is the new influenza virus affecting the zona?

[einreb]

For sure there could be more than the zero cases that have been discovered, but by your own admission the "illness gets severe" I would say that you are not going to find chicas working with the "swine flu: or whatever they are calling it these days.

It is easy for us to say it is no big deal or it is a big deal from afar. I tend to think that the whole thing was blown way out of proportion, but probably we should give this a few more days just to see.

I do know that Mexico City went from 159 deaths, to 15 with the swine flu, and last night the WHO was reporting 9 deaths in all of Mexico. At this rate maybe in a few days they will have zero deaths.

In the end it is better to err on the side of caution. Maybe the WHO are a bunch of folks that never get to do anything, and they overreacted in their 15 minutes of fame.

 

[Mandy]

Sorry to hear about your fight with the flu. Glad that you won.

Did the health department say if they thought you got the bug in TJ? I thought that I read that symptoms usually appeared within 3 days of exposure. Yours appeared 7 days later.

 

[LC850]

Do you make this up?

Mexico currently has 358 cases, 3 days after your misinformation post.

TJ is currently more safe than SD.

 

[Nobody]

Read this piece from the Washington Post:


A Panic To Welcome
A Little Fear Goes a Long Way in Fighting a Pandemic
By Anne Applebaum
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Apparently, President Obama told some good jokes at a dinner. The British Parliament is mired in an expenses scandal (one politician charged the government more than $3,000 to repair a leaking pipe under his tennis court). In China, they're marking the anniversary of the earthquake that left some 80,000 people dead or missing a year ago, and in France, a young tennis star has tested positive for cocaine. But swine flu? The world's media have moved on.
Two weeks ago, there was almost nothing else to read about and nothing else to look at either, what with all the photographs of uniformed Mexican police officers, guns and face masks, not to mention the snarling pigs. But as of Sunday, there were 2,532 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States, mostly mild, and only three deaths -- all people with other illnesses. A handful of cases has shown up elsewhere around the world, but outside of Mexico just two, as of this writing, have been lethal. Given that some 200,000 Americans are hospitalized each year for the ordinary flu, and some 36,000 die from complications -- up to 20 percent of Americans contract flu annually -- these numbers do seem rather low in the context of phrases such as "lethal pandemic" and "deadly virus."
No wonder the anti-panic backlash started rather quickly, fast on the heels of the panic itself. Already last week, a rather senior former European health official was (privately) declaring the whole thing a crock of nonsense, cooked up by the World Health Organization as a fundraising gimmick. Someone else told me, as if with absolute certainty, that the publicity was in fact a plot by the pharmaceutical companies: Look no further than the massive surge in demand for Tamiflu and Relenza. Face masks never did catch on in most places, so the rumors of a conspiracy by the companies that make them never caught on either. Instead, we'll surely conclude that the whole thing was a plot by the media, designed to increase Web viewership on sites that featured herds of stampeding pigs.
To which the correct response should be: So what? Before "that panic was ridiculous" becomes the conventional wisdom, let's be frank about it: Where infectious diseases are concerned, panic is good. Panic is what we want. Without panic, nothing happens. As many as 500 million people will get malaria this year, and more than a million of them will die, mostly in very poor countries. Yet there is no fear of malaria in the rich world, there is no hysterical media coverage, and thus there is still no satisfactory prevention or cure.
By contrast, the design of preventive measures and cures for swine flu are already, after merely two weeks of hyper-attention, well on track. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not only developed a test kit to detect the presence of the H1N1 virus that causes the flu but have already shipped this test kit to all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and numerous other countries. The genetic sequence of the virus has been analyzed and determined, more than once. A vaccine will probably be ready in time for flu season next fall. Boxes of Tamiflu have been transported to guarded warehouses around the globe, where they await distribution.
Should the panic-mongers turn out not to have been crying wolf, and should the virus worsen in the coming weeks, there will still be plenty of potential obstacles to effective prevention. The methods used to make flu vaccine are ridiculously old-fashioned (they involve chicken eggs), and in a truly lethal epidemic, we would certainly run out. No one has really worked out the morality of that Tamiflu distribution either: If the United States and Europe distribute their stockpiles to their citizens, then no one in the developing world will get any. Our hospitals aren't prepared for massive numbers of flu victims, and our health-care system would probably crack under the strain. Would doctors accept uninsured patients who have a lethal flu virus? Possibly not.
Yes, if the H1N1 virus mutates into something really dangerous, we'll all be in trouble. But not in as much trouble as we would be if that possibly ludicrous but nevertheless useful moment of mass hysteria that brought us such terrific headlines over the past couple of weeks had never happened.
[email protected]

 

[Helpful]

Well it was just confirmed to me today by the Orange County health department that I am the number thirty confirmed case of having the new strain of the flu "swine flu". I was in TJ right when it starting making the news, one week later I noticed I had a bad headache and incredible body aches I mean the pain was down to the bone. I felt really weak but I had no fever at all at first, some cough. After the weekend I noticed I wasn't getting better so I saw my doctor on Tuesday 05/05, they thought it was an upper respitory infection. The next morning I go into seizures and pass out in my house I get rushed to the hospital and spend a day there where I tested positive for type A influenza, I was discharged to my house where I stayed until I recovered. This was a really nasty bug, today I got interviewed by the health department where it was confirmed that I had it. They feel the reason it hit me particularly hard was five years ago I had Bacterial spinal Meningitis which nearly killed me and ever since then my immune system has never been the same. But I am over it now and well now I dont have to worry about this particular strain again LOL. I was hesitant to state what I was doing in TJ but I decided to be honest to the health department I told them I was mongering at the HK well hey at least I had fun. just though I would share

-cheers.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Guys, the energy secretary aide, Marc Griswold, the former SS agent who got sick helping arrange Obama's recent trip to Mexico was back at the office, working on Friday.

You know, the one the made such an elaborate example blown all over proportion of the mortal bug he caught in Mexico... well it seems he was never quarentined, sent to a hospital, detained at home, nothing.

He's totally fit and felling miserable, as we all do when we catch the flu.

 

[spazmo]

Earlier I posted things were "much ado about nothing." Looks like the health guys agree with me. They're starting to say--in double speak--that things are overblown and this isn't a killer flu.

As of 10pm Friday 5-1-09 it's business as usually in the Zona.

 

[sas35353535]

Hey poco, thank you for the report.

are there fewer mongers so that the ratio of monger to chica is nice and low?

I see burt says the prices won't fall, ok, but I don't like competition. : )

and surely they must like money.

 

[Death Metaller]

In the United States, 100 people each day die from some form of the flu. Has the world overreacted to the H1N1 swine flu? Yes, definitely. So far, it has turned out to be no more dangerous than other influenza viruses. But they really had no idea how dangerous it was going to be since it was a brand new variant. Someday, a flu bug is going to kill millions worldwide -- and if the authorities don't take the chance of appearing foolish by reacting quickly, that bug could kill far more people.

This, of course, doesn't mean it won't come back next winter as a far more dangerous bug.

So let's stop worrying and get back to mongering!

 

[Brett m]

Sorry , my reference was to World Health Org.; not Yahoo !
I have to chuckle at Yahoo being an Authority in reported swine flu cases as compared to WHO.

 

[Mono]

I would like to point out that one of the U.S.A deaths was from an infant brought from mexico and the other two, individuals with other health issues! Bottom line is, I dont think gringo mongers have to worry about a provider in tj saying- "you are an american, stay the fuck away from me"-- god, that would be the ultimate nightmare!!!!!

 

[Amanda R]

This is the most recent:

Swine flu virus starting to look less threatening

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/med_swine_flu_virus

Seems sanity is begining to seep in.
Medical science is saying that too much is being done to a sickness that is much less threating than the SARS flu and that one had a 75% mortality rate.
Killed nearly or more than 3000.

Plus seasonal flu has killed more than this one, in Mexico as in the States.

So, I guess it's over.

 

[glgl]

That link in nice, but seems to be conflicting with some other info. We first heard of 159 deaths in Mexico City...later they backtracked and said only 15 of those deaths were confirmed with the swine flu....now this site from WHO says there have been 9 deaths related to the swine flu in the entire country....maybe if we wait a few days the number will be down to 0

 

[jroy]

I'm right here Pocodinero trying to avoid you, and I"m not eating crow. ( I have never made a public retraction to Pocodinero, and never will!)

Some say that Calderon overreacted by shutting down public life in many parts of Mexico, and cost the Mexican economy Billions of dollars, something they didn't need right now.

Time will tell if Calderon did the right thing? But the Swine flu doesn't seem as dangerous as first thought and three deaths in the US is nothing and I know two of those deaths those people or babies had other problems too. So far the regular flu causes more deaths than this flu virus.

So right now I think the Obama administration is handling this virus just right. At this point there is no sense closing the borders, schools, and businesses. If the US did that, it would cost the economy Billions of dollars for sure, and there is no telling it would even stop the virus from spreading.

Again time will tell, but this swine flu story is quickly becoming a back page story, after all the hysteria early on.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Yesterday was a calm and un-eventfull Thursday in the Alley , nothing unusal about that. The noticeable change is there were many more ladies at their post. Once discussed with valued individuals I find that some ladies were common before Christmas , then disappeared and have returned . Chica count tapping their toes waiting in the Alley must be up 25% .

The preventive measure of surgical masks was non existant except for a couple of taxi drivers that passed by. Confined as they are a very good idea .

I notice this morning that the mass media was not presenting this flu in the same " get your confession out of the way " that was done two days before. My reading found little to nothing that would sell newspapers . To anyone interested that has not viewed the Authority the " WHO " ( not the band ) updates are on line .

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_05_01/en/index.html

So, as the last few posts have stated , it is business as usual....

For better or worse I can say the clubs are quiet , the Alley is stocked and there , to my knowledge , are no reported cases of the Swine in Tijuana. A weekend is at hand with the Sampsonrico Fiesta tomorrow. . If that is not motivation then I will add Cinco De Mayo is Tuesday .

Addressing the recent violence , it did happen but was far outside the Zona.
Violence is not uncommon in the world now days , the call is yours. While everyone in the Alley was talking about it , it still has not disrupted their lives anymore than they are use to. Might be those surgical mask were meant to stop bullets ?

BTW F-Ball ; thanks for the compliment !

 

[lovincupcakez]

" U.S. Now Leads World in Swine Flu Cases "

Reports viewed seem to agree with you on that summation myfriend. Might be you could shed some light on the reported deaths attributed to this flu ;
all I can find is US 3 , Mexico 56. Is it availability to medical care or some other factor(s) creating such a discreptency. Kind of like looking for Mex to
win a soccer match in the US ( talking about discreptencies )

Have read up on patient zero in his home town of La Gloria and understand he was 1st diagnosed as having a common flu and sent home only to join his classmates at school . Geez, they must be Americans wanting to get a better education in a town/colony of 3,000 ; wake up amigomio.

BTW , where has F-ball gone ? His absence , as well as , public retraction is noticeable. Is eating crow that hard ?

Not to leave out , there is no grant coming your way...

 

[JoshsGirl=]]

it's been past containment for weeks. the only way the u.s. could have tried to contain it would have been to close the boarder, and quarantine anyone suspected to have it. i really don't think anyone wanted that, and it still might not have worked.

 

[Jonas S]

I heard that the cops were shaking down gringos wanting money and other goods..ie: Cell phones, to help raise money for the seven killed police officers. Anything true about that? Also, anyone ever stayed at the hotel nelson? I have also been told that there arent many women working due to the pig flu.

 

[Caliban]

Visited with many people this morning, and all said the bars will remain open.

The most credible source would be Martin(night manager and nephew to owner of Adelitas). He said unless the scare is moved to level 6 it will be business as usual.

 

[SUSAN B]

U.S. Now Leads World in Swine Flu Cases

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090511/hl_hsn/usnowleadsworldinswineflucases

And why is that?
Cause the US is not doing anything to contain it.

It's not me, it's on US national news media.