Mexico Flu Sparks Fears in London and NY

**~~The Lawspeaker~~** · 04-26-2009, 01:56 AM

Mexico Flu Sparks Fears in London and NY

A deadly flu which has killed up to 68 people across Mexico may have spread as far as London and New York.

Mexican children are fitted with masks amid health fears

The World Health Organisation called an emergency meeting where they admitted to being "very, very concerned".

In New York up to nine people from a school party tested positive for what is believed to be swine flu after returning from a trip to Mexico.
And in London a member of a British Airways cabin crew was taken to hospital with "flu-like symptoms" after falling ill on a flight from Mexico City to Heathrow.

The man, who has not been named, has been taken to Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, a hospital spokesman said.

He added: "He has flu-like symptoms and is responding well to treatment." The World Health Organisation's director-general, Margaret Chan, said the outbreak of the never-before-seen virus had "pandemic potential."
But she said it is still too early to tell if it would become a worldwide outbreak.

"The situation is evolving quickly," Chan said in a telephone news conference in Geneva.
"A new disease is by definition poorly understood."

At least eight people have been infected by the new virus in Texas and California, raising fears of a pandemic.

And this evening health experts in America said that nine members of a school party which had visited Mexico had tested positive for suspected swine flu.

Mexican authorities have closed schools and other public buildings, suspended public events and begun a vaccination campaign in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

Mexican health minister Jose Angel Cordova confirmed 20 deaths from swine flu and said authorities were probing another 48 who had died with flu symptoms. The flu combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Margaret Chan, has cut short a visit to Washington and returned to the agency's Geneva headquarters to oversee the handling of the outbreak.

Source (+video and pictures): News Sky.com

**~~The Lawspeaker~~** · 04-26-2009, 02:08 AM

It's coming closer and closer.. and my girlfriend is in Texas.

One thing that strikes me is the composition of this virus: it has parts from avian flu, swine flu and human flu. That's a pretty weird zoonosis and finding one of those is a rare occasion- like finding a honest politician.
Where the ruddy hell did this virus come from ? Some CDC-lab ??

**Atlas** · 04-26-2009, 03:01 AM

Bird flu and mad cow were not a big deal...

**Dresden** · 04-26-2009, 03:03 AM

Maybe we should seal our border. I wonder if the government of Mexico will allow us to do that?

**~~Bloodeagle~~** · 04-26-2009, 03:30 AM

Originally Posted by Dresden

Maybe we should seal our border. I wonder if the government of Mexico will allow us to do that?

Maybe, this is some form of biological warfare intended to rid the world of Mexicans and illegal Mexican sympathizers.

**~~SwordoftheVistula~~** · 04-26-2009, 06:41 AM

One theory I heard is that it came from some middle eastern source, and they released it in Mexico knowing that it would take hold easier there, and then spread north into the US across the border.

**EWtt** · 04-26-2009, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by Tristan

Where the ruddy hell did this virus come from ? Some CDC-lab ??

Interestingly that thought also passed my mind. Many conspiracy theories have already surfaced that it is medically made.

**Skandi** · 04-26-2009, 10:20 AM

It doesn't appear to be very deadly however, as the article on the bbc said that 200 children had it but only 3 were even admitted to hospital. Another panic for a slow news day.