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(CDC) – In March and early April 2009, Mexico experienced outbreaks of respiratory illness and increased reports of patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) in several areas of the country. On April 12, the General Directorate of Epidemiology (DGE) reported an outbreak of ILI in a small community [La Gloria – Oui] in the state of Veracruz to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Of 1,069 patients with suspected and probable cases for whom information was available, 755 were hospitalized, and the remaining 314 were examined in outpatient settings or emergency departments. Suspected or probable cases were reported from all 31 states and from the Federal District of Mexico. The four areas with the most cases were Federal District (213 cases), Guanajuato (141), Aguascalientes (93), and Durango (77). In other states, the number of suspected or probable cases ranged from two to 46. Suspected and probable cases were identified in all age groups. Mexico routinely monitors seasonal influenza in a network of outpatient facilities throughout the country. Fifty-one influenza A positive specimens from six states were collected during January 4–March 11 in this surveillance network. All of these specimens tested negative for S-OIV at CDC.
FIGURE. Number of confirmed (N = 97) and probable (N = 260)* cases of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus (S-OIV) infection, by date of illness onset --- Mexico, March 15--April 26, 2009
CDC continues to issue and update interim guidance daily in response to the rapidly evolving situation. Early this morning, CDC provided interim guidance on school closures. Supplies from CDC’s Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) are being sent to all 50 states and U.S. territories to help them respond to the outbreak.
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CNN does not provide accurate information on timeline of H1N1 developments in La Gloria, Mexico.
(JohnBatchelor) – Days after the European media identified the the mega pig farm “manure lagoon” of La Gloria in Veracruz State as the most likely source of the A/H1Ni outbreak, the chief epidemiologist of Mexico M.A. Lezana has directly challenged the solution “Highly improbable,” asserts Dr. Lezana. Smithfield Foods of Virginia asserts that it’s one million pigs in the CAFO at La Gloria are virus free and that it is a Mexican company to blame. Lezana’s office says that the pigs at La Gloria are from North America and the genetic material in the virus are from North America and Europe.
“The company also noted that its joint ventures in Mexico routinely administer influenza virus vaccination to their swine herds and conduct monthly tests for the presence of swine influenza.”
Earlier reports, also in the Guardian.
(HuffingtonPost/AP) – Until now, the first flu death confirmed by Mexican authorities had been a woman in the southern state of Oaxaca, who died on April 13. But Health Secretary Cordova “suggested an earlier timeline for documented swine flu cases.” Cordova said “tests now show that a 4-year-old boy contracted the disease at least two weeks earlier in neighboring Veracruz state, where a community has been protesting pollution from a large pig farm,” the AP says. “The farm is run by Granjas Carroll de Mexico, a joint venture 50 percent owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, Inc.”
Company officials said there were no “clinical signs or symptoms” of swine influenza in their vast herds anywhere in Mexico, “But local residents are convinced they were sickened by air and water contamination from pig waste,” according to AP. “There was a widespread outbreak of a particularly powerful respiratory disease in the area early April, and some people reported being sick as early as February. Local health workers intervened in early April, sealing off the town of La Gloria and spraying to kill off flies they said were swarming through their homes.”
Cordova said people in the town had normal flu, and only one sample was preserved — that belonging to the four-year-old boy. It was only after U.S. and Canadian epidemiologists discovered the true nature of the virus that Mexico submitted the sample for international testing, and discovered what he suffered from. Epidemiologists want to take a closer look at pigs in Mexico as a potential source of the outbreak.
In the town of Xonacatlan, just west of Mexico City, Antonia Cortes Borbolla told The Associated Press that nobody has given her medicine in the week since her husband succumbed to raging fever and weakened lungs that a lab has confirmed as swine flu.
No health workers have inspected her home, asked how her husband might have contracted the illness or tested the neighbors’ pigs, she said.
Cordova acknowledged that her case isn’t unique. “We haven’t given medicine to all of them because we still don’t have enough personnel,” he said.
≈ Cross-posted from a diary @ET ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."