico but advises that they be aware of the illnesses there and take precautions to protect against infections, like washing their hands.

Questions and answers about swine flu
 
First, China has SARS.

Now, Mexico has swine flu.

:Ohno:

Who's next?
 
Should we worried about swine flu? I've been reading about it on the news lately and its worrying me how many people are dying, 80 people so far have died from it
 
I think we should be well informed about it! As always, I encourage my boys to "wash their hands" often! And to stay away from someone who is "coughing" or sick. So far, in 3 years, we have been flu free! And I use a lot of bleach on my floors, bath, etc.

A good scrubbing of all veggies before me eat them (as people have put their hands on them at grocery stores), and especially those grocery store carts! I have a bottle of hand sanitizer always handy! And a good wash of hands when we get home.
 
I heard to flu reason not good. I am scared I don't want to sick because you worst to sick become worst..
i saw on television global is news.
naursoea
diahhara
fatiauge
fever
 
I'm worrying about it. Not for myself, but for my son. He has alot of respiratory problems. He keep getting respiratory infections. Please people, wash your hands! My son can not take flu shots.
 
On 26 APR 09 the US Department of Health and Human Services declared a Public Health Emergency. The declaration of a Public Health Emergency is standard operating procedure, it allows government agencies to free up Federal, State, and local agencies and their resources in the virus prevention effort.

Center for Disease Control (CDC) states they do not expect the Swine Flu to become a pandemic.

What is Swine Flu: Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by a Type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans; however, human infections with swine flu do occur. Public health officials determined this strain of swine flu virus spreads from human to human.

At this time, there are no known cases of Swine influenza in the New England Area.
 
Points to pay special attention to when reviewing with your family, colleagues, etc... would be the information about prevention e.g. hand washing and how to keep the surfaces at your work or home as germ free as possible. Make sure you will be using a good supply of soap, paper towels, alcohol based hand sanitizing gels, gloves, and house hold cleaners containing bleach. A good supply of clear liquids is always good too. Clear liquids are: water, ginger ale, weak decaf tea, popsicles, Jell-O, and chicken or beef broth. Remember if any of the children or adults are not feeling well they should stay home and rest. If you have any of us attending our adult day care program, work, and school and you are not sure about whether or not someone should stay home or be seen by their PCP doctors.
 
National Swine Flu Situation Page (URL)

:wave: Now you can access The National Swine Flu Situation Page(tm).

Content on the page updates automatically and contains information from multiple web sites in one location.

CDC, health, maps, RSS news feeds and more.

National Swine Flu Situation Page (tm) link ... National Swine Flu Situation page. :eek2:
 
I remembered about SARS

Hey, I am in Mississauga (near Toronto) heard news about new virus calling Swine Flu.

Remind me... in 2003... SARS story..... One old woman who was from Toronto visited in Hong Kong. Too late she went into an elevator. Chinese doctor did strong cough his new virus to her. Too late... she flew to Toronto . Suddenly, she got very sick and her families got sick again. They can sent SARS to people any places. SARS people dead 44 in Toronto.

Yes, very scary! I will be careful I will not tough people who get Swine Flu everywhere. :eek: :Ohno:
 
We have a suspected cases in Orlando, FL.

Been sent out to the lab. Will take about 48 hours to confirm it or not.

Right outside of Disney. A tourest came down with the flu like symptoms.

He/she went to the urgent care right outside of Disney World.
 
By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 28, 2009

Updated: 07:33 pm





TAMPA - Rumors of a swine flu outbreak in Florida reached a fever pitch today, as health officials from Orlando to Tallahassee stressed that a suspected case in Orange County remained unconfirmed, even though a sample was sent to a state lab for further testing.

And Carnival Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises have suspended stops at Mexican ports over concerns about swine flu.

Carnival canceled Mexico port calls for three ships scheduled to visit the country today. It hasn't yet announced a decision on future stops there.

Royal Caribbean had said it was monitoring the situation but telling passengers not to worry because the outbreaks are inland, not in the Mexican coastal cities popular with cruise tourists. But later Tuesday the company said it is suspending port calls indefinitely in Mexico until more is known about the swine flu outbreak.

The move affects its Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises ships.

Norwegian is canceling Norwegian Pearl's final two calls in Mexico this week after saying earlier in the day that it was monitoring the situation and asking passengers about their health before cruises start but keeping the trips.

Royal Caribbean has four ships that regularly stop in Mexico and two more that were scheduled to begin port calls there. Celebrity Cruises has one ship that was scheduled to make stops in Mexico. The company says the ships will stop in other ports or spend extra time at sea.

Royal Caribbean's chief medical officer, Dr. Art Diskin, said authorities had not raised specific concerns about the ports the ships visit in Mexico, but the company was taking a cautious approach to the situation.

The company is screening embarking guests and crew members about recent visits to Mexico or contact with ill people, increasing sanitization measures on ships and giving passengers swine flu information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Orlando over the weekend, a hospital treated a patient with flulike symptoms and because that patient either was from Mexico or had some contact with Mexico, where the swine flu is running rampant, the sample was sent to federal health officials for more testing, which could take up to 48 hours.

That was enough to get the rumor mill churning, resulting in two hastily called news conferences to say no confirmed cases had been documented, leaving Florida so far untouched by the swine flu. At least for now.

Florida stands a good chance of being infected, according to the Florida Department of Health, which has an action plan for pandemic influenza.

"Florida's geographic and demographic characteristics make it particularly vulnerable to importation and spread of infectious diseases, including influenza," the plan states. "Nearly one-third of Florida's population resides in urban/suburban areas of three southeastern counties, including large populations of immigrants.

"Florida's two interstate road systems bring in thousands of tourists each year. The two largest of the 13 international airports are in Orlando and Miami; 38,000,000 visitors used air travel in year 2000."

The state health department estimates a flu outbreak could infect up to 10 million people, with 5 million chronically ill. The department said a full-blown outbreak could kill 18,000 people in the Sunshine State.

Florida Hospital in Orlando reported a case of a patient who came in with flulike symptoms and had some contact with Mexico, and that fell in the criteria for further testing, officials said.

Florida Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros reiterated today in an early afternoon news conference in Tallahassee that there were no confirmed cases of swine flu in Florida, but she admitted a sample from the Orlando case was sent to the lab for further testing.

"We have no confirmed cases in the state, in Orlando or anywhere else," she said.

"We are prepared as a state, our laboratories are prepared. We all are working in concert to make sure we are doing whatever needs to be done to keep our residents as safe as possible and as informed as possible."

Roger Sanderson, one of three regional epidemiologists with the state's health department and stationed at the Tampa lab, said calls from county health departments are flooding in.

"We don't want specimens on everybody who has a little sore throat or a cough," he said. "We want to make sure we prioritize to those that are at the highest risk for actually having swine flu."

Only the CDC can confirm a swine flu case, he said.

"We can do a lot of the work here to rule out seasonal influenza," Sanderson said, "but it has to go through CDC."

He said local hospitals do not have the testing ability to confirm a case.

Federal health officials said the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States has jumped to 64.

The CDC said there were 17 new cases in New York City, four more in Texas and three additional cases in California, and that there were "a number of hospitalizations." That brings the total numbers of cases confirmed by federal officials to 45 in New York City, 10 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio. Five cases _ three in California and two in Texas _ have left people hospitalized.

Acting director of the CDC Richard Besser said in a telephone conference call this afternoon that the situation is "rapidly changing and we will continue to respond aggressively."

He said the strain that is appearing in the United States is not as strong as the strain that is spreading across Mexico.

He said stockpiles of vaccine and medical equipment are being shipped to the states, even those that have not reported any suspected cases.

"This is a forward leaning step," he said. "Every state has requested their portion of national stockpile. If the drugs are needed, they have them in hand and they won't have to wait."

The level of concern is high, he said.

"People are concerned and we are concerned," he said. "Concern is a good thing if it drives planning and it drives action."

He said the worst is anticipated.

"As this moves forward," he said, "I fully expect to see deaths."

Florida's vulnerability to outbreaks can be attributed to shipping ports and airports, and Tampa boasts two of the larger ones in the state. Cruise ships come in and out of the Channel District every week, and airplanes fly in and out of Tampa International Airport every day.

All three major cruise lines that sail out of Tampa make stops in Cozumel or Cancun in Mexico. Some customers are fidgety about boarding a vessel that will take them to swine flu ground zero.

"My hand is kind of forced at this point," said Crystal Gary of Brooksville, who is set to embark Thursday on a four-day Carnival cruise bound for Cozumel. "I called Carnival yesterday, and they said I was about their millionth caller."

She said Carnival officials had told her the ship returned Sunday from Cozumel, and there were no reports of flu. They told her she was locked into the cruise and could not change it without losing much of the $842 she plunked down in January to reserve a cabin.

"My husband said he's not going over there," Gary said, even though the couple could stand to lose more than 90 percent of their reservation fee.

"They were not nasty," she said of the cruise line officials. "But they told me I would lose all my money at this point."

Late in the day, she heard that her voyage would bypass Cozumel.

"That's wonderful news," she said. "I wanted to cry because I was so looking forward to my cruise."

Denise Palmer of Tampa is overseeing a group of 12 embarking on the same cruise. She, her husband and three children, her parents and a group of five friends from Kentucky are in her party.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that there are not going to be any problems," she said. "I don't think that Carnival will put anybody in danger."

She was relieved to hear the cruise line has decided not to stop in Mexico.

"So basically, we're going to go," she said.

A spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Lines said his morning that the cancellation penalties still apply but that the situation is being monitored each day.

An e-mailed statement from Carnival today said: "We are aware that the CDC has recently issued a travel health warning which recommends the postponement of nonessential travel to Mexico." Updates were to be posted on the cruise line's Web site, Carnival Cruise Lines: cruise ship vacations, cruise deals.

"There are currently no reported cases of swine influenza on Carnival ships or in any of the ports that we visit in Mexico," the statement said. "We are consulting closely with public health officials and government agencies such as the CDC, the World Health Organization and the Department of Homeland Security to monitor the situation.

"Carnival enforces the highest of standards for cleaning and sanitation on all of our ships to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. We have well trained medical staff and expansive reporting capabilities on board. We do not anticipate that our guests' cruise experience will be impacted by this type of illness."

With Tampa being an international cruise line and airport hub, local health officials are wary. Already this week, Hillsborough health officials laid out their plan to track and contain any swine flu outbreak in the Tampa Bay area.

The county health department, like health departments across the state, has asked local emergency rooms, doctors and nurses to look for patients with flulike symptoms and to ask those patients about their recent travel history.

This morning, health officials say the outbreak has spread to the Middle East and Asian-Pacific region. Most of those infected there are believed to have contracted the flu in Mexico, where about 150 people have died. Six countries besides Mexico have reported outbreaks.

Tampa International Airport has one regular connection to Mexico, a daily JetBlue flight to Cancun. Travelers also can make connections on flights to Mexico through the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth airports in Texas.

Published reports vary on whether Cancun — a favorite among U.S. springbreaking students — has been affected by cases of swine flu, but British tour operators have canceled flights to Cancun through May 5.

Tampa International Airport has not enacted special protocols to contend with prospective swine flu developments but is working with Homeland Security officers to determine what steps, if any, should be taken, airport director Louis Miller said this morning.

Matt Chandler, Homeland Security spokesperson, said that both federal and state security officers have been told to keep an eye out for sick people at the airport.

"We've been telling people on the ground to be on the lookout for individuals at all ports of entry," Chandler said. "They'll ask, 'Are you sick?' If they are, then they're put through a screening process, isolated from passengers as a precaution."
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Swine flu rumors swirl as health officials, cruise lines react
 
Theory, it been spread from the tourist who visit in Mexico and came, with carry it, to here in America.
 
Been there and survived. It is NO fun! This virus is serious one.

As far as I remember, the last time we had this swine flu was sometimes 32 years ago.
 
Have been reading about it too.....interesting thing is that there was an advertisement for a contest and the prize was a trip to Mexico!

In the Tribune article here, a passenger was saying she was still going to go on her trip, which included travel w/kids; now I know I read the cruiseline alleges it will not stop in Cancun so I can see her still going maybe, but what I found concerning was she said that she thought that Carnival will not put anyone in danger.....maybe I'm cynical but I think Carnival will do whatever it can to make money. The people of influence in the company don't give <bleep> what happens to the tourists.
 
Deafteen90 said:
Should we worried about swine flu? I've been reading about it on the news lately and its worrying me how many people are dying, 80 people so far have died from it
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yes, if it carrying, the tourist or visitor to UK and you shall worry. :eek3:
 
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