Deadly flu spreads from Mexico to the US; over 60 dead so far

[EmperorDude]

Over 1,000 people have been infected in Mexico with a new strain of flu, and 62 have died so far. It's not clear when it spread to the states, but 8 US citizens have reported infections as of this morning, though all have recovered.
The World Health Organization is asking countries around the world to be on the lookout for any unusual flu outbreaks they observe and to report any cases to the WHO. This new flu is a hybrid of swine, bird, and human flu viruses, meaning there will no natural immunity to it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090425/ap_on_re_eu/un_un_mexico_swine_flu

 

[SimuLord]

Over 60 dead in Mexico, all 8 US cases have recovered. Sounds to me (at least for now) like Third World-quality health care has at least something to do with survival probability.

 

[Jark212]

Damn mutated flu...

 

[Leorex]

OMG, first we have a bird flew, then we have a pig flew, who wants to guess the next flew.
my moneys on Cow flew.

 

[Aura Guardian]

Holy Shite.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Probably caused from the spring breakers

Damn you MTV

 

[The Brian J]

I will admit I was kinda freaking about this, until I really took the time to calm down and look at the situation.

All the deaths have been in Mexico, a place with not very good healthcare, while all cases in the US have recovered.

They say the body has "no natural immunity", but the articles conveniently leave out that there are vaccines for it.

I don't know, I just think that while it is definitely something for the world to keep an eye on, all the news sites are blowing it out of proportion.

 

[Gruthar]

I was listening to the story on the radio yesterday morning. Most of the fatalities have been in people between the ages of 22-46, or roughly that range. The theory is that those who have had flu shots may be somewhat resistant to this strain, those typically being the young and the elderly.

This is mostly centered around the Mexico City metropolitan area, which is the second most populous in the world (~22 million people, IIRC). That's also 81 deaths out of about 1,400 cases so far. So I think this has more to do with population density than third world healthcare. In the meantime, the Mexican government has basically shut the city down, advising people to stay home if possible. Supposedly this thing can be treated with newer anti-viral meds, which Mexico just got a large shipment of.

 

[IxionIndustries]

Wow, this is really freaking me out. Since there are cases of outbreaks in Texas and Kansas, god knows when It'll hit Oklahoma (That's where I live).

 

[Gruthar]

Mmm, come to think of it, the SARS episode of South Park seems relevant.

"There's only a 98% chance that I'll live." Though this is far worse, like at only 92%.

 

[Samuari Jim]

If people start rising from the dead I'm checking my ass out.

^This. Time to start turning my house into a zombie-proof fortress. It's already in an ideal location for sniping

In all seriousness though, this seems like it could actually be a pretty big deal, but I'm probably not going to go all crazy-survivalist until people start dying by the droves here in America.

 

[letsnoobtehpwns]

Disease, war, famine (well, more of a drought) and then death. Yep, it's the end of the world as we know it but, as the song says, I feel fine. Anyone else feel privileged to see the end of the world? I use to think that the 2012 thing was bull shit but who knows, maybe it really is the end...