wednesday flying pig flu pandemic linkfest

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Moved up from 1am PDT... and again at 2:55.
I'm not about to join Twitter, but, holy crap, here are suspected cases and confirmed cases in almost real time, courtesy of Veratect. They have partnered up with a doctors' social network for this too and I'm chuffed I'm not a doctor right now, because I feel as though, there, I could get some decent information... but, well this does NOT suck.

And, yes, it does so totally look as if we have a real pandemic about to explode.... Look for yourself.

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Only 7 swine flu deaths, not 152, says WHO

A member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dismissed claims that more than 150 people have died from swine flu, saying it has officially recorded only seven deaths around the world.

[Except Mexico and the United States have officially reported more than 150 and some sources insist this number is conservative, maybe in the extreme, so bully for how many are "officially recorded". Either speed up your paperwork or state clearly that there were in fact only seven deaths and the rest is hysteria.]

Vivienne Allan, from WHO's patient safety program, said the body had confirmed that worldwide there had been just seven deaths - all in Mexico - and 79 confirmed cases of the disease.

[Could be a time disparity but CDC now lists 91 cases and 1 death in the United States alone. Two days ago it was 6 cases and no deaths.]

"Unfortunately that [150-plus deaths] is incorrect information and it does happen, but that's not information that's come from the World Health Organisation," Ms Allan told ABC Radio today.

"That figure is not a figure that's come from the World Health Organisation and, I repeat, the death toll is seven and they are all from Mexico."

Ms Allan said WHO had confirmed 40 cases of swine flu in the Americas, 26 in Mexico, six in Canada, two in Spain, two in Britain and three in New Zealand.

[Are we talking about a difference of standards of measurement? Is she hinting that the authorities in Mexico and United States are lying? She have a problem with their credentials? A payoff from Smithfield? Is the Australian government doing some hysteria management? WTF is this? Everyone would be much relieved if this were true, but somebody needs to do a better job of explaining.]

Ms Allan said it was difficult to measure how fast the virus was spreading.

[Get over it.]

She said a real concern would be if the flu virus manifested in a country where a person had had no contact with Mexico, and authorities were watching all countries for signs of that.

[But ignoring the cases where there is no contact with Mexico.]

"There is no pattern that has emerged at this stage to be able to say that it is spreading in a particular way or it is spreading into a particular country ... the situation is continuing to evolve," she said.

[Except then she goes on to say it's not airborne, but spread by droplets....]

She said the WHO was not recommending against overseas travel, but urged those who felt sick to stay home and others to ensure they kept their hands clean.

No decision had yet been made about vaccinations.

"This virus is not airborne, it's caused by droplets ... so it's not a time for worry. It's a time to be prepared," Ms Allan said.

Dazzling efficient work, Ms. Allan... I'm witless with admiration.
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WHO Swine influenza - update 5

29 April 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve rapidly. As of 18:00 GMT, 29 April 2009, nine countries have officially reported 148 cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 infection. The United States Government has reported 91 laboratory confirmed human cases, with one death. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection including seven deaths.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (13), Germany (3), Israel (2), New Zealand (3), Spain (4) and the United Kingdom (5).

Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.

There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.

So we are definitely talking about some weird standard of measurement deviation... a major dis of doctors and officials in Mexico... and this kind of approach is NOT helpful.

If this is a real budding pandemic, the performance of the various official health organizations has been appalling. It might be that they are wishing to separate the initial outbreak in La Gloria, from the rest of it, entirely because the viral loading there would have been many times heavier than elsewhere, not a true measurement of the effects of this new flu elsewhere, or some other viable cause, but IT'S NOT BEING STATED. We're being treated like infants the adults want to confuse with no facts so as to keep us manageable. It's Naomi Klein's thesis in action on a Global Scale.
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Flying Pigs, Tamiflu and Factory Farms

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U.S. Drops Swine Flu Name

AFP, 29 April 2009 -- The deadly disease formerly known as "swine flu" is now called the "2009 H1N1 flu," US officials said Wednesday as they battled against a worldwide clampdown on US pork exports.

[Last thing we need is more corporate losses right now, so, quick, call it something else.]

Bidding to distance the hybrid influenza from pigs, which are responsible for only one part of the strain, US officials again insisted that people could not catch H1N1 from eating pork.

The new designation was in the script at briefings by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acting chief Richard Besser and other US officials.

"We're calling it the 2009 H1N1 flu. That's now the name for it," Besser said.

Pig farmers in the United States, Canada and Mexico -- the disease's epicenter -- are reeling from bans on their exports of live swine and pork meat imposed by several nations including Russia and China.

Despite the name swine flu, no pigs in the United States are reported to be suffering from the disease, which also has components from influenza strains afflicting people and birds in three continents.

They don't say no pigs in the United States ARE suffering from the disease, and they don't mention that U.S.-owned pigs in Mexico are or were almost 100% certainly suffering from it. Nor do they mention that the droplets from saliva or sweat or mucous or fly vector feet could be all over the packaging of the pork products. They drill only on the eating of the pork. We all know that if it's cooked enough, it's safe, even Russians and Chinese know that. What! Do you think they are stupid? Give me a break! Watch the American Exceptionalism programming. The the authorities we own just keep saying and doing things that protect the capitalist interests involved, but leave everyone's health to fate.

Where is the goddam report that says, "Look, we went straight to La Gloria with all our top scientists and it's clean as a whistle. We've dug up the bodies of the dead locals and tested them and they died of something else entirely, and that is why they have been dropped from the death toll for this flu. We have examined all the survivors and their homes and they were all ill from a freak Radon emission. [Or something.] Mexico is suffering from more than one epidemic and the only one that's traveling is this new flying pig flu and it's not any more lethal than most flu outbreaks"? They aren't doing that. They're dancing around doing that, doing what it would take, and just using their mouths as hard as the necessity of breathing will allow them, as usual, to make sure the fat cats' profits aren't being lowered. THEY DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR HEALTH, OR YOUR LIFE. THEY GIVE A DAMN ABOUT SMITHFIELD'S BOTTOM LINE. And they have NOT gone to the La Gloria pig farm to do this checking. They may not even have asked Smithfield about it, but if they did, they would take their word, and bogus declarations from Smithfield-paid experts, about the pig health and called it good.

This IS how things are done between government and business nowadays. I know what I'm talking about.

It isn't what you only CALL it that is actual. Actuality is going on the whole time people are busy figuring out what it suits them to CALL it, and they proceed as if that is good enough to make actuality proceed in a positive way. How long do you have to keep making this mistake before you grok that it is your addiction to listening to talk over looking at actuality that's burning down Planet Earth?
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And then so why has WHO raised the alert level to FIVE if it's so almighty not such a big hairy deal?

Are they just yanking our chains? At least they're finally owning up to a case not associated with Mexico.

In Spain, officials confirmed the first case of swine flu in a person who has not travelled to Mexico.

Or, maybe I should say, going back to reporting it....

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Wired reports flu DNA is a blend of two swine types, no birds.

"The new neuraminidase gene that came in from Eurasian swine is one we've never before seen circulating in humans," said Rambaut. "That's one of the reasons it's spreading rapidly. Very few people will have any immunity to this particular combination, which is what gives the concern that this will be a pandemic rather than just a normal seasonal flu outbreak. It remains to be seen how much and to what extent there is existing immunity."

In medical terms, the genetic origins of the virus may not matter. Whether it come solely from pigs rather than a mix of pigs, birds and humans doesn't change its immunological novelty.

However, understanding the origins could eventually help scientists determine how the virus evolved and where it originally emerged.

The earliest cases occurred in the town of La Gloria in the Mexican state of Veracruz, not far from a large and notoriously unsanitary hog farm operated by Granjas Carroll, a subsidiary of giant American food company Smithfield Foods.

Vercruz residents and some journalists have alleged that the virus could have evolved in the farm’s pigs, then passed into humans through water or insects tainted by infected waste. Many researchers, including the authors of a report issued last year by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, have warned that unsanitary conditions at industrial hog farms could prove a breeding ground for new forms of influenza.

The World Health Organisation has sent inspectors to the Granjas Carroll farm. The results of the investigation have not been announced. Smithfield issued a press release on Saturday stating that "it has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in the company's swine herd or its employees at its joint ventures in Mexico." The company declined further comment, though CEO Larry Pope told USA Today that "(The term) swine flu is a misnomer."

Rambaut, Holmes and Salzberg declined to speculate on whether the new H1N1 virus evolved on a hog farm or specifically in the Granjas Carroll facility.

However, it seems likely that pigs were the original host.

I AM GREATLY RELIEVED TO SEE THIS.

Though, of course, I remain fiercely skeptical that WHO, or anyone else, will be allowed to pin this where it belongs. You tend to die in small aircraft crashes when you do that stuff. I'm going to hope China and Russia get surly enough with them to override their hesitation in this regard... if they haven't already, that is. It seems to me they must be the ones to get WHO off its butt and over to La Gloria to inspect that pig farm.