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Mexico Braces for New Winter Flu Season
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Site Admin  Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:30 am Posts: 648 Location: Rosarito, Baja California, MX 
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 Mexico Braces for New Winter Flu SeasonMexico Forecasts Winter Swine-Flu Infections Rising to 1 Million MEXICO CITY – The Mexican government forecast that in the winter season this year, swine-flu contagions will soar to 1 million in that country, where up to now the new virus has left 184 dead and 21,264 people infected. Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said Friday that the AH1N1 virus epidemic is currently stabilized with an average number of daily infections between 80 and 100 nationwide. Cordova said that authorities are preparing a complementary national plan to deal with that emergency that includes such measures as closing schools, suspending certain activities and getting hospitals fully prepared. On April 23, the authorities decreed a health alert after confirming the presence of the new flu virus that was previously unknown, and ordered schools to be closed. Federal and capital authorities also suspended for two weeks all academic, sports, cultural and entertainment activities, as well as closing restaurants and other businesses. During the first 15 days of the epidemic, the Mexican capital was the city most affected in many of its sectors, chiefly that of tourism, to the extent that hotel occupation fell by 5 percent. As the epidemic spread in Mexico, almost simultaneously cases began to occur in the United States and Canada. Pictures of the Mexican capital, where most of the population appeared wearing surgical masks, sparked different reactions in the world, from countries expressing their support and sending medical aid, to those that closed their borders to Mexicans, causing friction with the authorities of those countries. The Mexican government is currently in talks for the purchase of 30 million vaccinations to meet the resurgence of swine flu predicted for the coming winter season, between December and February. Health authorities are awaiting the preparation of vaccine in China, for the purpose of buying an additional amount of that preventive medicine. Mexico recently applied to the World Bank for a $400 million loan for the purchase of vaccines against the AH1N1 flu virus. The authorities have also promoted training courses for 200,000 doctors so they can begin treating the epidemic from the start of the cold weather. According to the latest World Health Organization figures, there have been more than 209,000 confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide and 2,185 people have died. In the WHO’s latest weekly update, the Americas continue to account for the vast majority of confirmed swine-flu cases (110,000) and deaths (1,876). Brazil leads the world in flu virus deaths with 577, followed by the United States and Argentina. http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=342571&CategoryId=14091 |
| Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:51 pm |
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Site Admin Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:30 am Posts: 648 Location: Rosarito, Baja California, MX
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Re: Mexico Braces for New Winter Flu Season When is swine flu just miserable and when do you need a doctor?
If it's hard to breathe, that's an emergency. It's the not-so-obvious cases that can have parents, or the sick of any age, fretting. "There tends to be a lot of hysteria," said Dr. Nathan Litman of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "We should try to emphasize the prevention mode, and the rational approach to dealing with the illness rather than when the child has a runny nose running to the emergency room." Symptoms of any flu include fever of 100 degrees or more, cough, body chills and aches, congestion. Diarrhea and vomiting sometimes occur, particularly with the swine flu that doctors call the 2009 H1N1 flu. Regardless of the strain, most people who otherwise are healthy need to stay home and rest, and get plenty of fluids, health officials agree. But there's a catch. Not everyone with swine flu gets a fever, making it hard to know if they've got that or a common cold. That doesn't happen too often, although there are no good statistics and no one knows if those people even are as contagious as the fevered, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. But generally, people without a fever don't get as sick. Signs to seek emergency care include shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, confusion or seizures, persistent vomiting or inability to hold down liquids, bluish lips. Who's at higher risk from any kind of flu? Pregnant women; people of any age with heart disease, asthma, diabetes and other chronic illnesses; children under 2; people over 65. While the over-65 tend not to catch swine flu, they are prime targets of the regular winter flu -- and there's no way for patients to tell the two apart. Litman said doctors would rather get a call from or see a high-risk person "sooner rather than later" to decide if they need the anti-flu medications Tamiflu or Relenza. The drugs work best if taken within the first 48 hours of symptoms. If fever goes away and then a new one sets in days later, seek medical care, Litman said. That can be a sign of bacterial infections that sometimes follow any type of flu. For children, pediatricians advise watching activity levels. Being listless or lethargic can be a warning sign of worsening illness. What if people without insurance can't afford the $100 or so anti-flu drugs? The government has shipped millions of doses from a federal stockpile to the states, and in what's being cited as a model program, Texas is using its stockpiled supply in part for those patients. Doctors certify the person's lack of insurance coverage when they write the prescription and direct the patient to certain pharmacies. The goal is to have at least one pharmacy in every county that then fills the prescription for free or a nominal fee, said the state's health commissioner, David Lakey. ------ On the Net: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention background: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ |
| Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:31 pm |
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