(1888PressRelease)
April 28, 2009 - A Public Health Emergency has been declared by the United States, as it stands at the forefront of a global push to curtail the effects of the never before encountered swine flu virus. While the twenty cases reported in the States have been mild, with people recovering from the outbreak, all precautions are being implemented to safeguard the population.
Mexico has up to 80 deaths reported, with approximately 1,324 people reported having contracted the virus since April 13th. There are young and healthy people between the ages of 20-40 years of age dying. The Mexican government it appears may have been long-winded in responding to the outbreak in March and early April. Several schools and all public meetings have been cancelled.
The US is moving twelve million doses of the drug Tamiflu from a federal stockpile, to where it can be more readily accessed if necessary. The five already affected states will be given priority: California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Kansas.
“People need to think of it as a declaration of emergency preparedness”, says Janet Napolitano, Director of Homeland Security. Countries around the world are on the look-out for any symptoms that could be related to the swine flu virus. There appears to be an efficient human-to-human spread of the disease. People are reported to falling sick without any contact with pigs.
“The virus has clearly a pandemic potential,” says WHO Director General. Margaret Chan. Pandemics happen when there is a radical mutation of a virus, to which people have no immunity.
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says "The situation is uncertain and unpredictable and likely to be a marathon more than a sprint".
New viruses are formed when at least two viruses unite. Pigs are known to be particularly efficient ‘mixing vessels’. The new virus contains gene segments of the bird flu, one gene segment from a human flu and two gene segments from a pig virus.
The Avian bird flu is believed to have killed approximately 157 people, while infecting over 335 people. Around 150 million birds are reported to have been affected flu and experts say it could take several years to control the disease in poultry. Southern Asia, Turkey, and Nigeria, have all reported infected poultry. Britain, Austria, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, France and Germany also have confirmed cases. Humans catch the bird flu through contact with live infected birds. Many experts believe the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was Avian flu virus, which killed approximately 40 million people. Many experts believe the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 was Avian flu virus, which killed approximately 40 million people.
Pandemics of 1957 and 1968 in Hong Kong, originated from flu viruses in birds. The possibility of a pandemic was contained in 1976, with some 40 million Americans inoculated in a controversial nationwide campaign. The program was stopped when some serious, inoculation related, neurological conditions were found in several hundred people.
About the author,
Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys and her husband are CEO's of YouMe Support Foundation (http://youmesupport.org) are passionate in providing high school education grants for children who are without hope. Only through education can the Lesser Developed Countries play a truly active role in world wide affairs. Take a few minutes to check out how you can be part of this exciting project at Win A Resort (http://winareosrt.com). It could change your life.
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