Mysterious Viruses, Pt. 4. Swine Flu
A ‘STARTLING,’ ‘RARE’, ‘MYSTERIOUS’ flu with components from bird flu and human flu and swine flu is turning up in the South West US and México. No one is sure yet why or how this is happening.
I KNOW THE TRADITION en el viernes (on Friday) is generally to offer music or light fare and I pretty much enjoy following that one. I plan to hit you later with a small film review/recommend. But what caught my eye this morning was this sudden “startling and rare” outbreak of Swine Flu that has been found in Texas and California as well as México. That’s not my phrase, “startling and rare,” I found it here.
A startling and rare outbreak of swine flu has left more than 60 people dead in Mexico with another 800 suspected cases of infection, reported the World Health Organization on Friday.
“To date there have been some 800 suspected cases with flu-like illness, with 57 deaths in the Mexico City area,” explained Fadela Chaib, spokeswoman for the UN health agency. She added that swine flu is rarely transmitted to humans and that this relatively large outbreak is an unusual exception. …
This news comes as health officials in the U.S. are already examining several new cases of a novel swine flu virus that appears to have combined genetic elements of swine, bird and human flu viruses. In all, seven patients in California and Texas have been identified as being infected with the virus, though medical experts remain baffled as to the virus’ origin.
You ought to read the entire article to get all the facts. But all the sites I’ve seen are using words like this. “Startling and rare.” “Mysterious.” “Unprecedented.”Eyebrow-raising.” “Worrisome.” “Unusual.” “Mystified.” “Never Been Seen Before.” “Baffling.” (And in one case beneficial.)
The two cases in Texas have left researchers particularly mystified. Though the young boy from San Diego County reported flying to Texas earlier this month to visit family, he claims to have stayed in the Dallas area – some 270 miles north of San Antonio.
Health officials in China do say that the “whole health system is on high alert” for bird flu due to birds migrating south, but this warning doesn’t seem to be related to the Swine flu breakout in México and the Southwest US as of yet.
On the HISTORICAL/CULTURAL/MEDIA TIP
The article Swine Flu Outbreak Extended To Mexico, linked first on this page, makes clear that the US was already looking into cases within our own currently designated borders. And yet, of course we have articles that will frame this as more of one or another kind of Mexicanicky “spillover,” with titles like Swine flu kills 60 in Mexico, moves to US. This sentiment, this type of reporting, this age-old embedded imagery I fear. I fear for people and I call them “my people” (tho some take offense at the agenda of “special interest groups”) not because if you are not Latina/o or Mexicano/a you are less than that, but because some of us must always think of nuestra gente (our people) or nobody will. So I make it my business to do this, still. [And I don't lay those links down to stir up old pots, because the more of us working together, the better. But they are good examples of what I mean, they are real life, and they deal with this very issue.]
Since those who would demean Mexico and Mexicans and other brown nations have historically used language about disease and infection (I read the vile Pat Buchanan’s book State of Emergency and he goes so far as to incite panic about who is working in fast food joints just dripping with malaria and such), I fear for this.
Let’s keep our heads and let’s be ready to combat the haters (especially those aided by the MSM and quoted as “groups for restricted/reduced immigration“) who never fear to speak of gente in dangerous and malevolent manner, as it is. They care not that this type of talk actually has a real effect on human beings. And I’m sure they will seize on this the moment they hear of it, as their methods are predictable. Let’s also continue to hold MSM and any others who need it to account on quoting any of them in this manner/context.
If there is a sudden outbreak of disease and virus being found in Mexico and also in US “border communities” we simply need to find out why, why it is so mysteriously appearing now, there, and how to stop it from spreading.
This most recent version of swine flu was first identified in two children in Imperial and San Diego County in southern California earlier this week. Officials say the virus may have already existed for a while or may be entirely new. They added that it was discovered thanks to improved testing facilities and expanded disease surveillance; one at a Navy clinic and the other at a specialized clinic that monitors border communities. …
So far, the majority of the Mexican cases reported have been in healthy young individuals without prior medical history.
UPDATE Sat, April 25: Some more facts on Swine Flu, this outbreak, and vaccines.
UPDATE, SUNDAY April 26: Perhaps this is a more informative or helpful link, though.
i painted above image from this one
Excellent point about the way the flu’s spread is portrayed in the media. I read an NYT article on the flu in Mexico this evening and my first thought was, “Alarmist, bigoted American response in 3, 2, 1…”
I just want the epidemiologists to get it figured out fast. Flu is scary stuff.
Agreed…especially this odd hybrid style flu going on here.
and I swear my doctor is getting old and lazy and will prescribe anti-biotics to someone that has the flu rather than tell them “it’s a virus, there’s no medicine to get rid of it.” People using anti-biotics when they don’t need them, especially if they don’t finish the dose, makes bacteria stronger so we could have an outbreak of some backterial disease as a result of this because doctors prescribe treatment incorrectly and people take it incorrectly.
If a flu gets so bad someone doesn’t want to or can’t eat or drink, then they can’t fight off the infection, either. Some people need to be on IV’s for nutrition and hydration which is hard to get if you can’t 1)pay for a hospital room or 2)know a doctor or nurse who will and can help you.
And then people are expected to go into their job even when they’re sick. Most immigrants not making much probably work even while sick until they can’t possibly move, because they need every penny and because they’re afraid of losing their job. People from all branches of life are working sick.
Not to mention I know people are aren’t immigrants who had their water shut off. it’s rough times. And with the flu people need to wash their hands all the time, wash dishes/cups/silverware with hot water…I’m sure most people are doing all they can to try and stay healthy but some don’t have the means to buy medicine and pay the water bill/knowledge of stuff like “anti-biotics don’t cure the flu”/access to health care. And from my experience that’s not only drawn down the immigrant line because I’ve know some immigrants who know this stuff and do their best to take care of themselves medically and people who aren’t immigrants who don’t. And of the people who don’t, there are members of that group, both immigrant and non, who would do the right things for themselves medically if they had the money and/or knowledge.
But the scary thing about viruses – even someone who has taken the most precautions can still get it. It’s easy to try and find a scapegoat. I’m with Nez that it’s a nasty attitude when people say try and blame immigrants for a disease rather than just admitting that they’re scared of a suffering they can’t control. The scared wall-buiders know deep down their actions won’t prevent the disease from spreading. Not ignoring the plight of those that are sick, giving people access to medical care and sanitary conditions that need it, like pro-immigrant groups want to do, WILL actually help slow the spread of the disease.
And the “my people” thing – this is a case where that phrase doesn’t bother me. There are people basically saying “the latinos suffering from this flu aren’t ‘my people’” – so it’s obvious which side is being the exclusive one.
i’m hoping the Swine Flu amounts to as little as the other scares and outbreaks that have occurred over the last couple of years
Nezua – this comment is regarding the link you added at the end of your article pointing to the question of whether this was a virus fabricated in a lab. As a medical professional, I can see how this could be misconstrued from what was being said about the virus, so let me try to explain what I think was being referred to. The phrase they are describing, that the virus was “cultured in a laboratory”, refers to a process used to identify and characterize viruses found in infected people. In order to correctly identify and track infections, it is necessary to collect them from patients (by nasal and throat swabs, mostly) and then place them in a container with nutrients that allow them to grow, so that an adequate sample can be analyzed. This process of putting the sample in a container and growing them is called “culturing”, and it is a process that takes place everyday in every medical lab in the western world in order to correctly identify and characterize viruses and bacteria that have infected people. It does not mean that the virus was “created” in a lab. Also, the fact that the virus contains components of other viruses does not imply that it was pieced together by scientists. Genetic recombination is a process that occurs in nature and does not require the intervention of an outside party.
I appreciate the gist of your piece and hate to see it tainted by these kind of counter insinuations (it’s not us, it’s the government!). In any case, I think the author of the linked article has seriously misunderstood what he was quoting.
Thanks, Joel. I threw that up last night whne someone passed it my way. I’ve since heard back from a few people along the lines of what you are saying, so I’m glad you wrote what you did so I can add it.
I would only add in that same spirit of honesty, that we don’t know what’s up yet, just as we didn’t know what was up with many vaccines or medical phenomena in the past—some of which we should have been more wary of the medical establishment as well as the oversight that didn’t happen as well as some ulterior motives on the side of those who were in power and control of information the public didn’t have. So in essence I am saying that “it” may be “us” as well as “them,” and right now we can’t really be sure. But I’m happy to add as much fact as possible. Peace…
Sorry, folks
I tend to lean toward the manufactured virus idea. It is no secret that our government has done this type of thing in the past. From Tuskeegee to the aerial testing of a flu virus on the city of San Francisco back in the 50’s.
It is interesting to note that Obama was in Mexico City and had a meeting with an official who died from the virus the next day. this was reported on Huffpo today, but the story seems to have been pulled(or I am just having trouble locating it)
Manufactured? In a way. The most likely culprit is factory-farm swine. There are a lot of these new U.S. owned mass-swine production facilities around Mexico City, which, besides serving the U.S. market for cheap pork, are (excuse the term) “water hogs”. The recent water rationing (and shutoffs) in Mexico City, probably hasn’t helped matters.
Whether the people who got sick (here in Mexico) were in the swine industry hasn’t been said. But this makes more sense than anything else. After all, the GREAT PANDEMIC of 1918 probably started in Nebraska or Kansas (where there were hog confinement facilities even then) and spread to Europe with the U.S. Army during the First World War.
My next post here is going to be on CAFOs, because I worked on one at 16 and it changed my head forever.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6173927.ece
As far as the culprit virus being possibly from a factory farm piggie,this virus is a hybrid of swin/human/avian
I mentioned the swine flu to my mother, and she started going off about how Mexicans were spreading it to the US, and I found myself describing pandemic vectors and how – even if it’s the first place a virus is observed, odds are good it came from somewhere else.
That was even before I knew anyone in the US was looking for signs within the US before people were reported contracting it in Mexico.
But the story, so familiar, so easy to identify for what it is.
i think the timing for all of this is very interesting, especially since i see the newly constructed border wall every day. it sends a clear message from our government to “KEEP OUT”, so what better way to get the rest of the country on board than by convincing everyone that mexicans are coming here to literally spread a plague? maybe somebody up top decided that the ‘job-stealing terrorist criminal’ labels weren’t creating the anti-immigrant scare that they were supposed to. it’s almost as if someone is trying to say “ok fine, so mexican immigrants really aren’t scary and dangerous, but the disease they could be carrying IS so watch out!” hopefully there’s no conspiracy, but its getting more obvious how the mainstream media could spin this.
La Pocha, I was just saying this, too. The timing is just amazingly nice for the anti crowd, eh?