The strain of swine flu that’s believed to have killed 150 people in Mexico and infected 1,500 more there has claimed its first victim in the U. S.:
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — A child in Texas has become the first fatality from swine flu in the United States, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
“I can confirm the very sad news out of Texas that a child has died of the H1N1 virus,” the CDC’s Dr. Richard Besser said.
As confirmed cases of swine flu have risen to at least 112, health officials think they may have found “patient zero” in the global outbreak — in a small village in the mountains of Mexico.
MSNBC adds a little more detail:
WASHINGTON – Officials confirmed the death of a 23-month-old child in Texas from the new strain of swine flu on Wednesday, the first fatality from the condition reported outside Mexico.
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed the fatality during an interview with NBC News.
Besser told NBC’s TODAY show that he didn’t believe “this indicates any change in the strain of the flu.”
Another story from CNN places this in some context:
Experts are nervous that, as a new strain, the swine flu will be harder to stop because there aren’t any vaccines to fight it.
But even if there are swine-flu deaths outside Mexico — and medical experts say there very well may be — the virus would have a long way to go to match the roughly 36,000 deaths that seasonal influenza causes in the United States each year.
“That happens on an annual basis,” Dr. Brian Currie said Tuesday. Currie is vice president and medical director at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York.
If the reports we’re reading are true, the reasons that there’s concern about the deaths in Mexico are a) the deaths have taken place among young adults with robust immune systems and b) there’s no vaccine for the new strain. The former evokes unpleasant memories of the 1918 flu pandemic. It is believed that what really killed most of the people was that it provoked an excessive immune response.
However, that hasn’t happened in the cases reported in the United States. All or nearly all of the cases here have been among people with weaker immune systems, either the elderly or, as in the case of the first fatality, the very young. That’s a very different circumstance.
James Joyner notes concerns about potential bans on the importation of pork from the United States and Mexico:
Oh, in an unpaid service to the pork industry, it’s worth noting that you don’t catch swine flu from eating the other white meat.
followed by a quotation about the pork industry’s concerns. That’s more than a hypothetical worry. Six countries have already banned U. S. pork:
China and five other countries have banned pork and other meat products from some U.S. states, drawing criticism from U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk since officials say the swine flu is not transmitted by food.
Kirk’s office said the bans were imposed because of the swine flu outbreak. The countries imposing those bans are China, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.
Reuters reports that Kirk warned those countries that such bans are not based on science and could disrupt trade.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says pork is still safe to eat, and that all food-borne germs are killed when pork is cooked to 160 F anyway.
I don’t believe there’s a smidgen of evidence that the swine flu is transmitted by eating pork. I’d appreciate evidence to the contrary.
In the absence of such evidence the bans are motivated by ignorance, hysteria, or politics. In the case of China, I’m guessing the latter. The Chinese authorities know better and in all likelihood are demonstrating that they’re doing something to the Chinese people with the ban and giving payback to the United States for the ban on Chinese grain products that to the best of my knowledge is still in place.
We should immediately file a complaint with the WTO over the ban. It’s not something the Chinese in particular should get away with. I also believe we should request an expedited hearing on the matter and if that’s not forthcoming we should impose a ban or tariffs of our own.
I’m a free trader but China’s use of trade as a weapon has really been egregious over the years and, since trade is responsible for a lot more of their GDP than it is ours, they have a lot more at risk from their behavior and they should be made to realize that.
this is really a bad news to everyone. We extend our condolences to the family of the child. Swine flu should be taken seriously and everyone most especially the government and health experts must take full action about it before it makes everything worst.
Actually, Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger, who led the team that pieced together the DNA of the 1918 flu, maintains that it was not “cytokine storms” (excessive immune response) but a piggy-back bacterial infection of the lungs that killed most of the 1918 patients. PubMed has his paper on this subject and since that time several other researchers have chimed in as well.
Another thing to remember is that we have access to basic medical technology that was largely unavailable in 1918-1919- intravenous fluids to correct dehydration, ventilators, and a whole host of medicines to moderate symptoms: everything from inhalers to fever reducers. The 1918 patients were largely given only “TLC”- fresh air, good food (if they could still eat) and a bed. That was all that was widely available.
Since gene reassortment takes place largely in the lungs, I don’t think anyone is at risk from eating pork- unless they eat the raw lungs of infected pigs.
The kid died 4 days after being in the US…. it doesn’t mean it is spreading here. But before it does get worse in the states, it might be beneficial for us to be proactive and to gather resources from a health resource or two just to be prepared for what might develop.
Mexican boy visiting Texas 1st US swine flu death
By JUAN A. LOZANO –
HOUSTON (AP) — A Mexico City toddler who traveled to Texas with family to visit relatives is the first confirmed death in the U.S. from swine flu.
The boy, who was nearly 2 years old, arrived in the border city of Brownsville with “underlying health issues” on April 4 and developed flu symptoms four days later, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. He was taken to a Brownsville hospital April 13 and transferred to the following day to a hospital in Houston, where he died Monday night.
Texas Health Services Commissioner Dr. David Lakey said it is “highly likely” the child contracted the illness in Mexico, though that hasn’t been confirmed.
Considering the fast spreading nature of this virus, it only makes sense to try to do everything in your power to stop it. Even if banning any pork products from entering the country doesn’t stop it at least they are trying to do their best to contain it given what is known about the disease.
A hearing is a waste of time and a mockery. Peoples’ lives are at stake. We need to find a solution to the pandemic situation first.
Are you typing this blog in a bubble to be worried about such mundane matters?
Barry, the only thing wrong with what you wrote is everything you wrote. There’s very little evidence that the virus is spreading fast or that it’s easy to contract. Every single death has been in Mexico or can be traced to direct contact with Mexico. The number of confirmed deaths is exceedingly small.
The condition is not caused by consuming pork products. That’s a lie. Bans of pork products do nothing other than spread panic and cause loss of income to pork producers. Nothing whatever.