swine flu found at PS 177 Q school for autistic children

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http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/04/28/2009-04-28_swine_flu_spreading_in_nyc_possible_new_cases_probed_at_queens_school.html


A second Queens school was closed today after dozens of autistic students came down with suspected swine flu.

The new virus also showed up today in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and may have also infected a Manhattan Catholic school, Mayor Bloomberg said.

"So far, the swine flu here looks like the garden variety flu we see every year," the mayor said. "All patients we know of are recovering, with the overwhelming majority having had only mild illness."

A team from the City Health Department is at PS 177, a school of about 400 autistic kids in Fresh Meadows, to determine if it is swine flu that sickened 82 students there.

The school is less than two miles from St. Francis Prep, where Bloomberg said "hundreds" of students and teachers have mild symptoms and 28 tested positive for swine flu.

At least one of the sick students at PS 177 has siblings at St. Francis, Bloomberg said.

As the virus continued to spread through the city, a 2-year-old boy in the Bronx and a woman in Brooklyn were confirmed with the flu, officials said.

Neither had a connection to St. Francis but had friends or relatives who went to Mexico recently.

Six kids at Ascension School on W. 108th St in Manhattan have fever and officials are testing to see if it's swine flu. If so, the school will be closed, officials said.

The CDC says at least 68 Americans now have the sickness which has killed 149 people in Mexico.

None of the cases in the United States have been deemed life-threatening but officials warn that Americans must brace for deaths.

The White House will ask Congress for $1.5 billion to combat the flu.

Five states have outbreaks: New York with 45 patients, California 10, Texas 6, Kansas 2, and Ohio 1.

Several other states, including New Jersey, have suspected cases.

One new case was prompting worries at Disney World in Florida, where a Mexican tourist who had visited the Orlando attractions fell sick.

Media reports in Florida disagree on whether it was confirmed case of the pig flu or something more benign.

Hundreds of children and their parents could have been exposed there.

The World Health Organization raised its pandemic threat level to 4 for the first time Monday, meaning the spread of the virus can no longer be stopped.

Nonetheless, numerous countries were warning citizens against traveling to Mexico and New York City, and Cuba today banned all flights to Mexico.

The CDC has said it expects to see more cases - and increasingly severe illnesses, including fatalities.

Health workers across the country have stepped up efforts to look for cases, especially among people with flu-like illness who had traveled to Mexico.


http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/04/28/2009-04-28_swine_flu_spreading_in_nyc_possible_new_cases_probed_at_queens_school.html

The only thing amazing about this 'swine flu pandemic' is that people today are wussies. Seriously, if this flu was happening in November, no one would even bother to see if it was some creepy animal strain. It's not killing a record number of people. These numbers are about average for the yearly flu.

Bubble wrap society we live in is the cause. Too much freaking, not enough dealing. Call me when the Spanish Flu reawakens, but seriously, in a country with notorious healthcare and public hygiene, we're surprised a few hundred people died of the flu.

I don't mean to sound callus, but really. There's nothing earth shattering about this flu.

I have to agree with Kip. I hope it stays that way.

But it's not happening in November. And this is a new strain. Influenza has mutated and killed off loads of people before, it is likely to do so again sometime relatively soon.

I'm sure it will. History always repeats itself.

But at this point, I think it's a little extreme. I mean, closing schools and such? Kids are kids. They will get sick. These numbers are a little bit odd, yes. But not requiring the level of insanity being shown here. We should all step back and watch. See what happens. Who knows? Maybe by freaking out about it we are going to create the pandemic, collecting all the sick in a hospital where a superstrain can mutate out of all the swine flu cases.

And the WHO just raised their pandemic level to 5. Seriously? Over six billion people on the planet, and about four thousand infected. Doesn't seem very pandemic-ish. Yea, it's rough. It's a big bad scary flu, they suck. I've had them. But, people die of the flu all the time, that's just how it goes. Calling this one special and saying people have no resistance to it, when there are obvious survivors, it's a bit on the overkill side of things.

I'm not trying to make light, I'm just saying that there's a bit of panic going on.

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/p/pneumonia/deaths.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acu ... y_syndrome
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/529451

This whole swine flu thing seems to be creating the same level of panic that the SARS virus did a few years ago. It's understandable though, given as swine flu will be a whole new thing for us to deal with and we are as yet unaware of how the human host will tolerate such an illness on such a grand scale. It was the same with SARS. People were scared that the SARS virus would become a pandemic, again understandable with it being a form of pneumonia. Other types of pneumonia kill enough people as it is without adding that to the mix. It's the same with swine flu. Influenza, like pneumonia, kills enough people each year without the human population needing another strain to add to the mix. Hence officials generally tend to use the 'over-react and spread it all over the media' tactic. The links above provide some info on swine flu, influenza, pneumonia and SARS which may help in understanding why officials seem to 'over-react' the way they do. An over-reation is better than an under-reation when it comes to stuff like this in my opinion. You only need to look back in history and look at how slowly the foot-and-mouth problem in the UK was dealt with as an example. Not the same thing, but I think I am illustrating my point.

This whole swine flu thing seems to be creating the same level of panic that the SARS virus did a few years ago. It's understandable though, given as swine flu will be a whole new thing for us to deal with and we are as yet unaware of how the human host will tolerate such an illness on such a grand scale. It was the same with SARS. People were scared that the SARS virus would become a pandemic, again understandable with it being a form of pneumonia. [/quote]
I have to make a correction here.

SARS is not comperable. The current swine flu epidemic is fairly mild, because the strain seems to have moderated; and therefore it very likely will not become the devestating pandemic that the 1918 outbreak did. However, SARS was a completely different issue. SARS failed to become a devestating pandemic because of the lower level of communicability, combined with the quick and decisive efforts that were made to contain it.