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Update [2009-04-29 16:04:50 EST by Oui]:
BREAKING NEWS –
WHO chief to raise pandemic alert level to 5
WASHINGTON (AP) – A government official confirmed the first U.S. death from the new H1N1 swine flu, a 23-month-old child who died in Texas.
It is the first death from swine flu reported outside Mexico, the country hardest hit by the influenza outbreak. The official gave no other details on the case. U.S. officials have confirmed 65 cases of swine flu, most of them mild.
[UPDATE Toddler is a Mexican child who traveled to the U.S. for treatment R.I.P – Oui]
As I discussed yesterday, it’s about the number of cases before the first death would be confirmed outside of Mexico.
As the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that more serious cases of swine flu, including deaths, are likely, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in California on Tuesday.
“I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection,” said Richard Besser, acting director of the Atlanta-based CDC.
No country outside Mexico has yet seen severe disease or death caused by the new strain of influenza virus.
(BBC News) – Five-year-old Edgar Hernandez started feeling unwell in late March, suffering fever, headache and a very sore throat.
Edgar was not alone. Several hundred people in his home village of La Gloria, near Perote in the Mexican state of Veracruz had also been sick with a respiratory disease, some falling ill back in December.
At the time, doctors told Edgar’s mother, Maria del Carmen Hernandez, that it was just a regular cold.
FACTS FROM EARLIER REPORTS
The result of the test was never told to the Hernandez family. They learned of the swine flu result when it was broadcast on television and their son was mentioned. The local people have suffered illness over a longer period and employees at the pig farm have quit because of it. The stench of the containment is unbearable. The farms are located just 8 km (5 mi.) outside the village of La Gloria. Up to 60% of the villagers contracted a cold with flu symptoms earlier this year. No tests were performed and only one swab of Edgar at the hospital could be recovered when the swine flu was diagnosed elsewhere. The Mexican government is denying the facts of the outbreak and cannot be trusted for the data on cases and deaths. In the village of La Gloria, two infants died from pneumonia. The Mexican government isn’t interested in the true cause of death and refuse to exhume the bodies. The local people have been threatened not to talk to journalists. In the ABC VIDEO broadcast on BBC News, the single medical assistent or nurse in the village was not permitted to continue the interview.
The stench is not just from the pig farm and its containment ponds.
Smithfield subsidiary Granjas-Carroll
≈ Read my diary — Source of Swine Flu Outbreak Found? ≈