Swine Flu Alert: Young Adults at Risk, Pandemic Potential

Weather Report: Pandemic Ahead?–In Mexico and In USA, American’s Gardening for Savings & Health & Something More

SWINE FLU RESOURCES:

• UPDATE: 25 April -  WHO Swine Flu Briefing (Audio File)
• World Health Organization (WHO): Swine Influenza
• WHO – Swine Flu Q&A (.PDF)
• Centers for disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Swine Flu

Swine Flu In Mexico: Pandemic Ahead?: “New, deadly swine flu hits Mexico” says the headline from the Reuter’s 4/24/09 post at reuters.com. The Noel Randewich and Armando Tovar article points out;

• “A deadly strain of swine flu never seen before has broken out in Mexico, killing at least 16 people and raising fears it is spreading across North America.”
• “The World Health Organization said it was concerned about what it called 800 ‘influenza like’ cases in Mexico, and also about a confirmed outbreak of a new strain of swine flu in the United States.”
• Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova “… linked the disease in Mexico to a new kind of swine flu that struck seven people in California and Texas.”
• “The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA typical to avian, swine and human viruses including elements from European and Asian swine viruses” The CDC said.
• “WHO said about 60 people in Mexico have died from the disease.“

In USA: “Seven people in U.S. hit by strange new swine flu” is the title of Maggie Foxs’ (Health and Science Editor) post at reuters.com on 4/24/09. Here’s some of what she reported:

• “Seven people have been diagnosed with a new kind on swine flu in California and Texas, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and prevention reported on Thursday.
• “All seven people have recovered but the virus itself is a never-before-seen mixture of viruses typical among pigs, birds and humans, the CDC said.”
• “We are likely to find more cases,” the CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat told a telephone briefing . “We don’t think this is time for major concern around the country.”
• “CDC officials are unsure whether the cases are related to an unusually late and severe flu season in Mexico, in which 20 people have died.”

Human To Human: “We believe at this point that human-to-human spread is occurring,” Dr. Schuchat said, ‘That’s unusual. We don’t know yet how wide it is spreading … We are also with international partners to understand what is occurring in other parts if the world.”

PrudentHome Note: We’re keeping a very close eye on this and suggest you do the same.